Family – Keeping Up

April 3, 2008

Grams and Gramps visit

In mid-March (yep, catching up on blogging!), Grams and Gramps came for a visit–they got some great sunny weather on Saturday and we all went out to Eagle Beach. Here’s a great photo of them out on Eagle Beach:

Dad helped out with a few house projects (great in-cabinet trash can in the kitchen and help with the bedroom carpet tear-out and laminate floor installation and wall painting–thanks!)

Matt and Carrie got to go out on a date–woohoo! (movie: Vantage Point–pretty much non-stop action with an interesting take on the narrative)

Grams and Gramps both got some good play in with Torsten–if the blurry pictures don’t show the action well enough, we’ve got a movie as well:

And of course, you can check out the whole gallery of photos.

Did the grandparents do a good job of spoiling Torsten?

September 27, 2007

Klondike Road Relay

We always enjoy going up for the Klondike Road Relay. It is a ten person running relay from Skagway to Whitehorse. This year, we considered changing the UAS team name from the Road Scholars to either “Talus and Heavner and a few others” or “Can’t see the Trees for the Forests” (we had Carrie, Matt, Torsten, Uncle Peter, and Nana all along–Carrie, Peter, and Matt ran; and we had two Forests on the team). It was a blast as always. Matt started it off by running leg 1, then Carrie got leg 3–she had a blast as the first time she ran with music, and Peter brought the team home by finishing up leg 10 in Whitehorse. Torsten and Nana provided moral support–and we spent about 5 hours total on Saturday at the Whitehorse Aquatic Center!

Here’s Matt starting, Matt handing off to Forest, and Peter finishing off (the problem with running through the night is that it is hard to get good pictures–so none of Carrie…)

Many friends were along for runs on the UAS team, other teams, and support–the Ferry ride up to Skagway and then back home is always fun. Eran ran for the “Afro-disiacs” team…

We had an awesome cheering crew of Stella and Torsten (with hot chocolates on the cold Whitehorse finish day):

(Almost) the whole team photo shows all the fun–except Mike Ciri snuck out of the photo!!!!

Finally, here’s a photo of Carrie, Torsten, Peter and Nana (just after Matt started out on leg 1) in front of the traditional mural:

August 17, 2007

Moving In/New Address

We are sleeping at the new house, we’ve all had good soaks in the new hot tub, and the mail is getting forwarded. The new address is 998 Mendenhall Peninsula Dr, Juneau AK 99801. Here are a few pictures. First outside:

Here’s inside:

And here’s Torsten and Suka enjoying the front yard/sand pile:

There’s a few more shots in the gallery.

August 4, 2007

House news!

What a busy summer for us and real estate in Juneau. We bought a new place out on Mendenhall Peninsula–we’re very psyched and we started moving boxes over there today. About 15 minutes after we walked out of closing on that place, we got a phone call that we had an offer on our current (Glacierwood Dr) house. We got the counter accepted, and now are trying our best to expedite the closing (on all sides)–hopefully by Aug 30, we will only own a single house in Juneau again! We’ll get pictures of the new place as we settle in, and we hope all of you will have a chance to come visit the new place soon!!!

August 4, 2007

Hoonah

We had a great visit to Hoonah last Sunday, thanks to Uncle Peter and “job connections.” Carrie, Peter, Torsten, and Matt went over on an Allen Marine boat (with about 30 people total)–very relaxed, and we stopped to see many whales along the way. We got over there, and Carrie and Peter went to ride down the world’s longest zipline, while Matt and Torsten explored Hoonah’s most amazing (and only) swingset, and then hiked along the coast to meet everyone at the end of the zipline and have some lunch. It was a great trip, and we’ve got more than a few photos up in the gallery. Here are a few highlights:

We all had a blast! No great shots from the zipline (Peter’s camera batteries died!), but take Carrie’s recommendation–just do it!

July 28, 2007

Boundary Waters canoe

The canoe trip through the Boundary Waters in Minnesota was great. The recipe for success was six adults, three 3-year-olds, two 1-year-olds, two big (18′, I think) canoes, lots of life jackets, not too many paddles, some fishing poles, lotsa bug spray and sun screen, and a little patience. Add a portage and lunch break to taste. The results should look something like this:

The canoes were from Sawbill Canoeing outfitters. Most of our photos are from the portages and lunch breaks, but you can find all of them in the gallery by clicking on any of the pictures.

The portages went well, and we managed to make it all in a single hike (compared to one other group that did three hikes across!!)–thanks all to the experts Ellen and Greg. Portaging the younger kids was more awkward than the canoes–not balanced, squiggly, prone to snoring.. They did schedule in a few rest breaks.

The canoeing was great, but exploring the shore and beach during a lunch break was fun as well (and photogenic).

What a great day with great friends!

July 27, 2007

Minnesota

We all went to Minnesota July 4-14 for a great vacation. First, we met up with Nana and visited family and friends in northern Minnesota (Aurora, Vermillion Lake, Ely..) This was lots of fun, and the start of some good lake time.

Next, we stayed at Nana’s friends Harry’s place on the shore of Lake Superior just outside of Grand Marais–a very nice place. Next we went to a cabin on Devil’s Track Lake and met up with Ellen, Greg, Taj, Mia, Kate, Tom, Janna, and Carmen.

Torsten and Taj were excited to see each other!

Torsten and Matt got some kayaking and fishing in, as a warm up for lots of time on the water during the whole vacation.

There was lots of good fishing going on from the docks:

The whole gang ate together (Carmen is hiding behind Carrie, Greg is taking the picture)

We got (Lake Superior) beach time with friends

And some good sleeping had to happen sometime:

Of course there was lots of canoeing

The day long canoe in the Boundary Waters was great, but that will get its own blog entry. After the canoeing, it was time for an ice cream break:

July 10, 2007

Boundary Waters, preview

Carrie, Torsten, and Matt are all up in Minnesota for a good vacation–away from cell phones and internet (mostly). We met up w/ Torsten’s Nana (Jaye) and saw lots of family on various Minnesota Lakes for three days. Then we caught up with Kate, Tom, Ellen, Greg, and all the tykes. We have six adults, three 3-year-olds, and two 1-year-olds. Yesterday we had an awesome canoe through the boundary waters (all of the above in two canoes!?!), then last night the moms all went out for dinner and catching up while the dads fairly successfully got everyone fed and to sleep. Here’s a photo preview, with much more to come:

April 10, 2007

Gram and Gramp visit

Still catching up in t-h blog. We enjoyed a great visit from Gram and Gramp. Lots of great grandparent time for Torsten, a good bit of snow shoveling, some good walks, lots of good house “puttering”/fix-ups (THANKS!), and even a little skiing for Matt & Carrie–woohoo! As always, if these pictures aren’t enough, all the rest are in the gallery.

Making sure Torsten understands the importance of ice cream as a family tradition.

Out for a snowy walk (at Dredge Lakes) with Gram and Gramp.

Lots of snow to shovel! Woohoo!

A new sweater Gramknit–showing Torsten how to fix a button.

Reading with Gramp (after playing with trains).

And a family photo:

February 2, 2007

Playing at the Glacier

We went out for some sledding at Mendenhall Glacier. Torsten was more interested in hiking around the (frozen) lake. We found a great rock with a perfectly slanted side for a good slide down so played on that a while. Matt got Torsten’s attention by disappearing down the far side of the rock backwards with his feet up in the air (check out the small gallery of photos from the day for that one!).

Carrie and Torsten by Mendenhall Glacier