The first report from a Juneautopia Christmas…
Measuring the Mendenhall Terminus
Bill, Nick, Dave, and Josh went out to measure the terminus position of Mendenhall Glacier. Not really talus-heavner news, but just wanted to share the photos and adventure with you. Come visit, and we’ll go out in the canoes/kayaks!
New swingset!
The swingset is up and a big hit! This was cobbled together from all over–Christmas gifts from Grams (thanks!), piles of dirt from dumptrucks (two loads!) lots of leveling by Uncle Peter (thanks!), a juneauparents (or freecycle?) swingset from Douglas and help transporting it (thanks Sara and Peter!). Paint by Carrie, Matt, and Peter. Fun provided by Torsten.
Two friends from the neighborhood are enjoying the swingset–woohoo!
Biking to Herbert Glacier
We all went biking out Herbert Glacier Trail with Jaye, Sara, Carrie, Torsten, and Matt. Torsten really loved his trail-a-bike and enjoyed the rolling hills on the trail. Suka and Data had a fun running along (to Torsten’s enjoyment) and Torsten treated us to a great song for a good portion of the ride back.
Matt was pedaling to keep up with Torsten’s speed, and taking blind photos over his back..
Best Weekend Ever!
This memorial weekend was Juneau at its best, and we all enjoyed it! It started out with catching a skiff ride (with Nathan, Amanda, and Adam) out to Portland Island. Nathan had staked out the best sandy beach camp site (and there was only one other group on the whole side of the island–they were out of sight). The panoramic image tries to give you a sense of it (if you click on the image, you’ll get a “movie” which should load up in your browser or with quicktime and you will be able to navigate around the panorama with your mouse and control/shift for zoom).
It was incredibly relaxing, with a great beach walk. The sun was overpowering. Whales swam by three different times, sea lions visited, eagles, kingfishers, ravens, fish jumping… Torsten had a hard time getting to sleep before 10pm (despite waking up at 6am that morning!) and we all were over-sunned, over-stimulated, and happy relaxing. Carrie made (well-deserved) fun of Matt for using the iphone to email a few photos to the grandparents from camp (see them all at the gallery), but when Matt got the voicemail from Marijke that they couldn’t go up on the glacier with Era helicopters, and there was no need for Matt to hurry back to Juneautopia, we were happy to get the news.
We went on home, were a bit exhausted, but rallied to go to False Outer Point on Douglas for Eran’s 40th birthday (happy birthday!). Torsten got a nap in the car, then was ready for rock climbing and fun with the kids at the party.
On Sunday, we met Dave, Lori, and Garret for a hike up the East Glacier Trail at Mendenhall. Matt did some more playing around with the panoramas, so from one of the outlooks along the trail:
Torsten was showing his roots:
Our camera had a rough time keeping up with us this weekend–it took lots of pictures, but the digital display/viewfinder gave out, so we have a few more random pictures and a few less pictures we meant to take. But we got some good ones! Here’s Carrie and Torsten at the AJ falls:
After the hike, Matt spent some time on the roof, preparing for wireless computer connections to Lemon Creek Glacier and Carrie and Torsten worked in the yard. We went out for a bike ride with Torsten’s new trail-a-bike. He rode approximately four miles!
We biked over to Chip, Missy, and Adelie’s for some baseball, a great “local food” dinner (grilled salmon and scallops, with a Devil’s Club sauce, a fiddle head salad, and some fresh bread and strawberries (we broke the “local” part with the strawberries we brought, but Torsten is on a big strawberry kick at the moment, and they were delicious!
Since this was Memorial Day Weekend, we finally got the weekend we’ve been craving–one with three days! We took Torsten over to Garrett’s house (and the babysitter there) and we went with Dave and Lori on their “anniversary kayak”. Again, Matt got to play with the panorama:
Here’s the whole kayak gallery (for Dave and Lori!).
Other folks with cameras got photos of us, and perhaps we’ll add more details in a later blog-update, but this is getting long enough (or too long).
Juneau gave us great weather and we did our best to take advantage of it!
Juneautopia
This is what it’s about (living through other’s awesome adventures in your neighborhood–but the snow does ROCK!)
Go read Jill’s blog–I only managed the bike ride component today….
Hangin’ with Dad
Matt is in the midst of a semester of too much teaching and mixed in with a chunk of too much travel, so especially treasures family time. As usual, we don’t get pictures of all three of us very often, so here are some Dad and Torsten photos from the last month or so:
Out for a bike ride around the neighborhood, helping dad brew, taking a nap….
Busy times, but we do squeeze in a good amount of family time!
Easter Egg Hunt
Carrie and Torsten joined a big group of friends for “the best Easter Egg Hunt in town”* at Jessica and Mike’s. Kita and Suka got to go and be free amongst lots of kid and millions of eggs. Torsten enjoyed the hunt, the eggs, and the marshmallow roasting. I didn’t hear if anyone tried roasting peeps…
It was one of the earliest Easters possible and this is one of the latest “here’s our Easter pictures” blogs out there on the internet…. –Matt
Public Market 2007
Carrie went in with Abby and Chip on a booth at Juneau’s Public Market.
Carrie was really on top of it this year, especially with her own Talus-Tiles kiln in the garage. There was of course still a small last minute “get it all together” panic:
The public market was lots of fun for Carrie, and Torsten and Matt got to hang out together for a good intense father/son weekend. Here are several photos of Carrie’s part of the booth, and they show off one of her new trials this year–the big noodle bowls which came out amazing!
First day of school for Torsten
Torsten went to his first day of preschool at the Auke Bay Co-op. Since it was his first day, mom and dad were there and mom stayed the whole time. He was with a bunch of kids who were there for their second year, and knew the routine, so he had some catching up to do. He definitely enjoyed the shaving cream art projects!
He’s learning group dynamics and enjoyed hanging out with all the kids, we think.
Of course, we’ve got the preschool first day gallery.