And It's Snowing...

...enough said. 

There was a recent article in the University of Alaska Fairbanks newsletter "The Cornerstone", "The year without summer." http://uafcornerstone.net/the-year-without-a-summer/  It revealed that in fact, there have been summers where the daily temp NEVER reached 60 degrees.  At this point I'll take 59!  We are supposed to dip down into the single digits for nighttime temps, and reach the 20's during the day for the next week. 

An article in the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer today stated our average daily temperatures are 15 degrees BELOW normal this April.  What a never ending winter we're having.  Good thing we brought in more wood the other day.  Looks like Husband will need to get more.

Hope the rest of you are having better luck then we are. 

Spring

Spring is here, spring is here, spring is....well, I think it's here!  This has been one, long, hard, dark, winter.  It has been insane.  It's been cold, so, so very cold, for so, so, very long.  And then April came, and it was supposed to be warmer, but it wasn't.  Now, we've finally gotten some spring temps and the snow is melting!  Yea!  Except for, it snowed in Anchorage today, and we're supposed to get snow tomorrow, and Monday they are predicting a high of below freezing, 28F.  What the heck? 

This winter there were so many times I looked outside, seeing the dark, did I mention the cold? and wondering what in the world the pioneers of this place were thinking.  They would have arrived in the summer and then worked their a$$es off to cut enough wood and to build a house to survive the winter.  And then they did the strangest thing, they stayed.  Maybe it was to difficult to think about doing the trek back home, it couldn't have been easy getting here in the first place.  These first people, especially the women, rocked, and were super strong. 

So, back to spring.  Sunday we unpacked the bikes and did our first family bike ride!  Husband pulled #2 and #3 in the bike trailer, #1 rode his own bike!!!  And I rode my own as well.  #1 did AWESOME!  He followed all of our rules and did an amazing job.  The next day he wanted to go again and it was just me with all three kiddos because Husband was working.  And again, he did great!  He rode 1.3 miles, which doesn't seem like much, but it was just his second ride of the season and he is just 4, pretty good huh?! 

It's been wonderful getting everyone outside once, maybe twice a day, and they are really enjoying it.  They've been coming in wet from all the puddle jumping.  Let's hope this weather continues and that the forecasters are wrong (once again!).

No Way

I can't believe that my baby is nearly 1.  It seems impossible that an entire year has already come and gone.  On the bright side, #3 is still a fabulous boy and has been a wonderful addition to our family.  He was truly meant to be with us.  I'd tell you how much he weighs, but I really don't quite know, it's somewhere in the 25lb range; he has been in size 18 month clothes now since he turned 9 months old.  He is pretty close to walking, he prefers to cruise furniture whenever the option is available, has let go of the couch a couple times to lunge towards me, and has practiced balancing.  Not sure when he'll walk though, he has two crazy brothers that will surely knock him over, so his timidness is well warranted.  #3 now has four teeth, with four more breaking through, it makes him a tad bit cranky, but we're all surviving; he's a super happy kid otherwise, so we'll take the little bit of ugly.  Doesn't sleep at all like the others kids, what is up with that?  He loves his brothers, and is totally enamored with #1.  #3 already wants to wrestle and get in the thick of things so he's had a few bumps.  Usually though he just laughs it off and goes back into attacking #1.  Their favorite game is #1 laying on the ground, #3 crawls on top of him, and #1 bucks him off.  It's pretty funny!  He has shaking his head no down, can now wave goodbye, and "talks" constantly.  Look at my ham :)