Tali got shots

Immunize by two. It's up to you. Oh, it's up to ME? I thought it was you. Oops!

I wasn't really part of the anti-immunization band-wagon. I knew I'd eventually get Tali her shots. But I just didn't want to do it "by two." When Liz was under two she got two extra shots "by accident" and I didn't really like that. So I looked through the requirements and discovered that if I waited, she could get less shots. So I waited and it worked well. I also made sure I knew what shots she was supposed to be getting before we went to our appointment.

And that's about when Tali was born. Combine the immunization annoyance with health insurance that doesn't pay for anything under $5000 . . . and today was Tali's third time ever at the doctor and her first shot - make that three shots.

Before her appointment I told her what to expect a few times. Liz made sure she knew that the shots would hurt. But she was mostly excited about getting a hug and a sticker. When the first needle went into her leg, she was totally shocked and started crying like maybe there had been a mistake or something. When the second one hurt just as bad, she decided she was done with shots and tried to dodge the third one. Thank goodness for an experienced nurse.

The best way to describe her reaction is "totally offended." She couldn't believe that something could hurt so bad or that someone would be so cruel to do that to her. She kept saying, "She hurt me in the leg." Poor nurse.

On our way out, Tali said, "Will you take me home and put me to bed?" She was totally depressed. Too bad it was only 10am. Instead we stopped by McD's for a kiddie ice-cream cone. That brightened her spirits a little bit. And I hope it'll be a good incentive for her when we go back in 4-6 weeks. When we got home I gave her a chewable Tylenol and I think she's back to normal. Hopefully she doesn't have any of the yucky side effects shots tend to have :(

Off we go to school because today Liz is "Queen of the Jungle!" That's a glorified name for line-leader and snack-bringer. Oh wait, I'm the snack-bringer. Does that make me "Jungle Chef?"

Mount Redoubt

We had been warned . . . almost too much. Mount Redoubt started rumbling about two months ago. The volcanologists said an eruption was imminent. I was beginning to think that maybe they were wrong. And then bam! Actually, make that bam, bam, bam . . . bam . . . bam . . . bam . . . bam.

This is where Mount Redoubt, as well as all other active and nearby Alaskan volcanos are located, in relation to Anchorage. On a clear day, we can see Mount Redoubt across the water.

At first, the wind wasn't blowing our way. But on Saturday, Redoubt erupted and the wind carried the ash directly to Anchorage. On our drive home from Girdwood, it looked like we were driving into a black mist. It was really eerie . . . and kinda stinky. Apparently ash smells like sulfur.

We went home and did a little volcanic ash cloud prep work. We covered the computers and TVs with plastic, locked/sealed all the windows and doors, and turned the heat off (to stop outside air from coming in). It was really a small amount of ash, but the kids were excited to do all the things they had learned. They even put their Nintendo DS's and mp3 players in Ziploc baggies :)

So, as exciting as it has been to have an erupting volcano in the neighborhood, I think everyone has quickly realized that falling volcanic ash is mostly just annoying. It's really messy and abrasive. It'll scratch the paint off your car if you try to wipe it off. It stinks. It's dirty. It's slick when you combine it with snow. When it's falling you can't exercise or go outside. (That means the kids are trapped in the house all day also :O) It could cause school to be canceled at any moment. It has caused 185 flights to be canceled, affecting over 10,000 passengers. I know one of those passengers missed a nice Caribbean cruise because of it. And it makes for super long lines at the grocery store and car wash at random times.

Is it over? Not yet. The volcanologists say it could keep erupting for a month or two. But it might have entered a different state where the eruptions are more frequent, but small. The first few eruptions blasted up to 40,000 feet in the air. The more recent ones have been closer to 15,000-20,000 ft. That's better for us because the ash won't be able to make it all the way to Anchorage without a really strong wind.

But if it does, I hear it's good for your garden.

The Pinewood Derby

Josh just became a Cub Scout in August. It's taken me a little while to get the hang of the Scout world. But when I saw how excited Josh was about the approaching Pinewood Derby, I knew I should get more serious. So, I got on the troop e-mail list. That was a good first step :)

Then Matt took the reigns from there. He and Josh started Googling How to Build Pinewood Derby cars. Then they called Chad Gasaway, the Pinewood Derby master. And then they started working, together.

Josh really learned a lot about energy and friction, weight and momentum, building and tools, painting, and patience. They worked on the car for about two weeks. Most of the time was spent sanding, painting, and waiting for the paint to dry. The result is a sweet car!

Make that a sweet car that is really fast!! Josh's car won the ward Pinewood Derby. First he won the Cub class, then the whole thing. He was so excited about his car and all the work he and Matt had done together. Now he gets to race at Districts!

Matt's nauseatingly-fun birthday

I think Matt had a great birthday, minus the fact that he was nauseated most of the time. At first we thought he had food poisoning. But when it lasted a while, we decided it must be the flu. And later, we changed our thinking again. Poor guy - but he was such a great sport!

The festivities started on Thursday, as did the bug. He layed in bed all day watching TV and napping. I teased him about having a perfect day. Some people would love to lay in bed all day, but that's definitely not Matt's style. When it was time for the family party, he jumped right up. We ate dinner at Benihana with Grandma & Grandpa and the kids. It's everyone's favorite place to go for a birthday. Then we all rushed to Josh's first Pinewood Derby. More on that soon.

Friday was Matt's actual birthday and he was in bed all day again. But when the time came to head to Alyeska, he jumped up again. We ate at Chair 5. Actually, this time I ate while he watched. Then we hit the pool, sauna and hot tub, before we had a nice relaxing night at the hotel with no kids.

Matt's sister, Heather, sent chocolate-covered strawberries to our room and I really enjoyed those . . . while Matt watched. I think he ate one. Lucky me!

On Saturday we skied. There was lots of fresh snow and it was a great, sunny ski day. We had run into the Moreheads the night before in the hot tub, so we skied with them most of the day. At lunch, I could tell Matt was ready to go home, but he toughed it out because he knew I was having so much fun skiing. He was such a good sport! After skiing we drove home into a big ash cloud . . . and that's yet another story.

Finally, when Matt was still sick on Sunday, we started side-by-side Googling his symptoms on our computers. After about five minutes, I looked at him and said, "I think you should go to the First Care right now." He jumped up and went and we discovered our suspicions were right. He had salmonella poisoning. Ew! The Doc gave him a shot in the butt and sent him home with more antibiotics. Besides feeling a little weak from not eating much for five days and having a really sensitive stomach still, he is starting to feel much better. As we speak, he is doing his favorite thing to do while sick - play video games with a friend.

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today Matt turns the big 35!

20 Reasons I Like Alaska,

in no particular order:

1. Midnight sun and midday moon.
2. Alaska has over 3 million lakes, is over twice the size of Texas, has 47,000 miles of coastline, 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the US and no snakes or skunks.
3. In the summer people barbeque and mow their lawns at 10pm.
4. When it snows overnight it's like a magical kingdom in the morning.
5. My kids are tough as nails. When it's below zero, they complain about having indoor recess.
6. It's not a snowmobile, it's a snowmachine (or a sled).
7. PFD stands for Permanent Fund Dividend. One per person per year.
8. When people go hunting they wear camo, not bright orange.
9. Josh & Liz can pull me and Tali in a sled behind their snowmachine to get the mail - and no one bats an eye. If you live anywhere besides Anchorage or Juneau, you can drive your snowmachine to work and drop your kids off at school on the way. Reference -http://weski4fun.blogspot.com/2008/11/winter-wonderland.html in Valdez.
10. Anything from Prada to Sorel is acceptable at church, school, grocery store or a wedding. But mostly we just wear Danskos, everywhere.
11. Moose in the front yard, backyard, middle of the road, front porch . . .
12. Trails in the front yard, backyard, middle of the road . . . Anchorage has over 400 miles of unrepeated trails.
13. Ski hats are totally acceptable (and great for bad hair days).
14. Usually in January, when it's dark and cold, we complain. Then again in March, when it's not yet Spring, we complain. Once again in October, when Fall is already over, we complain. But whenever we leave, we're excited to get back.
15. It costs the same to fly to Utah or Hawai'i.
16. We call the Lower 48 "the Outside." We call Hawai'i "the place everyone goes in March".
17. Like Norm, "Everybody knows your name!" It's a big town with a small town feel . . . or vice versa. Whatever the case, we definitely have all the necessary amenities (minus a few degrees here and there), and still, you get to know the grocery checkers and baggers, absolutely everyone at the gym, and occasionally the people I don't like to mention, like the guy who works late at the McDonalds drive-thru window. {As a side note - The other day I went to the Schlotzsky's drive-thru. I do that about every other Monday - it's a post Kardio Kids/ Pre-Costco tradition. I said, "I'll have a kids cheese pizza with a white chocolate chip cookie and a BBQ ch. . . " He cut me off and said, "Is this Tiffanie? No onions and a Coke, right?" Now that's scary!}
18. I can drive in a snowstorm like nobody's business.
19. On a clear day I can see Denali & Foraker from here. (They're 300 miles away.) I can probably see Russia from my backyard too :)
20. Alaska is absolutely picturesque. When Matt and I met, I tried to convince him that there is beauty in the brown mountains in Las Vegas. That even though you could die of heat stroke in less than an hour, hiking at Red Rock is beautiful. And on the off chance that you actually see a flower on a cactus, you'll never forgot how pretty it is. That's all true. I think you can, or should be able to, find beauty in any landscape. The difference in Alaska is that you can't not find beauty in any direction.

Is this a problem?

I jammed my finger catching a ball at football practice. It hurt, but I'm so tough I kept playing. Actually I was just so excited because I made the catch with Matt defending me :) About 10 minutes later I thought, "I should probably take my ring off before this swells up."

Too late.

So my ring has been stuck on my finger for five days and counting . . . If you can't tell from the pictures, my finger was totally blue from my ring up to my 1st knuckle. I think the ring had something to do with that, because as much as I want lots of sympathy, it really doesn't hurt that bad. It just looks funky and I'm annoyed that my ring is stuck.

I guess a wedding ring isn't such a bad thing to have stuck on my ring finger.

OctoMom

Bowling

We went bowling sometime last week and it was really fun. Liz kicked butt. It's so exciting for Liz when she beats Josh at something. She was beaming when she found out she was in the lead and stayed focused the whole game. The awesome thing is that Josh is always excited too when Liz beats him. It's like he's so proud of her. I can't take credit for how nice Josh is to Liz. He just came from heaven like that.

My other favorite part about bowling was Tali. She always finds something cute to do.

For cute thing #1 she didn't have to do anything. It was the shoes. I loved that she loved them as much as I did.

Cute thing #2 - She did Marilyn Monroe and Titanic impressions with the hand dryer while waiting for her ball.

Cute thing #3 - When she got bored of bowling, she played Dance Dance Revolution.

The Great FHE Bake-off

For FHE we had a bake-off. Josh and Liz drew out of a hat to see which parent they would be partners with. It ended up boys vs. girls! We thought Tali would be a little sabateur, but she surprised us and played quietly while we baked . . .

and baked . . .

and baked.

Liz got to choose which oven she and I would use since one belongs to her. She chose her very own EasyBake Oven, of course. It's a great invention, but have you seen the size of cake that thing makes? It's smaller than a cupcake. You basically have to mix the batter in a shot glass!

I gave Josh and Matt about five recipes to choose from. To my surprise, they chose carrot cake. Theirs was a real recipe, unlike our EasyBake recipe. It was hilarious listening to the comments coming from their side of the kitchen while they grated baby carrots, over-softened (aka-melted) butter, and tried to figure out what "sift" means.

When everything was finished, we started the judging. We had two categories.

#1-looks

#2-taste

We laughed ourselves to tears when we judged the boys' cake for looks. It looked like their cake got shot with a paint-ball filled with frosting. But there was something appealing about their gooey mess. That's what dessert is all about, right - a big sloppy pile of warm, buttery, sugary something?

The girls' cakes were much prettier. Liz carefully carefully frosted the cakes and placed each candy flower individually. She made them beautiful.

Then we moved on to taste. Josh and Liz first voted for the chocolate cake, while Matt and I went with the carrot cake. We sent the tie-breaker to Tali, but she chose to not vote. (She takes her Constitutional rights very seriously.) So, we tried each cake again. I switched my vote to chocolate cake, but Josh switched his to carrot cake. After a little debating, we decided that they were all so good that it was a tie. Liz agreed to go with the tie, as long as we would admit that hers definitely won the "looks" contest.

It was a fun FHE, even better than our favorite FCE (Family Chuck E. Cheese Evening).

You're BAD Daddy!

We live really close to church.

Sometimes we don't buckle up on the way home.

Tali objects.