To Tundra

Saturday, September 30th was a beatiful, sunny day, so we packed up the family and drove to the Summit Creek Trail. We had a couple of goals: we wanted to get Mir and Ethan to tundra and we wanted to have a look at our favorite little valley where we camped twice during our first summer of marriage. We accomplished the first goal. We could not let the kids play long, though. The sun dipped behind the ridge as an icy wind poured down from the snowy peaks above. We had to pack up and head down. It was an exhausting day, but we had a great time.

What was most noteworthy was that we weren't the only ones taking our children to the high country that day. We saw several other children and their parents up there.

Arthropod Observation Overnighter

Our camp west of the Skyline Trail

Bo and I camped out off of the Skyline Trail on Monday night on an arthropod night observation trip. I had hoped to observe feeding behavior of the harvestman, Leptobunus sp., and the bristletail, Petridiobius sp., but we did not see much activity. I was able to collect a good series of each species, which, when combined with my collections from last year and from earlier this year, are enabling me to put together their life histories.

It looks like the bristletails have a two-year life cycle, with 1st instar immatures appearing in late June or early July. These grow to about 7mm by the same time the following year. They reach maturity and a length of about 9-10mm the following season. I still know nothing about when they mate and lay eggs.

Dissections of a few harvestmen revealed that they are mature and that females have ovaries with developing eggs. So far it seems that they have a one-year life cycle, with immatures appearing in late summer and maturing the following season.

First Camping Trip

Ethan playing in the tent

Mir eating a s'more

Kim and Mir paddling The Bomber

This last weekend was our family's first camping trip since Ethan was born. It ended up being much more of an expedition than planned. We had planned on car camping, but we ended up paddling to one of my favorite camp sites, a wooded site on the northeast shore of Canoe Lake.

Ethan did pretty well. Mir loved it. The tough part was that Kim got hardly any sleep sharing a sleeping bag with Ethan. It did go well enough that we hope to go on one more camping trip as a family before the summer is past.

Seattle

Ethan on a walk in the Seattle rain

Mir at the zoo

We traveled to Seattle for the first week of June for Hillary's (Kim's sister) and Carl's graduation from medical school and wedding reception. We had a great time visiting them and our extended family.

Cohoe Loop Fire

Helicopter with a bucket

Watching a bucket drop

I drove down to Kasilof on Monday because of the fire reported there very close to where some of our friends live and close to the home we rented from the Jacobson's for the last two years. I picked up some things we had left as well as tried to help our friends. Firefighters hit the fire hard quickly with men on the ground and impressive air power and soon had the fire contained.

244 Banner Lane

The front of our house

Our back yard

The above are photographs of the house my parents are renting to us. It is a great place for our family. It has more room than we have ever had. The house is designed efficiently so that there is little wasted space. We have a heated garage. There is a large back yard. It is right in town close to work and shopping. We are enjoying living here.

Biking It

Bo, Mir, and the rig parked at Beemun's variety.

My bike with both trailers parked at NAPA auto parts.

Since it is summer time and we live right in town now, we, especially Mir and I, have been biking it around town.

Scouting

Bo west of the Skyline Trail

A bristletail

Bo and I hiked up the Skyline Trail yesterday to do some scouting for a little study on some bristletails and harvestmen. We found several good study sites west of the Skyline Trail. It was a sunny, beautiful day to be up in the mountains.

Granddad and Grandma's Farm

We all enjoy visiting my parents, but Mir loves it. She likes to hang out with her grandparents (she usually stays within about two inches of her granddad) and she insists upon helping with chores down at the barn. She is an animal person.

Moved In

Mir and Ethan on a walk in the stroller

Kim and My dad riding

Again it has been some time since I have written. I finished the semester at UAF and we moved down to the Kenai since my last post. We are mostly moved in now. We are very much enjoying spending time with our family and with each other. I will be returning to work at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on the 22nd.

2485 Maria St.

I wanted to post a picture of the cabin we have been renting before we leave. It has been a good little place for us. Kim has been amazing, living and caring for two children in a small cabin with no running water. I have much to be thankful for in her.

I am looking forward to her enjoying the luxuries of running water and a comfortable home due to no action of my own. My parents are in the process of buying a house in Soldotna with the intent of renting to us. We are grateful to them.

Easter shovel

Among other things, we gave Mir a shovel in her Easter Basket. When we brought her out to look for eggs that afternoon she took no interest in them. She was much more excited about her new shovel. She did enjoy finding eggs after a while, but until she had broken in that shovel.

Hot Licks

I apologize again for not posting for some time. We have been busy. Two days ago we began packing for our move back down to Soldotna. We are all more than a little excited to be moving back to the Kenai to be with our family and friends.

We took a break yesterday afternoon to get ice cream at Hot Licks before leaving Fairbanks. Mir loved it.

100%

Again I have not written for some time and even now these pictures that I am posting are a week old.

Ethan is maturing daily. He continues to be a social guy. Today as we walked out of the sanctuary of Bethel Church, he squealed, smiled, and kicked as we made our way through the exiting crowd. He was just loving the commotion and seeing so many faces.

Excepting nighttime diapers, Mir has had a 100% success rate of using the potty now, even when we are away from home. She wears diapers only during naps and at night. One of her favorite things to do now is to help Kim bake cookies. She has been playing outside more as it has warmed.

We are excited about moving back to the Kenai at the end of the month so that we will be with our family, our church family, and friends again.

Sickness and Sledding

I apologize for not writing for the last couple of weeks. I spent spring break working intently on sorting samples for my graduate research.

Over the latter part of the break, Mir got sick and stopped eating and drinking well. We ended up taking her to Tanana Valley Clinic, where she was given fluids. She has recovered almost completely now, with only an infrequent lingering cough.

It has been absolutely beautiful outside lately with fresh snow and warm weather. We took Mir out today for her first set of runs on UAF's sledding hill. She loved it.

Saturday Tradition

Having Bo haul our trash to the dump on Saturdays has become a family tradition. It was beautiful and warm this weekend. We always have hot chocolate when we get home.

Dimples

This is a picture of Ethan's dimples. He is changing and growing quickly. He seems to grow out of his clothes about two days after he fits into them.

Pulse Check

Kim told me that we have had requests for more pictures of Ethan (I apologize for the recent paucity of them). As I was photographing the little guy, Mir dropped by to check his pulse.

Water Hauling Helper

Mir has been helping to get water lately. She puts the quarters in the slot so that the green light comes on. She loves to participate.

Working Dog

Bo hauled our garbage to the dump today, which is conveniently located about a half mile by snowmachine trail from our home. He did a great job. I snowshoed with Mir on my back.

Kim and I both took turns being sick last week. It is good to be done with that.

Sick Weekend

Mir woke up sick on Friday morning, had a better day yesterday, and woke up sick again this morning, so we have spent a lot of time in the cabin this weekend. Mir just hasn't been herself. She usually does not fall asleep on the couch.

We have been watching National Geographic nature shows about elephants and kangaroos, reading books, looking at pictures, and watching home videos with her. None of the rest of us have been sick.

Fun with Text

Mir and I made this little guy on the refrigerator with those little plastic magnetic numbers and letters. Mir methodically groups similar characters together. Her favorite is the number 8, with 0 as the runnger up. She tells us to "sit down" at the fridge, where she likes to be asked to find particular numbers or colors.

She just took an interest in typing the other night. She liked pressing the buttons and watching the characters appear on the screen. You can see her perference for 8's and 0's. I had to interupt her work to put her to bed.

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Much Study

"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments."

-Ecclesiastes 12:5 (NIV)

After examining all that is done under the sun, this was Solomon's conclusion. It seems to be especially appropriate for me now as I devote my energies for a time to the study of some minute details of the natural world, a pursuit that I must keep in perspective. The Artist responsible for the small subjects of my studies neither devoted much print to entomology nor did He mandate its pursuit. Athough He cared to be so abundantly creative within the order Insecta, His emphasis to us is our relating to Him. My priorities should reflect this.

Helper

Mir often wants to hold Ethan. We have to supervise closely since she is not gentle enough yet. She really likes to put diapers on her stuffed animals. They always get poopy directly, then she has to change their diapers.

She likes to help generally. Miriam helped me mix up buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and a white sauce as part of dinner yesterday.

Two New Dos

Kim and I both assumed new hair cuts to ease our life up here. We shower using amazingly little water now.

Stretching

Mir likes to participate whenever I stretch.

It has been extremely cold today, so I am getting a ride with another graduate student, Dave Gustine. This cold (-44 at our house right now) is discouraging. Neither our cars nor we operate very well at these temperatures, so we do not do more than we need to. We look forward to warmer weather.

Luxury

Living without running water for a while, even with two children, has turned out to be reasonably comfortable. It makes us appreciate that running water really is a luxury, not a necessity.

Mir and I did some coloring with crayons this evening, resulting in this illustration from out present life.

Smiley Guy

Ethan has been smiling much more consistently in response to our talking with him. He is often especially happy on his changing pad. He even made a little chuckle last night. We are enjoying him more and more as he is becoming more responsive to our attention.

-38

I know that for Fairbanksians -38 F may not be
especially cold, but this was the coldest weather I
have ever skied in. My ski to school went well,
though. I stayed warm.

We have been having trouble starting our cars.

The Commute

I have been skiing to campus the last couple of days. Our cabin is less than two miles from school with good trails between, so the trip to school has been taking about 40 minutes. I love being free from dependence on a car, at least for my daily commute. I am happy to be functioning well at 20 below.

Mir Dressed for the Cold

Mir wanted to try on some of her daddy's cold weather gear. This was the 16th.

Grandpa holding Mir at Turnagain Pass

Tim and Peggy helped us drive up to Fairbanks over the 13th and 14th. I took this picture of Tim and Mir while we were taking a break at Turnagain Pass on the 13th.