having too much fun!

Best buddies, Chena and Tundra relaxing on the dog couch! Recognize the couch cover Gma Brown?!?

The pups and queen Angel.... I think Chena was scared that Angel was going to pounce on her!

Walking on the frozen Eagle River right below our house

Holding paws!

King of the mountain!

OKAY OKAY.... I KNOW I AM OBSESSED WITH MY DOG!!! There are dogless pictures coming up! :)

The boys taking in the view

On top of the world!

Front row for a gorgeous sunset!

We FINALLY saw the Northern Lights! Pictures don't do them justice

Dancing a bit!

Like a rainbow, across the entire sky!

Dancing some more. This is what they looked like even with the city lights. Adam did a pretty good job takin pics w/o a tripod!

They are stick monsters!

They love snowy hikes almost as much as they love each other!

This picture seems kinda random.....a relaxing horseback ride w/ my daddio on the last day of my visit back to Iowa for the passing of my grandparents

Tundra meeting his first goat!

Coolest fort ever!!!

No, we did not build an igloo. (I wish!)

Hiking at Chena Hot Springs

The HOT SPRINGS!!!!

One night we actually watched the Northern Lights while soaking in the hot springs!

Tundra was obsessed with the resident ducks and geese! (I ate duck for dinner.... hmmmmmm?!?!?)

A quick drive and hike in Denali National Park. Look closely for Denali--- :)

A lone caribou digging for its meal

He (or she) must've found something good, it barely picked its head up for this picture! I said she because female caribou also have antlers!

A dog sled team enjoying the wind in their hair! :) !

Funny sign eh? There was actually a rope hanging over the edge of a cliff in one spot!

Tundra and I enjoying the waterfall

Tundra and Chena playing with other dogs at the dog park! (one of the best days of his life... so far!)

Tundra's little...little friend!

Check out this paw print Tundra and I came across on a hike at Eklutna Lake! Big dog or wolf?!? I'm voting big dog!
WE SAW LYNX!!! A rare sight! :)
OMG... absolutely amazing to see this creature!
Cute tail!

This eagle was flying circles above us and watching for what the dogs were chasing up from the bushes (3 ptarmigan and 1 rabbit were the critters WE SAW... who knows what else the dogs found! )

Tundra's older buddy, he lives next to the trailhead of one of our hiking spots and comes over to say hi. He has hiked w/ us the last two times! :) He has also flushed out 4 ptarmigan and is teaching Tundra to hunt them. He also smelled the lynx and started going for them! He knows the mountain very well!
WE GOT A BOAT! It's a river boat..... Adam knows the stats.

More lynx pics

Lynx are rare to see.... we feel very lucky!

It was watching us... I think it wanted a puppy snack!

Oh yes.... there were TWO!!! Can you spot the second?!?! Def. a mating pair! HOW AMAZING was this experience?!?! :)

I WILL ADD THE VIDEO LATER.....

A snip-it of what the 60 mile road from Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs was like. ...... ICE!

Here comes summer... and the go-go-go it brings

WE SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!! We got word from some friends that the Northern Lights were out pretty good one night, so we headed out the second night to see if they would show themselves again. HECK YES THEY WERE. They were magnificent! I ended playing with Danielle’s camera for about 45minutes trying to get the setting right to take a picture of them. Unfortunately once I figured out how to capture them, they were starting to fade. Next time we see them… we’ll be better prepared.

Not too much excitement going on here. The winter is coming to a close and the snow is beginning to melt!!! Melting snow means no more frozen-river walking and cross country skiing.

Cabin fever is setting in pretty hard and we cannot wait to get out and go fishing/hunting. We actually got results of the hunting tag permit and neither of us was drawn L Oh well, that just means we have to search harder and may not have as good as odds hunting in other public areas. We actually got a couple of bear hunts planned for this spring already. Hopefully we’ll have a good story for the blog fairly soon! Along the same lines, Danielle just got her new rifle in the mail… watch out bears!!!

I went to Table Rock Lake for spring break to do a little snagging for spoonbill. Poor Danielle had to stay home and did get to fish. Her break was too early before opening day to get to go (good thing too because we all know she would have outfished everyone anyone). It turned out to be a very successful trip. I caught 4 big spoonbill, 3 over 50 pounds and one 30 pounder. All together, our group hauled in 8 on the first day and 6 on the second. That was enough fish for us so we only snagged those two days and relaxed the remainder of the week. And by relaxing I mean drinking beer, playing yard games, cards, eating, and fishing for bass. Something really exciting also happened that week…. My parents bought a vacation home on the lake! That means there will always be a place for us to go after these monsters in the future!!!

Some sad news, Danielle lost two of her grandparents (maternal grandpa and paternal grandma) over the course of the last two weeks. She recently got back from being in Iowa for close to a week. They both will be greatly missed!

We were due for a little relaxation. We decided to drive 7 hours north to a resort built around natural hot springs called Chena Hot Springs. It was wonderful! The hot springs were very soothing and relaxing. We layed around all day, hiked the mountains (we actually saw lynx tracks and poop), dipped in the springs, and ate a lot of food. The first night we were in the hot springs, the northern lights came out. It was amazing. It’s hard to beat relaxing in natural springs under a sky filled with aurora borealis. We didn’t get any pictures as we thought they would be out the next night and we just wanted to sit and watch them. Unfortunately, they were not out the second night L This resort was really neat. We went on a tour that showed us how the entire place is powered by the geothermal energy. They even have their own greenhouse full of vegetables that produces a ridiculous amount of food for the kitchen to use. It is a very self-sustaining and interesting place.

On our way home, we decided to stop at Denali and go for a hike. It was a beautiful out and you could see Denali perfectly. Tundra loved running around and he fit in perfectly as a wild animal. We actually saw a total of about 9 moose and 1 caribou for entire drive there and back. Another funny thing we saw on drive home was a sled dog truck… and all the dog cubbies had a hole in them to let their heads hang out… check out the picture.

I forgot to mention… over a month ago, I was snowboarding and hurt myself on the terrain park. They thought I just dislocated my shoulder for a moment, but turns out I may have torn my rotator cuff. I have an MRI scheduled in a couple weeks to determine why I’m still in pain. I haven’t been able to work out for about 5 weeks now and it is killing me!!!!

Don's Biggin

They both snagged this one and neither claimed to be the first to feel it.

Our bait... just kidding... he was lost

Day 1 haul

My 3 big ladies

Mom's monster

Group hug!

Tundra's first mountain hike; backside of of Baldy

Doing what these two do best

Last boarding trip of the year at Alyeska.

Tundra during one of our frozen river walks

Winter events

Okaaaaaay....well, winter has been interesting. We still have a good amount of snow but have hardly had any fresh since December. We have been waiting for a good snow to cover the icy, crusty snow- to improve snowboarding and skiing conditions, but here we are in March- still waiting! We sure are enjoying the return of daylight hours...we finally have direct sunlight to our house again! I think we are up to about 11 hours of daylight now! yippee!! Here are a few things we have been up to in our bright, snow-less winter!

We bought lobster for Valentines Day.... Tundra was very curious! Oddly enough, lobster is cheaper than crab here!

The result of our feast.... it was a massacre! :) yum yum

I was on my way to the grocery store when I came across this..... those are ravens on the sign but the tree had 6 eagles in it (one flew away and there is also a raven in the tree) Perhaps why we are called "Eagle River"! tehe

The beauts!

just perty

When I took a sick day from work... Angel is a cuddle bug!

Ah yes... and so is Tundra. Now if only I could get Adam to cuddle with me!

Tundra with his favorite toy, Foxie.

Tundra and his buddy Sarge (a 6 month old lab). They played and played until they both just zonked out!

Our hansome lil boy!

So stinken cute... he never gets in trouble! :)

This is Tundra totally out after a day at the Iditarod start and a visit to Pet Smart.

A little peak at Tundra's day. We went to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. (the actual start is now in Willow, due to lack of snow.) We figured it would be a good socialization event for him. Boy oh boy.... we should have charged people for pets, pictures, and kisses-- we would've been rich at the end of the day! I did not expect SO MANY people to stop and pet him, nor did I expect so many people TO TAKE PICTURES OF HIM!!! It was crazy! They were in love with him and he was just eating it up! He love, love, loves kids and is sooooo good with them! There were people everywhere, the sled dogs running by, noises, trash on the ground, etc. Also- it was during the Fur Rondevous Festival, so there were furs galore! Wolves, bears, lynx, fox, seal, bear, etc on people's heads, bodies, hands, feet! He did better than I had hoped for. Other people brought their dogs to the event as well, so he got to meet some other dogs. Unfortunately, one of his own breed attacked him. Yes- a gorgeous, adult, golden retreiver latched on to Tundra's ear and I was shocked when he came out of it without any blood. He made horrible sounds and it was awful, but he is okay. In a way, we are glad it happened because he hasn't had a "bad" encounter with a dog yet and any warning nips or barks he's had has sent him back for more. So he got put in his place. (just to look on the positive side)

Here is Tundra watching some sled dogs running by.

In front of a mural downtown. Ha- we put his booties on because his paws got cold-- there were numerous comments on how he is a sled dog in training!

We are watching Chena during our spring break, Shawn and Erin are in Belize!! The pups are LOVING it! Here they are laying together and chewing on some bones!

Tundra went up his first mountain (well part way up- we didn't take him all the way yet). He was loving it!

He's so proud!

I need to see if Adam has any pictures/videos from his camera, but we went snowboarding last weekend at Alyeska for Shawn's birthday. We rented a cabin and stayed the whole weekend. The pups had a great time together, as did the humans! The snowboarding... well... sucked because of the lack of snow, but we all made the best of it. In fact-- Adam hurt himself trying some jumps in the terrain park. He landed on his shoulder and face... scraped his chin and possibly dislocated and popped back in his shoulder. The doctor told him to come back in if it doesn't start feeling better.... well, it's not any better. He doesn't think it will affect his snagging skills next week. He is going down to Missouri to his aunt and uncle's house to meet the rest of his family and cousins for some spoonbill/paddlefish snagging on TableRock Lake. He has been looking forward to it for like a year and has been preparing (casting weighted treble-hooks in our garage).... I don't think he'll let his shoulder slow him down. I don't get to go because of work. The Alaska and Iowa spring breaks did not match up :(

We did not draw any tags for hunting next year :( So we may tag along with our friends who drew something and we'll do the low-key, low success hunts like last year. Who knows... we may get a black bear rug or a moose rack hung up! :)

Oh- Tundra weighs 40lbs now! :) :) :) :)

This is one of our favorite things to do.... hike up and sled down the mountain.... carefully sled down! We usually just go on our butts because the plastic sleds go too fast and therefore are too dangerous, but Adam found these great, thin, flexible sleds that we roll up like a yoga mat and pack in our backpack! Tundra enjoys it too!

This is Lance Mackey... who has won the past 4 years in a row. I like his dog's hot pink booties, the kids like them too! You may notice a person wearing a seal skin hat (spotted). There were a lot of interesting fur accessories! Also, you can't hear them, but the closer you get to the start, the louder the dogs get. The sled dogs are SO excited... yipping, barking, jumping, etc and they love doing their job. It is so cool to see and hear. I posted a video of this last year if you want to go back and see/hear it!

This is the fur auction. Last year we saw the Alaska Fish and Game auction....they auction off skins and antlers of animals that were poached or hit on the road to raise money to put back towards Alaska recreation. This year, they had the actual trapper's auction. We saw a wolf, wolverine, fox, and ermine(?--like weasels, the smallest animal they keep for furs). It was very interesting. I think if I hadn't been there, Adam may have come home with a wolf fur. eeek

Hello from Alaska!!!!!!!!!!

Haven't been doing too much here. The weather has been weird and continues to destroy the snow of valid boarding conditions. We're headed to a mountain range this weekend to do some back country boarding, skiing and sledding. We're hoping the higher elevation has received some good powder.

A couple weeks ago we attended the Beer and Barely Wine festival. It's held in a huge auditorium and all local brewers and big national brewers all come together and offer samples of their beer. You get a glass and 30 tickets once you get there and you can pick any beer you want and you get a sample glass for the cost of 1 ticket.... bottom line, it's a drunk fest on delicious, usually expensive and unique beer. It's fairly hard to finish all 30 tickets.

I've been seriously considering getting a boat this year. There's a boat show this weekend that I'll be going to; It'll likely be the push I need to go for it.

After missing out on a couple things last summer and fall that we wanted to do, I decided to plan ahead this year. The other day I planned out EVERY weekend from May to the end of Oct :)

Most of our time lately has been invested in Tundra. He is the best puppy ever!!! He is a huge escape artist tho. Not only can he claim over the gate we bought to keep him in the kitchen only 1 day after getting it, he now cal climb over the doggy door we installed to keep him in the dog room. He's also a very smart puppy. We were debating between having him fixed and breeding him, but I think I'm leaning toward breeding now (we want another one just like him later on and a dog this beautiful and smart is desirable!). I guess we'll cross that bridge later. By the way, he farts a lot... and it stinks!!!!!!

This is a video of Tundra doing his tricks. Keep in mind, he isn't even 3 months yet! He also heals easily while on a walk, plays fetch really well, has been potty trained for quite a while, sleeps all night, loves people, loves other dogs, and lots more. The one thing we don't like is that he chaces Angel.



Here's the escape artist

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had Happy Holidays!! We sure did, we were back in Iowa for Christmas and New Years. Wow- is it really 2011?!?!? We enjoyed decorating our house for Christmas this year.... Santa Mama enjoyed it too! :)

We had a clear view of the lunar eclipse!!!

Pretty cool eh!?!?

This is Ariel.... my parents just got her. Just so happens she was my horse's philly 10 years ago. She looks just like Gibby... except for the stark black color versus the red of Gib! Acts like her too! :)

Adam cuddling with my Sadie Badie

Visiting Gma K!! She is such a silly lady!

My parent's house on Christmas Eve.... girls and pillow pets EVERYWHERE! :) Love it!

Meet our boy... Tundra! What a monster he is! But oh so cute!

Adam and goof-ball Emma reading a story!

Tundra was buddies with Charlie at Kevin and Jeanette's house!

And best pals with Gunner at my mom and dad's house!

My whole family went sledding, it was a blast. Here is Syd surf/snowboarding!

The adults had just as much fun, Deanna and Dad sledding!

Emma and Kane got to play together on New Years. THEY HAD SOOOO MUCH FUN! In fact, they were determined to be the last ones up, it was a fight to get them to sleep! They are pals!

The whole gang at my parent's house for New Years. We ate and drank too much. Played a dancing game on Wii and played games at the kitchen table. Had a great time, so much in fact, that we missed the ball drop!! :)

Tundra's favorite place to sleep... IN Adam's shoes!

OH- here is mom and dad playing the Wii, Dance game! Everyone had a turn..... Heidi was beating all of us!

Adam romping with Gunner and my brother's dog, Sootie!

Kane and Tundra after the cat. The poor thing hid under the bed most of the time these two were around!

Well the first part of December was full of house projects and preparing for the pup. Adam finished the dog room, we tore out the carpet, prepped the floor, and Adam laid the vinyl. He also did some home efficiency work.... sealing. We are participating in the home efficiency program.....Adam has been busy with that!

We also had a ski weekend at Alyeska with a few friends. We stayed both Friday and Saturday nights, snowboarded on Saturday and Sunday. We had soooooo much fun that I forgot to take pictures. Well I took a few on Adam's camera, so I will have to upload those later. The view from the top of the mountain is absolutely breaktaking on a clear day, it overlooks the Turnagain Arm!!

We were in Iowa over winter break, spent a lot of much-needed time with family and friends. You saw some of the pictures! A big event was getting our puppppppyyyyyyyyyyy! Tundra is one heck of a pup, doing great overall and too stinkin cute! He is a bit of a chewer-including people's hands, but knew better with the kids. He got along great with the dogs at both houses, his energy was a tad annoying for the older dogs! He did really well with accidents.... until we got home (he happens to be an escape artist and had nasty diahrea on an escape day!) I dreaded the plane ride back for days and days... we had two brief layovers (like almost miss the flight- brief) which meant 3 planes...... with a pup on board. He was bigger than we had expected, but still fit in his carry-on bag. HE WAS AWESOME--- he slept most of the time and wined very little! We were pleasantly surprised! At home he has slept all night. Like I said, besides escaping the dog room a couple times and the one pooping disaster- he has been perfect! Angel does very well with him, it's Tundra that needs to chill a bit so he doesn't maul her every time! Tundra and Chena are the best of friends already, they play non-stop!!! He also loves the snow, he will be the perfect Alaskan dog!

We have noticed quite a few shows on Alaska lately. Of course... "Sarah Palin's Alaska"!! There is a new season of "Alaska State Troopers". We also saw one called, "Moose on the Loose"- about urban moose in Anchorage. An "Alaska Wildlife Troopers"or something like that...very interesting. I guess there is a new one on bush pilots. "River Monsters" was in Alaska on the last show- he caught his first salmon EVER and it was taken by a grizzly bear-- which was just wonderful, he taught that bear that people will give it food! We enjoy watching them!

That's all for now. OH-- I posted and update that was clear back from October.... I guess I forgot to click post. Anyway-- you have to look back, but check it out, it has a couple videos. One from the Denali park road and one of salmon in the river.

:)