Ski day

D, Boyd and I headed up to the Glen Alps trail head to enjoy our first family x-c ski outing of the season. The rec area is about a 10 minute drive up the hillside from our house - it leads to both Flat Top Mountain and Powerline Pass, which is where we decided to go. It felt to great to be on skis for the first time this season, and I realized how much I missed this wintertime activity.

Boyd was dressed super warm, as you can see below, but it wasn't very cold when we left our house. I would say the temperature was hovering around 20 degrees. However, when we got out on the trail that parallels the power lines (hence the name "Powerline Pass") the wind picked up in the valley and just blew us all over the place. Luckily the Chariot keeps the wind out and Boyd was fine, but D and I got the brunt of it. We managed to stick it out for an hour or so, which is a lot less than we would have liked - we used to ski for 2-3 hours straight, pre-baby!

I really love my Skhoop skirts - the one I'm wearing here is a lighter-weight version (since it was above 20 degrees) and I have the sides zipped up a bit to account for the range of motion when skiing.

Thankfully D did all the Chariot-pulling on this excursion and I got to ski baby-free. It's a pretty strenuous workout to pull the Chariot plus a 27 pound toddler and his gear!

Boyd's mitts are a new purchase. They're Stonz toddler mittens that go all the way up past his elbows - fleece-lined with cinches at the wrist and bottom. They stay on so much better than regular gloves and are used when we're going to be out in the cold for a longer length of time.

You can see all of Anchorage from up here! Amazing views.

Boyd - 22.5 months

6 more weeks until Boyd's 2nd birthday! Not quite sure what to plan for this celebration - quiet event at home or invite people over? We'll probably do something at home and schedule an outing to the zoo or museum as a fun family treat.

• Boyd has been saying "mail" quite a bit. What's funny is that it is probably the clearest and most succinct word he has uttered to date. He really pronounces the "l," where usually he drops the last consonant from his words. D reports Boyd has also been saying "bail" and "whale."
• We have finally achieved two-word phrases, used fairly consistently. His favorites are "uh oh, mama," "more, dada (or mama)," and any combo of those with "no" and "please." We heard "uh oh, banana" for a while, which was good for a laugh.
• He has pretty much perfected his "feed the puppy" routine - from getting the lid off, filling the hard hat, presenting it to Drift, putting everything away and then closing the pantry door. He's a great all-around helper - always wanting to assist us with everyday tasks.
• A kitty obsession has emerged. He's leading us upstairs to look for the cat or asking for Little Dude. A lot of gentle petting, nose touching and ear poking ensues after we find him.
• D, Boyd and I met up with friends to check out the "Zoo Lights" at our local zoo on the Friday after Christmas. It was pretty chilly (below 10 degrees) and windy, so I wasn't sure how long Boyd would last. Many of the animals were tucked inside their dens and houses, but we were able to see the wolves, moose, caribou, eagles, mountain goats and snow leopards. The leopards were Boyd's favorites! Big smiles when we came up to their enclosure. He kept saying "kitty!" and pointing. Once we left the zoo and got him to the car, Boyd starting screaming - we thought he was cold, but when I asked him what was wrong he cried, "kitty, kitty!"
• Boyd is signed up for 2 toddler classes in the new year. We're continuing the Monday gymnastics sessions (which I'll take him to) and then my mom will bring him to music class on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. Gymnastics runs through mid-May while Music Together is an 8-week program.
• For the New Year's, the boys arrived home in the afternoon after a 2-day deer hunting and fishing trip in Prince William Sound. No shots fired, but it's nice for them to head out of town for some guy time. My mom had her own plans, but Risha and Gabe had dinner with us after which we celebrated Gabe's birthday. After Boyd went down to sleep, we all headed into our hot tub - which amazingly CAN hold up to 4 people. I think we were in there for 2 hours and finally ran into the house with 15 minutes to spare before midnight!

Fishing puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Patrick. He caught on pretty quickly - you have to use the magnetic pole to pick up the puzzle pieces. His favorites are the turtle, crab and whale.

This wolf at the zoo was totally focused on Boyd - it licked it's lips and was staring hard! When we walked, it was totally tracking us and couldn't take it's eyes off of Boyd.

Snow leopard enclosure - so happy!

He's pretty skilled with the toddler spoon and fork now.

Boyd and I on a neighborhood walk last weekend while D and Gabe went hunting/fishing in PWS.

The sweetest little face - pretty lucky that he's all mine.

We took the opportunity to visit Kaleidoscape, a local indoor play place. I purchased a promo card so our visits are approximately $6.50 as opposed to $10.

Outside of Kaleidoscape - good thing he isn't aware that the helicopter moves, I didn't have any quarters.

Happy birthday Uncle Gabe!

Joint New Year's/Birthday celebration. Risha made Gabe's favorite - pineapple upside cake.

Kitty peeping in on Boyd in the bath.

Christmas memories - part 3

A few more pictures from our Santa visit earlier in the month...

Santa is actually a very nice man named Poppy. He and his wife run one of the seasonal campgrounds by the water in the coastal city of Seward (2.5 hours away from Anchorage). I told him we'd try to come and see him next summer! I've known him from many years, ever since we hired him to come to my workplace annually in December. He's THE BEST Santa. So sweet and always knows just what to say to the kids.

Boyd was SO MAD when we sat down with Santa. OMG!

OK, all better now.

Christmas memories - part 2

More photos from Christmas morning!

D was a gift-giving rockstar this year. He gave me extremely thoughtful presents - some that I didn't even expect. I was really touched.  Boyd wasn't too into opening gifts - he would rip the paper once we prompted him. His favorite gift of the day? The $0.50 pack of crayons that D slipped into Boyd's stocking. It was really comical to see our kid pass over the cool stuff we bought him, just to go back to coloring!

The magic of Christmas morning. Daddy put crayons in everyone's stockings, so Boyd got to check them all out.

A mini-Drift figurine from Daddy! Crayons in hand.

Seriously, all he wanted to do was play with the crayons all morning.

Cool Pillow Pet from Grandma and Grandpa Patrick. I love these things - Boyd sleeps with his every night.

Na na na na na na na Batman (hat)!

Unveiling our big gift for the kiddo...

Melissa and Doug wooden play kitchen! It took me hours to put together (by hand). I'm sure D could have completed it faster but I'm glad I did it.

He likes it!

We also got him some nice wooden kitchen accessories, and added some play food that he already had in the house.

Super cool learning toy from Jim & Barbara. He loves the buttons. :-)

Big thanks to our families and friends for the gifts and edible treats that we received. So generous of you all to think of us, and especially to provide wonderful gifts to our son. We love you all!

Christmas memories - part 1

Christmas was really lovely. A quiet one, and we were missing Gabe (who was on the slope), but nice nonetheless. My mom and sister joined us on Christmas Eve for our annual holiday jambalaya dinner. This is the 3rd or 4th year that D has cooked up this dish on December 24th, so I think it's officially a Patrick family tradition! The next day they were back again and we relaxed while a prime rib slow-cooked in the oven. Dinner was so delicious: prime rib, mashed potatoes, zucchini, brussels sprouts, and cherry pie/ice cream for dessert. And of course, watching a marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TV!

These are just a few of the photos from Christmas Eve/Day - the rest are on my regular camera. Will download those soon!

Boyd assisted me in putting together his big Christmas present! He's a super technical toddler - something he gets from both the Whalens and Patricks in his family.

Holy moly - for those of who think our kid is a perfect angel all of the time, I present to you: this photo from Christmas Eve. Boyd was super cranky after a late nap that we had to cut short. 

He finally calmed down and helped Risha draw some kitties at the counter.

A great present from his great x2 Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jim. He loves this learning toy! His new play kitchen is in the foreground of the photo.

Modeling Risha's fun hat.

This was so funny - we took a few selfies with Risha holding up her mustache finger tattoo to Boyd, then.....

...he held up his finger to his own nose to imitate her!

Uncle Gabe very helpfully purchased a disc-shooting gun for Boyd to torment his parents with.

Kisses to Grandma Mim and Grandpa Don for Boyd's cool new Batman hat! Super warm and snuggly with room to grown.

Friday update

So much snow has arrived - we're flush with it! Two big snowfalls within a week, with very cold below-zero temperatures in between. I am hopeless when it comes to estimating depths. I'll say to D, "what do you think we got, like 6 inches?" And he'll reply, "Audry, that's at least a foot of snow." Rish and Gabe got a snow blower, so Gabe stopped by to do our driveway. What a guy!

I waited until after we visited Santa to start on our Christmas cards, so we'll be a bit behind on getting those out. But not to worry, you all will receive a card chock-full of adorable little Boyd photos!

My friend at work took this camera phone photo of my boy and I after meeting Santa.

Other news: we have a new CEO at my workplace, a dynamic lady from out of state. Really have high hopes that she'll re-energize our staff and bring morale up! We also filmed some TV commercials this week to promote one of our service lines - those spots will start airing next week.

On the travel front, D, Boyd and I will hop on an airplane and visit San Diego to see some of my family members. Wish us luck with this new experience!

Being silly. The thing he's sitting on is a PlasmaCar. I got it for free (plus free shipping!) from Pampers Rewards. All of those diaper codes finally paid off.

Trying to stay warm in cold Alaskan weather. We've been reminding Boyd to put his hands in his pockets when it's cold.

My supper club met this week  Great minds apparently think alike, because 4 out of 8 of us gave a gift having something to do with a mason jar! It was funny to see all the canning jars being exchanged. There were jars filled with candy, hot chocolate mix with snowman poop (marshmallows), and even a redneck wineglass (mason jar with a candlestick base). I packaged a Starbucks hot chocolate packet with a mini bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme (the liquor store sales girl didn't blink an eye when I asked for 10 mini bottles of the stuff) inside of a jar, complete with daisy-cut metal lid, striped straw and holiday tag.

My holiday gift to friends at work.

The good stuff to go in the jars!

Boyd did this all by himself! We looked down and he had pulled all of the bottles out to line them up in a curve.

Boyd has been teething for the last couple weeks, plus this week he picked up a cold from somewhere. Those nights of uninterrupted sleep have been few and far between lately! Last night he was just so restless, tossing and turning with a stuffy nose and asking for water every 15 minutes. I tried to sleep on the couch with Boyd but we were both pretty exhausted this morning. D and Gabe left super early to take the boat out for a winter hunting trip to Prince William Sound. Please send good vibes their way for a successful and safe deer hunt!