Sleepover (January 27-28, 2012)

Tustumena 200 Dogsled Race

Tustumena 200 Dogsled Race

Atti's "I'm sorry" face at the Tustumena 200

Atti running on the Kenai Beach

After a long week of teaching and coaching, Friday morning Jon headed north up to Houston/Wasilla in a school bus filled with high school basketball players while I headed south to Seward in a school bus filled with middle school skiers. Jon's team played on Friday, beating Houston. Then, they played on Saturday, beating Wasilla in overtime. My skiers did well, for 8th grade boys, we took 2nd and 4th. For 8th grade girls, we took 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 10th. For 7th grade girls, we took 2nd and 9th. It was a cold afternoon at the meet with temps at zero. We had many chilly kids.

Seeing as though Jon wouldn't be back until late Saturday, I picked up Atti for a sleepover. She slept next to me the whole night and kept me company. We woke up on Saturday morning to -27 degrees. Despite the cold, we went to the annual Tustumena 200 dogsled race held in Kasilof. Atti was overly excited and barked at the sled dogs as they went by, so unfortunately she had to go in the car. She wasn't too happy about that.

After Atti and I wrestled in the living room, we went for a walk on the beach. The temp was about -5, but there wasn't much of a wind and the sun was shining. The mountain range was beautiful. Attie had fun running ahead, burrowing her head in the snow, and sniffing around.

Finally...Some Clouds Bring in Warmer Weather (Jan. 20-22, 2012)

But human is okay? How would a dog owner control this? (A sign posted where we ski.)

Basketball and cross country skiing continues to keep us busy. Jon's team is currently 3-2. My ski team had their first meet in Soldotna on Friday. It was a classic race and they all did well, many of them placing. It was cold all week. Our ski practices every day this past week showed temps around -9, but we were troopers and practiced outside despite the cold.

Sunday finally brought some clouds in making the temps much warmer. We reached a high of 14 today. We went skate skiing in the early afternoon and then took a quick trip down to the beach in the early evening. The Cook Inlet is full of ice chunks. We have been seeing a lot of moose in town, both in Kenai and Soldotna. This is usually a sign of too much snow. The moose are able to find food much easier in town. Although we have not seen too many, we have many snowshoe hares around our house. Their tracks are all over our deck, front yard, and the steps leading up to our side door. I think they are spending some time under our deck as well.

Sunrise- 9:46 AM
Sunset- 4:46 PM

The days continue to get longer!

Bitterly Cold with Lots of Snow...In Our Neck of the Woods and All Over Alaska (Jan. 14-15, 2012)

Attie and Rochelle at the Felchle's

Ice on the Bering Sea: Oil Ship Headed for Nome (Photo taken from the U.S. Coastguard blog)

Road in Valdez, AK (Photo taken by an Anchorage resident)

A Home in Cordova, AK (Photo by Erin Cooper)

A Clear View of Mount Redoubt from Our Place


Last weekend the temps were bitter on the peninsula. We woke up on Saturday morning to temps of -24 without windchill. Outdoor activities we're nonexistent for us over the weekend. Instead we spent some time with our co-worker, Ken Felchle and his dog, Attie (the one we took care of this past summer). It would have been nice to be outside, but it was also nice to lay back and relax.

As many of you probably heard on the national news, certain areas of Alaska are really getting pounded. The Bering Sea was freezing up so that oil on ships could not get to Nome. Fortunately, they brought in ice breaker ships to free the ships carrying the oil from the frozen ice. In some areas the ice was up to 5 feet thick (pictured above). Cordova and Valdez, two towns northeast of us on Prince William Sound, have been hit hard with the snow. They have 15+ feet of snow so far this winter. Two of the above pictures, taken by people in the area, show the snow build up. They are telling parents to warn their children about jumping into snow banks. There is a concern they may not be able to get out.

The Snow Keeps Coming! (Jan. 8, 2012)

School and Jon's basketball practices started back up on Tuesday, January 3rd. Along with that, cross country skiing started up for me. I am co-coaching the middle school cross country ski team. We have 20 kids out for the team. There are all different levels from experienced to never been on skis before. It's a good things there's two of us.

The begin of the week started off cold. Wednesday, after school, it was -22 with windchill. We did not go skiing that day. Instead, we stayed inside and learned how to wax our skis. Late Friday night, the snow hit. It snowed throughout Saturday and into Sunday. In fact, it is still snowing as I am typing this. However, the clouds are clearing and the mountains are finally peaking through.

On Saturday, we drove down to Homer for Jon's team's basketball game. They lost by 8. The roads were not good. They were fairly icy and there was plenty of wind and snow to make conditions not very ideal. Today (Sunday) we were able to get outside. The temps warmed up to 12 degrees. So, with all the snow, we snowshoed down to the beach. We have noticed that the days are indeed getting longer. It is a great feeling!

sunrise: 10:08 AM
sunset: 4:15 PM

At Home (Dec. 18, 2011-Jan. 2, 2012)

It was an extra special Christmas for being home with so much going on with both of our families. Our new nephew, Ty Charles, is an easy keep. There were no complaints as he was passed from person to person during Moravec family Christmas. Myra, our 19-month old niece is a busy body, always on the move. Jon's dad's lungs look great, no cancer! And we have a wedding to looking forward to in June. Mark (Jon's brother) and Kelly will be getting married! Some of you may have already heard the news. Others, maybe not. Jon and I are planning on moving back to the good old midwest this summer. We will have been in Alaska for 3 years. Our original plan was anywhere from 2-5 years. So, we did it. It has been a great adventure and neither of us would trade in the experiences that we have had up here thus far. It is time; time for the next adventure. We are hoping to settle in northwest Wisconsin, not far from my parents or Jon's. But, we'll see what life throws us. Meanwhile, we plan on soaking up some more Alaska explorations in the next 6 months.