http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9PXFmKxNZo

Check out my sissie's blog. She's writing a book and it is awesome.  Click here to go to her blog then read the right column where she has her summary.

Sleep Flying

We all have our talents.  I always knew he was super!!
Totally random sidebar, it's Friday night and rather than enjoying the evening together as a family, Cannon is at some overnight scout camp.  By the end of the day, my patience is worn and I get after Caleb sometimes when he's just being curious or playful...or making loud banging noises.  Since Cannon isn't here to help, I had decided McDonald's playland would be the perfect solution.  Just as I walked out the door, my friend Carie called.  Her hubby wasn't due back for hours and she needed relief as well.  Her boy, Kai, is almost Caleb's age and they play perfectly together.  So we ate dinner and let the boys rough house.  It was 1000 times better than McDonalds on a Friday night!  Thank goodness for friends.

craigslist friends

we had the great opportunity to meet the coolest retired couple, jim and donna.  they were selling pedestals for a washer and dryer on c-list.  we hit it off when we bought them.  they invited us back.  last night we had a wonderful time getting acquainted.  very interesting conversation and yummy hors d' oeuvres made for an enjoyable evening.  they loved watching caleb tear through the house, although i did try to keep him under close watch.  they had toys for him to play with and a-b-c chicken nuggets.  they are really living life to the fullest.  they keep themselves in good health, get along well, enjoy meeting new people, and keep themselves open to new adventures. it was refreshing and inspiring to visit with them.  who knew c-list would afford us new friends? you never know!.. 

IDITAROD

Saturday was the day for the ceremonial start of the Iditarod in Anchorage.  I don't recall where the actual start takes place but the race ends in Nome.  It is a grueling 1049 mile race.  Each year the racers run through Anchorage at the end of the "Fur Rondy" week--a big celebration of winter fun and fur auctions, snow bowling, car racing, the running of the reindeer, etc.  For the Iditarod ceremonial run, there are 5 points in Anchorage to see the dogs and racers as they glide through town.  We chose a quieter spot so that we could see and hear the dogs up close. (Once again, I'm having no luck uploading video so pics will have to do.)

The dogs were very beautiful and very focused.  A few curious ones got out of step but it was rare to see them dart out of place.

Where'd those dogs go?

After a while waiting for each sled team to come through was too uneventful, and Caleb had a ball on the playground.

Every now and then, he'd stop playing to wave at the mushers as they passed!
There he is, the man himself, Lance Mackey, winner of the '07 and '08 Iditarod. He's predicted to win this year as well.  (He won the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year...he is not human.)  It was rad to see him...we all cheered very loud for him!

 Some interesting things we discovered:

*Spectators are not allowed to bring their dogs to watch the mushers, for obvious reasons

*The dogs and sleds are much smaller than I imagined.  The dogs are all muscle.

*The dog teams were very quiet--never barked.

*The racers know their dogs by name and would call out to them if they got out of step.

*The dogs wear booties and the tradition is for racers to throw booties to the children. It's like the Alaskan version of a parade except with dog booties being thrown rather than candy. But the racers pick and choose when to throw 1 or 2 of booties.  So the kids sit on the sidelines and chant "bootie, bootie".  The first time Caleb got booties thrown at him me and Cannon were kind of bewildered.  He got 5-6 of them, which was a huge haul.

*I hadn't thought about it, but the contestants are standing on the back of those skinny sleds for 1, 049 miles...talk about endurance.  

*In the Lance Mackey pic you can see a lady sitting in the sled. She's a tourist who entered a raffle and won a ride through Anchorage with his team.  Each sled (there are 70+ racers this year) had a tourist riding in it.  

There is a lot more to learn about the Iditarod and we had a great time seeing the teams up close.  If you all want some winter excitement, come on up for the Fur Rondezvous and Iditarod race.  It's good fun, Alaskan style.

Pointing to where daddy's electric razor goes.

This is where we all eat breakfast together (the monster truck, Lightning, Caleb and myself).

He loves to put our boots on. He's found mine and one is on forward, the other backwards. When we told him to smile because we were taking a picture, he stopped and folded his arms.

Using utmost concentration to eat his ice cream cone. He had a rad ice cream goatee going on...

Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Just because he's grown out of his pajamas, just because these violent orange, terry cloth-ish ones were on clearance doesn't mean his mother should have bought them and dressed him in them.  When his father saw them he implored me to take them back.  I countered with "But look how fuzzy and warm!  Who's going to see them?" I had to run an errand this morning and as I was pushing the shopping cart with Caleb wearing his danger-zone orange pj's I swore that I would burn them because it was just embarrassing...What's more, his father had put on his tennis shoes on over his footies as we were hurrying out the door.  Seriously...

Lesson learned.

None of my videos will post (sooo frustrating). Here are a few pics from the last few days.There is nothing more sweet than tickles, giggles, raspberries and squeals of laughter from Caleb. We love making faces at each other!
We LOVE having daddy home again! He was missed very much! Raspberries are his specialty.
We have been sick for about 3 weeks with colds and Caleb is having a tough time. He was so tired he even fell asleep watching Wall-e. He loves that show and even says "waw-ee".
I got to babysit Eden and McKinley the other day. Caleb made some new friends!

Maybe it's the plaid shirt, maybe it's the belly hanging out...or maybe it's the tape on the diaper, a minor patch job on a tear (diapers aint cheap), that makes me wonder if my son will someday grow up to be a water boy. As long as he knows what the medula oblangata is, I'll be proud of him.

Yesterday he came stomping into the kitchen and had put his boots on all by himself. I praised him and then he hit the floor, wanting to play hide and seek. (If you look close, they are on the wrong foot. He learned that from me...I put his shoes on the wrong feet quite often).

Another comfortable spot to sit and play!
This is becoming a real problem...the high chair days are about over. Sooner than we would like, we will be wrestling him into a booster seat at the table...then pretty soon he'll be grown out of his crib and we'll have to find ways to get him to sleep in his own bed. Oh dear!
Did you ever see a cuter kiddo lounging on the couch?!

Eventually he makes his way over to the chair where I'm sitting and climbs up, then wiggles himself behind me. He loves to do that.Breakfast is never boring...