do the cha-cha

My sister Rachel suggested I share more videos on here. This one is from a year ago. This was part of G.'s nightly bedtime routine for the longest time. It got out that last bit of energy, and was always really funny to watch! I think I may have even gotten up on the bed and done it with her a time or two! ☺

a year ago...

...she learned to blow bubbles with her bubble gum...


and I never shared this funny video of it! :)

Dog Sledding - K-9s For Kids

No matter how much we may hate the bitter cold of winter, and wish for summer almost daily, this is what makes it all worth it!
The base here has a program called K-9s for Kids. It is a day of dog sledding that provides a way for kids to experience the thrill of racing their own team of dogs.The first hour was a classroom instruction on dog mushing and what it takes to have your own dog mushing team. Gwyneth learned what it takes to be a Jr. Sprint musher. The next two hours all the kids in the group each had a turn driving a two-dog team over a .5 mile course.
All by themselves! There was a snow machine in front, sort of leading the dogs, but other than that it was all the dogs and the kids!
Gwyneth learned the different commands for the dogs.
go: "HIKE!"
stop: "Whoa!"
turn right: "Gee!"
turn left: "Haw!"
She said it was "AWESOME!"


Waiting her turn. She was one of the last to go. They wanted to tire out the dogs by letting some of the bigger kids go first, that way when the smaller kids drove the team they would be easier to control.
It was about -5° while we were out there. We kept the truck running and the heater on high and kept sitting in there to warm up every few minutes.


At -5° it is absolutely necessary to cover any skin that would be exposed! It feels like a million tiny needles pricking your skin without covering. I remember from last year! Gwyneth later told us that goggles would have been good too. We'll remember next time.

She's up!

A few last minute instructions...

And they're off!

She made it!

Here's a little video clip of her coming in:

Yes, that's me in the corner of the frame taking pictures. It was so cold outside, my camera battery died! Right at the end! So the last picture I included is cropped and zoomed in a little!

Up next: Gwyneth's first time ice skating! (And Daddy & Mommy's first time back on skates in YEARS!)

Misc...

On a walk last week. Love all the trees!

I know it's been a while...so here's a post about what's been up...
Life is staying fairly full for us... But not too full...
Well maybe for David. He is working some long hours, due to an inspection of sorts at the hospital and is busy with school as well. He is also going to an NCO board (Non Commissioned Officer evaluation of sorts...TEST... hee hee) this coming month too! He had a physical fitness test this morning (he passed) and his whole section is moving to a new hospital in June. He's quite a busy guy.
AWANA
AWANA is on a break until the fall. Closing ceremony and awards were a couple weeks ago. Gwyneth was the only SPARK who received the review patch this year. That means that she went through the SPARKS handbook twice. She memorized 31 Bible verses (recited them all twice) and can recite all the names of the books of the New Testament. We are incredibly proud of her!
GYMNASTICS
Gymnastics is going good. (The video above is from March when Gwyneth climbed all the way to the top of the rope! One of the skills you must attain to join the team.) At the end of the season (end of March) Gwyneth was evaluated by her coach and it was determined that her and two other girls on her team would be able to advance to level 3. Level 3 is not necessarily a competition level gymnastics. Level 4 is the first official level of compulsory competition in the USA Gymnastics competitive system. She will have the chance to go to Anchorage at least once this year and do a sort of competition. She is surprisingly very excited about it. Not too nervous. She is doing incredibly well at keeping up with some of the more advanced girls. Her practice times increased. She goes 3 days a week for 2 hours at a time. (Our financial commitment increased as well...)
I'm keeping busy taking Gwyneth to and from all her activities. We go to the library and the grocery store a lot. ha! I'm cooking more often...just about every night. I've cut out most of the junk. Incorporating more vegetables (real, whole foods!) and buying organic when possible. I've learned a lot about food and organics...Also about some of the dangerous ingredients in some of the things we use daily...i.e. makeup, hair products, cleaning products...it's incredible!
KNITTING
I'm still knitting...I finished David's scarf! (will post a picture soon.) After many breaks, and what I thought were mess-ups, and many trips to the yarn store for help from the very friendly and knowledgeable store owner Janene , I can proudly say it is finished. I love it! It's SO soft!
I am currently working on a bag for me. It's going to be knit and felted, and will replace my current bag made of PVC. :o)
The weather is warming up here. It is currently 51 as I type. It's reached 60 a few times these past few weeks. We got our first rain in 6 months the other day. It was nice. It kinda cleaned the streets up a bit. Now my car is a different story! ha! All the ice and snow from winter did a job on it! We'll get it cleaned soon enough!

We are getting close to 16 hours of daylight now. The sun rises around 5AM and sets close to 11PM! It's the wildest thing!
We put Gwyneth to bed and the sun is still shining bright! I've been having a hard time going to bed with the sun still up. We are going to be wimps and make some curtains for the bedrooms. Most native Alaskans have no problem with the prolonged daylight, and sleep just fine without shades. We're not quite there yet!
I hope to get back to posting more regularly again. I've taken a lot of pictures and am thinking of just posting a couple a day...We'll see!

Dog Sled Ride

On MLK Day the ski lodge here on base offered the opportunity to take a dog sled ride. Normally it is $5 a person to ride, but since it was a holiday, it was free. We had been wanting to take Gwyneth to one of these for a while but the last time they offered them it was -18°. We figured they would have canceled it, but found out this day that they still had the rides. Amazing!

Here are a few things I didn't expect:

• the dogs to be so energetic and LOUD! I took some video to record the noise they were making. It was incredible. They wanted to GO!
• I didn't expect the dogs to be so strong and fast!
• And last but most certainly not least...the SMELL! OH MY GOSH! It was the most horrible smell I have ever smelled. It took a lot to get over that and actually enjoy the ride.
  

And enjoy we did...The first ride we were all three able to ride in the same sled. David in back, then me, and then Gwyneth. David said he spent the entire ride ducking behind my head to shield him from the wind. Gwyneth was all bundled up and thoroughly enjoyed it! I took video of the ride.
Gwyneth wanted to go again, and they said you were allowed to go as many times as long as the dogs were not tired. So just her and Daddy went on the 2nd ride, while I stayed behind and took pictures of their departure and arrival. Here are the resulting pictures. I'm going to try and post the two videos too, but be warned: they are very large files and may take a while to load. Start to load them, grab a cup of coffee and come back and enjoy! Hope you all are well! Take care!

Back on track...

It was absolutely necessary to be covered like this! The wind was so cold! Like needles pricking your skin!

*Here are two videos. Be warned: they are very large files and may take a while to load. Start to load them, grab a cup of coffee or tea and come back and enjoy! Hope you all are well! Take care!*