One word sums up our holidays this year...memorable. There are many things that made this year special including Grandmom Markus and the Quintangeli family traveling 5,000 miles to be with us, Asa's 5th birthday, and our first Christmas in Alaska. There was one event that made sure memories from this year will stick. Before I get into the details of our fateful snow-cat ride here are a few of the other highlights.
Our week started with celebrating Asa's 5th birthday at Chuck E Cheese's. Asa was thrilled to have his Grandmom, Aunt Barb, Uncle Vince, cousins Michael and Anthony, and SECOND cousins there to celebrate with him. Amy's second cousin Sara Carpenter, her husband Cody and their four children live here in Anchorage, and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. The party theme was Alaska. When you put Amy and Barb together on an Alaskan theme cake...LOOK OUT! It was fantastic.
In between Amy's decadent holiday meals we went to the Christmas Eve service at Cornerstone Church, sledding in the new six inches of Christmas snow, played games (wrestling cousins), shopped, and introduced the Quintangeli's to a new winter sport - cross-country skiing. The clouds were low and heavy during the week so we could not enjoy the views of Alaska's majestic mountains. This is what pushed us to head north. The weather was supposed to be the best on Wednesday so after talking with the folks at Glacier Park we headed to the Matanuska Glacier.
Here is where Christmas 2007 gets burned into the memory. With the cold temperatures and snow we decided to take the snow-cat ride to the base of the glacier and then enjoy a bit of time taking pictures of the aquamarine cracks around the glacier's terminus. All nine of us piled into the 1965 diesel cat and headed across the frozen landscape with Bill as our tour guide. As we
neared the glacier, Bill decided to drive up a rise off of the flat, frozen lake at the base of the glacier. As we tilted up the back end cracked through the ice. Looking out of the window of the now silent cab we all could see broken ice floating in WATER! As Bill tried to get out of the hole we ended up track deep in a hole of broken ice and water. After a few more tries we all offloaded except for Grandmom. Bill felt it was safer to keep her in the cat. After a few more tries and Amy's mild panic attack about Grandmom's precarious position, I offered to take Bill back to the park office to get his snow machine and chainsaw. Vince and Barb stayed with Grandmom (who was the calmest of the whole crew) in the half-sunk cat and the rest of us hiked out to the cars.
I rode with Bill back to the snow-cat. Grandmom enjoyed her first snow-machine ride back to the car as Barb, Vince and I hiked out. Bill returned to the cat forgetting they put Grandmom's purse in the back of the snow-machine. Vince and I hiked back to the cat to get the purse while the others went back to the park office for hot chocolate. As Vince and I got back to the snow-cat Bill had the thing out of the hole and ready to go. I rode the sled back while Vince hitched a ride with Bill. We all arrived at the park office and enjoyed the warm building and hot chocolate and coffee. Bill and his wife were gracious and apologetic about the whole thing. This great day was not done yet. Asa dumped a whole cup of hot chocolate over himself and the park office. The final kicker was losing the keys to our car just prior to our departure from the park! Good thing it got dark so early so that the asteroid couldn't see the targets we had painted on us.
The rest of the week was spent sledding, cross-country skiing, shopping and eating of course. What made this Christmas special was spending it with our family. Thank you Grandmom, Vince, Barb, Michael and Anthony for making the trip and life-long memories!
Taking advantage of the wealth of great outdoor activities and events here in Anchorage has been a highlight of the winter. Last weekend the Lions Club in Eagle River sponsored an Ice Fishing Derby at Mirror Lake about 20 minutes north of Anchorage. It was a crisp, clear day with temperatures struggling to get above zero. This well planned event provided poles, bait, drilled holes, hot dogs, hamburgers, and hot chocolate...all free of charge. We did not know quite what to expect, but within a few minutes Jackson hooked an eight inch trout and big smile to go with it. Asa had one up to the top of the hole, but when it felt the cold air it wiggled free of the hook and made it back down into the "warm" water. Without much more action we stayed until our feet felt like blocks of ice. Jackson was very proud of his fish. We enjoyed fresh trout with eggs for breakfast the next morning.
Just yesterday we entered the Cardboard Sled Derby at Kincaid Park sponsored by the city's Parks and Recreation department. There were three different divisions and two classes of prizes. We actually won the Family Class for creativity. Obviously Jackson had a lot to do with the design of the sled. He was very specific about how it should be painted (referring to his growing dinosaur book collection). Good winter fun was had by all!
