First winter cabin run of the season

Finally a free and warm weekend to head into the cabin!

Travis has an old Ski-Doo Tundra and the seat was in pretty bad shape. We surprised him with an early birthday present by getting it recovered and customized.



T with new seat for Butterbee



Early birthday present!

The run into the cabin was quite pleasant, sunny and temps right around 0. The kids are becoming driving pros, they were able to keep up with us just fine (of course they weren't pulling cargo sleds behind them). The toughest part was where we had to break trail from the main trail down to the cabin. The Black Hornet ran great though and plowed right through the drifts....great fun!

T talking to Aunt Jenni on speakerphone about his bday lego wish list

Ski-Doo fleet at the cabin

We also got to enjoy the new propane lights Mike and our buddy Tim installed in the fall, they look great and work fantastic!

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day so we played around a bunch on the river with the kids before we had to leave for town. Mike & Travis checked their lynx sets too, but no luck yet....maybe NEXT weekend.

P on Red Racer

T on Butterbee

  We saw a moose and a huge great gray owl on the drive out....NEAT!

This is where I would rather be right now....

Presidents Day Champions

The Fairbanks Phantoms take home another trophy from Anchorage!


Fairbanks Phantoms - Tier III - Squirts (10U)

 

 



 

 

They beat the Anchorage Comets in the Finals 4-2

Signs made by the Team Sisters



Team Dads

Games 2 & 3

Travis was too sick to play in Game #2 against the Chugiak Mustangs (WIN, 2-1), so I didn't take any pictures; but here are some pics from the shooting clinic yesterday and game today vs the South Anchorage Mighty Moose (WIN 3-1).

Some serious defensemen....

Presidents Day Hockey Tournament 2012

Game 1 vs the Kenai Ice Hawks

Travis, Evan & Isaiah

Travis & AT

Travis battling for the puck

Bench Intensity

8-0 WIN over the Ice Hawks

Heading back to the USA

We just spent the last 2 weeks in Jaco, a coastal community on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. The area is known for its surfing and beautiful beaches, both of which we took advantage of!

View of Playa Jaco

Mike, the kids and I took surf lessons with Del Mar Surf School. Great folks! All four of us were successful in getting up and catching several waves; of course Travis and Piper were the best and we ended up renting a couple boards after we took lessons and spent many hours on the South end of Jaco Beach catching waves.

 

We spent New Years in Jaco there and it was great watching all the hotels on the beach try and outdo each other with fireworks.

One afternoon we went out sailing, snorkeling and fishing with Neil of Kayak Jaco. He has a trimaran that we took out of Herradura….Mike caught a Skipjack Tuna (aka black tuna) and a Sierra Mackerel, and Travis caught a Giant Hawkfish. We threw the tuna back (Neil said those ones aren't very edible) but we kept the other two for a tasty dinner. Probably the funniest part was that I gutted and filleted the fish while dressed in my sarong….luckily the ocean is great for cleaning up! We stayed out until sunset then had a nice dinner in Herradura.

T and Capt Neil with a Giant Hawkfish

We spent several days at Hermosa Beach, boogie boarding and shell collecting, with a HUGE highlight of seeing over 50 baby green sea turtles get released from the Turtle Sanctuary there. That was so incredible watching the little guys head out into the sea and the gorgeous sunset.

Hermosa Beach

Another surprise was finding a "hidden" beach you can only access at low tide… It's different than many other local beaches in that it was white sand from ground coral, rather than brown or black from volcanic material.  The best part about this beach were the endless FOSSILS scattered around the shore!  It will be interesting to see what the baggage weighs in at when we go to check in at the airport :)

Fossils on "Secret Beach"

 

Before we left the beach we did our requisite tourist trinket shopping, picking up some things for ourselves and friends, then headed back to the much cooler climate of the Atenas uplands.

We head back to Alaska tomorrow….it it -40F in Fairbanks…..it is going to be a rough change from the +90F at the beach!