We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends, and good food. It is hard to believe that the holidays are among us. We are amazed at how fast the time has flown by.
Our first Thanksgiving in Alaska was fabulous, although it was hard to be away from our families and home. We were lucky to spend the day with our friends, Jenn and Taylor at Jenn's parents home in Eagle River (about miles north of Anchorage). It was all of our first time celebrating Thanksgiving with out parents, as Jenn's were in Mexico and ours were back in CO of course. We are happy to report that it went off with out a hitch! We feasted on all kinds of food as the meal was a giant collaboration of everyones family traditions. Taylor and Jenn took care of the turkey (amongst other yummy things) and did a fabulous job-it was delicious! Our day consisted of cooking all day long, watching football games, eating all of the cookings, drinking good drinks, and watching the snow pile up outside. After we enjoyed the feast we all put our snow gear on and ventured outside to sled around the neighborhood, it was a great way to get rid of the that really full feeling. The rest of the night was spent rockin guitars, basses, and drums while we played Rockband and then we all decided to relax and watch a movie. We felt really lucky to spend the day with such fun friends! They made us feel right at home.
We slept in on Black Friday orignially thinking that we would skip the mad rush of shoppers. Clayton spent a few hours at work that afternoon and when he was done we decided to see if we could find a good deal....3 hours later we came home with some brand new cross country skis and ice skates! REI had a package deal on skis that we couldn't resist. We came home that night and were so excited that we hit the trails in the dark. Luckily, the freshly falling snow lit the trail up and we had a blast. Cross country skiing is new for both of us but we picked it up quick and are loving it. All of the trails around town are groomed for cross country skiing and a lot of them are lit so that we can ski when the suns not up (which is almost all day!) Right now the sun doesn't come up till about 10 am and it sets around 4 pm. We don't notice it much until the weeekends because it is really hard to wake up :) Also, the sun never comes up very high in the sky. It comes up in the south and sets in the south...pretty crazy!
We have since enjoyed our new skis a few times. Anchorage is world famous for the extensive network of trails throughout the city. We have barely scratched the surface but we already have a favorite and that is the Chester Creek River Trail. It is beautiful as it winds through the heart of Anchorage and it is perfect for novice skiers. Soon we plan to ski to some near by ponds to ice skate then ski back home. The city plows the snow on the ponds so people can skate but they avoid plowing the roads... its awesome. We have never had to drive on pure ice in Colorado. CDOT does a much better job of clearing the roads! These Alaskans are crazy. One huge disadvantage here is that the dont use salt on the roads because moose are attracted to it and it would just cause more problems. Anyways...it really is key to get outside to help fight the lack of sun even when its 1 degree outside. Last weekend we straped our new but used hockey skates on and joined Jenn and Taylor at a near by outdoor rink. A lot of the schools in town cover their roller hockey rinks with water, have it freeze and then open them to the public to use. Clayton is a rockstar on the skates and lets just say Ash needs more practice. Its pretty amazing to see the effects of all the snow and freezing weather around town. The ocean freezes! As Gail, one of Ashley's lovely co-workers says, "it looks like a giant frozen margarita". Very true--the chunks of ice slosh around the inlet and from our point of view it really does look like a giant frozen cocktail.
The city is a winter wonderland! Until today...more on that later. Snow lines the streets about 2 feet high. Apparently, November brought record snow fall to Anchorage. They say 35 inches has fallen so far this season...and more to come eventually. There has been so much snow that most of the parking lots in town have huge piles of snow...like 10 feet tall! A trackter piles up the snow, a backhoe puts it into a dump truck and the dumptruck takes it outta town because the snow will never melt! The days have been cold, dropping down into the negatives last week! Ashley's school finally had indoor recess because it was -25 degrees with the windchill-BRR! Today however is a totally different story as the temperatures have warmed due to the Chinkook winds. The warmer temps have brought rain in the place of snow. It has been pouring rain all day. Apparently the only time school is cancelled is for "rain on ice" which means that the roads are iced over and it is raining on top of them. It makes for very dangerous situations as it is virtually impossible to stop.
Clayton is still hard at work for Enterprise. He is enjoying it more and always has entertaining stories about customers he encounters. The weekends off make up for the long hours during the week. It has been great to be together on the weekends to ski, explore more of this great city, and buy a Christmas Tree! We picked one up last weekend and it is the perfect tree...plus it makes our entire floor of our apartment smell delicious! Ash is still loving school. With two more weeks left in the quarter she is busy getting ready to do progress reports and organize for IEP meetings right after break. She can not believe how fast her first year of teaching has gone...1/2 done already. She continues to learn new things everyday from her co-workers, her students and her mentor. Although she loves it she is really looking forward to winter break. She flies into Denver on the 19th and stays till the 29th. She can't wait to spend time with her family and friends! Clayton and his family will spend Christmas together in Seattle this year. Since he doesn't get much time off for the holidays they all made a compromise to meet in Seattle for a couple days. He is looking forward to being with his family and exploring a little bit of the city. It will be a big huge bummer to not be together this holiday but we are both looking forward to spending some good times with our families who we miss very very much!!
As it quickly approachs we wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season. Thank you, as always, for keeping us in your thoughts. We are truly loving life in Alaska and appreciate everyones support.
We send our love to everyone!
All of our best,
clayton&ashley
The boys (Clay and Taylor) playing video games
The big huge pile of snow that landed in the parking lot across the street from our apartment. Made for some fun late night sledding.
King of the snow hill.
Alaskans have no fear--this guy was walking around downtown barefoot and it was 5 degrees outside!
On the way to our Thanksgiving in Eagle River...glad we made it safe!
Ooops...melted the turkey baster. Ran to Walmart to pick up a new one to find out they were sold out. Double bummer
Thanksgiving. We loved the deviled eggs.
More eggs please!
Yumm.....can someone please pass the stuffing? We had enough to feed a small village.
The turkey!!! It was scrumdiddlyumpious.
The ultimate kids table. Jenn in the back, Ash, Clay, Chelcie (Jenn's sister) and Michael (Chelcies boyfriend). Taylor took the picture....
The feast.
So much snow.
We played in it for hours.
Brrrr...out skiing!
Ashley's new skis!
Tearin through the trail.
Clay on his skis.
Making her own trail.
Ooops!
The giant frozen margarita with the 'sleeping lady' in the background.
Skatin! Ash, Jenn & Chelcie.
Show us your moves.
He was a pro.
Cold & cute Jenn and Taylor.
Bringin home the tree!
Anchorage = Winter Wonderland!
Snow, snow, and more snow.
This is at the frolf course....so pretty!
Merry Christmas everyone!
<3 c&a
