Iditarod 2013

I love the Iditarod.  It's so crazy.  And I finally got to go up to see the official start in Willow.  I've been to the ceremonial start in Anchorage several times, but then all the mushers pack up, drive up to Willow, and the next morning, they start the real Iditarod trail (1049 miles... though the actual distance varies based on the trail for the year, they always say 1049 because of Alaska's 49th state status).  Willow is a TINY little town and the official race start takes place on Willow lake  You heard me.  It's ON the lake.  So people snowmobile out there if they want, people set up ice fishing tents, and they actually light fires on the lake.  (Scientifically, I really still can't figure this out.  How do the fires not just flood or burn through the ice until the wood falls into the lake?  As I was commenting on this, one guy explained: "If you pour enough gas onto it, anything will burn."  I'm still confused.)

Above is Dallas Seavey.  He won last year and become the youngest racer to ever win the Iditarod.  This year was exciting.  Martin Buser (who has won in the past) took his mandatory 24-hour rest within the first 72 hours and thought he'd blast through to the end.  At one point, he was 16 hours ahead of everyone else (even counting their 24-hour layovers).  But he burned out and the race became between Aliy Zirkle (came in second last year) and Mitch Seavey (Dallas' dad who has also won the race before).  At the second to last checkpoint (which was 7 days into the race), these two were only 19 minutes apart.  Mitch (pictured below) won the race. 

We took the obligatory "kids at the Iditarod race start" so they can remember forever that they were there for such an historic event.  Which is probably good, because they spent the rest of the time playing in the snow and eating snacks and would have been as happy in our backyard if we had fresh snow.  But they had a really good time.  

 

The collection of furs at the Iditarod is entertaining (you'll notice I tried to fit in with my orange hunting hat).  This first man with the beard is my favorite picture I took at the Iditarod.  

Then there's this hat.  Check out that mouth!

This guy's not even trying.

To get to Willow for the Iditarod, we drive an hour north, park in a school parking lot, and ride a school bus the last hour to Willow.  The bus was an event in itself and the girls had a blast.  The first picture is the "before" picture and the second one is the "after."  As you can see, the girls were still in pretty good spirits when the long day was done.  They're at such a fun age.  

 

 

I did feel a bit strange about the bus home from Willow, however.  We were there to cheer on, high five, and wish well several mushers as they started their 1000-mile journey to Nome.  It was exciting.  It was a party.  It was cold.  And then we got on a nice warm bus to head to our nice, warm houses.  And they would be stuck, alone in the wilderness, for the next 8+ days.  But they signed up for it (and that is something I NEVER want to do).  So off they went and we all had a blast!

Catch-Up: Train Depot & Tom's Birthday

On Saturday, February 9, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (which sends each of my kids a book a month from birth until their fifth birthday... see if your area has it available here) hosted an event around the book My Little Train, which is one of my girls' favorites that they have received from Dolly.  The event was at the Train Depot.  A real conductor did a reading of the book.  Sabrina got a front-row seat.

The girls made conductor hats and cute little train crafts.  The girls took both of these very seriously.  It was a really fun morning.  And the girls LOVED it.

Tom's mom was generous enough to give birth to Tom around President's Day, so Tom had a 4-day weekend for his birthday.  He turned 30 this year.  For the big 30 celebration, he and I are taking a trip to Victoria this summer, but for his birthday weekend, we headed to the local Natural History museum with a Groupon.  It's a tiny little museum, but the girls had a lot of fun. 

This is a cave bear skeleton.  Don't want to meet a live one.  He had FANGS!

They had a dig pit made of little tiny pieces of rubber with lots of things/bones to dig up.  The girls spent a great deal of time in the pits.  

They wore the mountains like hats and Sabrina even took to making snow angels.

After the museum, we went to Red Robin and then drove around a bit to take some pictures.  And a few moose decided to wish Tom a happy birthday as well.

Tom has transitioned into a 30-year-old easily.  No midlife crises or sudden awareness of mortality.  Seems like just another birthday.  Happy Birthday, Tom!

Running of the Reindeer (VIDEO!)

The Running of the Reindeer is an ancient Alaska tradition dating to about 6 years ago. It's one of the big attractions at the annual Fur Rondy celebration, which leads into the start of the Iditarod race. We had wanted to see it in previous years but hadn't been able to. In past years when we've gone to Rondy the girls have got too cold so we can't stick around for the reindeer run. This year we decided they are more accustomed to the cold so we could stay and watch, but then we ended up running in it ourselves. (Thanks Beth!) Since this is Iditarod 41 and the 77th annual Fur Rondy we assumed the running of the reindeer had been around for as long, since we've been for for 3+ years and it's always been around, but when we got our t-shirts it said "6th Annual Running of the Reindeer." 

So for those unfamiliar with the concept, it's basically exactly like the Running of the Bulls in Spain, except for the lack of honor, tradition, and danger. And, as if running with the reindeer weren't cool enough in itself, everyone dresses like a buffoon to do so. So Marel and I donned some overstated Alaska trapper garb joined the ranks.

This picture is pretty indicative, showing everyone from Santa Claus and some leprechauns, Darth Vader in a Raiders helmet, at least 2 Angry Birds, a horse in a hoodie, and some guys without costume who are wondering why I'm taking their picture.

A significant proportion were wearing very little, though they were lucky this year that it was a balmy 35 and sunny, since most years it would be in the 20s.

There seemed to be a few thousand people running the race, and as many or more watching. It was also broadcast on TV by cameras on the ground and in helicopters.

The countdown was even done by the mayor, seen here with radio DJs and hockey players.

As we were waiting at the starting line they paraded the reindeer up and through the crowd to take their positions at our rear.

Thanks to Travis, who let me wear a headcam, and then edited and posted the video, you can all experience the thrill and ecstasy of running down 4th Avenue with 10 reindeer and a whole bunch of idiots!

Home Photo Anti-Studio

Back in November JCPenney was doing free family portraits, so we went in, hoping we would get a family picture in the style of a recent JCP catalog: colorful, minimalist, quirky. We were led to believe they would look something like this:

Instead they put us in front of an old brown sponge-painted background and we got pictures that looked like they were taken at Olan Mills in 1989. The photographer put us in unnatural poses and took one single picture in each pose, so of course we didn't get one in which we all look good. Our best option was one in which Celia is kind of smiling but not looking at the camera, Sabrina is looking at the camera but not smiling, and Marel and I both look a little dorky.

So we took our free 8x10 and bought a couple 5x7s of solo shots of the girls to give to their grandparents and went home disillusioned. Why is the photo studio model so antiquated? Why can they only take 20 pictures of us? We know from experience that when taking pictures of our kids we need to take one or two hundred to get 5 or 6 good ones. It made sense when they shot on film, when every picture they took cost a measurable, non-negligable amount. But nowadays, unless I'm missing something, each picture they take only costs the amount of electricity it takes to light the flash and move a couple megabytes through a wire to the computer. Prints can still cost an arm and leg, I have no real problem with that, but why can't they take more pictures to give us more to choose from, and increase the odds of getting a good one? In a day when amateurs like ourselves have a camera that can take 6 shots per second and holds 2,600 photos at 15 megapixels there's no reason we need to play the odds at getting one good shot out of only 20 photos.

I looked online and found that on Amazon one can purchase lights and a backdrop for around the cost of one or two photo packages at a studio. Rather than going to a studio every year or two, where the kids are a little weirded out by the photographer putting them in unusual positions and trying to make them smile, I figured we could do it at home whenever we want. If we don't get any good pictures one day, oh well, we can try again next week. It was genius.

Marel talked me out of it, but then told our parents that I wanted it for Christmas. So lately we've been testing it out by photographing the babies of friends of ours who have been born in recent weeks and months. Here we are on our first try with cousin Hazel.

Of course after seeing us take so many pictures of the babies, Celia and Sabrina want to get in on the action as well. We haven't done a planned photo shoot with them yet, but they have jumped in front of the camera when we've had it set up for the babies. Even when they're just messing around we've taken some pretty decent shots of them.

Also, for my birthday my parents got me a new lens. It adds noticeable clarity to the photos, as opposed to the two above taken with the basic kit lens.

By the way, they choose their own clothes. We don't dress them up like this.

So far we're pleased with the results, though we have yet to find out whether we can get good shots of the girls when they're dressed up and we're actually trying.

In addition to our home studio setup, now that the girls have a cousin nearby, we've taken to recreating old family pictures. Here is an old photo of young Taylor holding baby Marel, which we recreated with young Sabrina holding baby Hazel.