The Great Outdoors

Summer is here in Alaska and the Frick Jrs decided it was time to get outside and enjoy all the great things that the Alaskan countryside has to offer. Unfortunately, it has been a pretty cool and cloudy summer so far. It has barely broken 60 degrees! We're hoping that as July rolls around, it will warm up a little.

We went up to Eklutna Lake a few weekends back. Jessica and the kids and some of her friends stayed the night and camped, but I had a hockey game and couldn't stay the night. Still, I was there long enough to take Connor for a short walk practice. It goes to show how fast he's growing though, because now he walks everywhere and he doesn't want to hang on to anyone when he does.


On Father's Day, we drove up to the mine at Hatcher's Pass in Palmer. It is w-a-y up on a mountainside and, as you can plainly see, there is still a great deal of snow up there. It'll all melt just in time for it to snow again. The area is an old gold mine from back in the 1930's, I think. Its a pretty cool site, if you're into that kind of history thing. They have recreated a lot of the old buildings. It is definitely beautiful up there and worth the drive.


Here is Kierin at Hatcher's Pass. There is a huge mountian directly behind him, but it was so foggy and cold you can't really see too far in the distance. It is so pretty up there on a sunny day, but with the fog you can kind of imagine what it was like back in the 1930's when people who lived and worked up there were pretty much cut off from the rest of the world.


This is a marmat. I don't know what exactly it is, it looks like kind of a beaver or something. Anyway, Hatcher's Pass is lousy with these things. They come out of the ground and chitter at Nudge until he looks at them and then they run away and laugh at him...


There are many things to do at Hatcher's Pass, but Kierin's favorite activity is what he calls "water rocks." Basically, he gathers up a lot of fist sized rocks and throws them in the water. Pretty simple, but he LOVES it! I actually think its kinda fun myself. Right after this picture was taken, Kierin's pants fell down!

Tri and Tri Again

Jessica took part in the Eagle River Triathlon yesterday. She participated with two other ladies, each of them taking one leg of the race. Jessica took the swimming leg, where she had to race 500 meters or ten laps in the pool at Chugiak High School. She completed her part of the race in only 9 1/2 minutes! That's pretty fast!

The other Frick Jrs were all there to cheer her on!

Ocean Festival 2008

Today was the annual Ocean Festival on the Park Strip in Anchorage. The Frick Jrs attended for the first time and had a great time partaking of the kids' rides, the carnival food (gyros!), and the free music. The purpose of the Festival is to create environmental awareness, especially of the role the oceans play in the health of the planet.


Before we went to the Ocean Festival, we visited the Home Depot where Kierin participated in the monthly kid building activity. Last month he built a pencil box. This month, as you can see, the kids built model catamarans. Next month: bird houses!


One of the kids' rides available was a bucking salmon. It was a pretty popular attraction and immediately drew Kierin's attention, as he is a huge fan of bull riding (believe it or not). Kierin put to use all the lessons he learned from watching Professional Bull Riding on the Vs Channel and held on for dear life, although he did not last 18 seconds.




The centerpiece of the Festival is the 2500 gallon kayak tank that is sponsored by REI. Here Kierin kayaks for the very first time ever. I was curious to try it, too, but would've felt silly as the water was only knee deep.


Connor watches big brother ride the salmon as he attempts to remove his sandal.


Finally, Kierin was not the only one who tried out the festival activities. Jessica scrambled up the rock climbing truck like a little monkey!

The Six Most Feared Words of a Father...

are "Your Son Is Good At Soccer."

Seriously, though, Kierin just started soccer and he seems to really enjoy it, so I guess that I will be OK and support him in it. I don't think that they play any games against other kids, but they have practices twice a week and they spend a lot of time running around and scrimmage. Plus, he is so cute in his little soccer outfit!