Tang Soo Do...Alaskan Style!

Testing for Brown Belt at the Do Jang last night! The evening (2.5 hour test) began with the basics.
Fight stance...floor exercises next.
More floor exercises...side kick
My son and his buddy being tested on one-step sparring.
Showing off the 'flying' side kick.

My son is setting up his double breaks. The first break, called 'Jumping Front Kick', required him to kick once, jump and then break the board with the other leg. The board on the right that would be above his head. The second break, called 'Knife Hand' is what is in the picture. He had successful breaks on both boards! Woohoo!

The last picture represents what is called IN NAE (which is Korean for endurance) and is the most difficult part of the test. They are in constant movement which involves sit-up, push-ups, 6 point squat thrusts, jumping jacks and punches. They are pushed over their limits basically and have to keep going. Kyle hit a wall and started shaking and almost couldn't keep going, but pushed through it and did keep going and made it through his test. Monday he will find out if he is a Brown Belt in Tang Soo Do. We believe he did just fine! We are very proud of him and his Tang Soo Do team members! They are over halfway to being Black Belts!

A few additional teams

Following our favorite musher

Here is Matt and his team getting into place
Into place and being interviewed by the press
On your mark...get set...
GO!

There begins Matt's RACE TO NOME! God's speed Matt.

Our Favorite Musher!

Thanks to some dear friends of ours who live in Hawaii and are part of the e-ditarod program on the internet, we have adopted Matt as our favorite musher and who we will be praying for and cheering for this year. Here is Matt (Number 72) talking to our friends in Hawaii on the phone this morning before the start of the race.
Here is Matt getting his dogs hooked up and ready to start!
Some of Matt's beautiful dogs.
Matt's team lined up and ready to begin their run to the starting line.
Matt ran his team a little different than most teams. Most teams had a handler on all their dogs. Matt had a couple of helpers, but basically took the lead and ran his dogs into the starting place.

Interesting people of the 2007 Iditarod!

The K-9 Fairies...(I have no idea, don't ask!)
Some of our Russian neighbors.
These are HATS! The animal is dead, I promise!

The 35th 'Last Great Race'

The dogs of the 2007 Iditarod!

Before the race, we walked up and down 4th avenue looking at the dogs and here was one pretty baby resting in one of the musher's sleds.
Aren't they beautiful!
These two were in one of the dog trailers, waiting for their turn to RUN!

Alaska's Annual Fur Rondy!

Every year in February, Anchorage hosts Fur Rondy! This is a winter carnival with Alaskan winter activities. Supposedly created to help chase away the winter blues, it is a highlight to our February. Last year we watch the dog races. This year my husband and daughter attended the Snow Carving contest and the Dog Weight Pull contest. They had a blast! This is our daughter and one of the snow carvings.
The start of the Dog Weight Pull contest. They have to pull the sled of weight 25 feet, once off the ice slab and on the snow, in 60 seconds.
Here is a beautiful St. Bernard. Yesterday's winner pulled 2800 pounds! The record here in Alaska is 5200 pounds!
My daughter couldn't resist taking a picture of Mordor made out of snow!

The last of the snow cave

Here it is in all it's glory...moments before it is destroyed! LOL
Contemplating just how to cave this monster in...
The jump! Moments after this, they all disappeared into the cave and the cave was destroyed. Boy did they have fun!

More snow cave adventures

The meeting room...this room is about 5 ft. high and about 15-18 ft. across (kind of round actually) with the kitchen set off to one side. This is where the youth group comes to get warm and watch movies (yes, they have a generator and have a TV and DVD player!)
My son and daughter and their good friend...trying to stay warm.
More friends in the meeting room. Altogether there are nearly 30 high school students and a few leaders, three I think!
One of my son's buddies trying to hide from the camera
One of my daughter's friends in their cave. My daughter and her three friends, along with a little help from dad and another male friend, dug this big enough for the four of them to sleep warmly last night!
The boy's den...the boys had a little trouble. They dug their cave too high and ended up being able to see daylight and had a leaky roof...so they are moving into the meeting room and sleeping there tonight. The wind chill could be -40 tonight, so they certainly need a warm, leak-proof cave!

SNOW CAVE 2007

The boys urinal in the snow cave! Yuck!
Our Youth Pastor getting ready for the arrival of 25 high school students. Notice the wood braces...hmmm makes you wonder...are they holding up the roof??
The kitchen stocked with nutritious food! LOL
My daughter and her beautiful friends, getting ready to dig their sleeping cave
My son and his best buddies, in the beginning stages of their sleeping cave.
LOTS of work...this is Alaska...10 degrees or less with 20mph winds and notice some of the kids in short sleeves!

Moose on the loose...

These pictures are of a young moose on our drive into Palmer. The moose are really hungry this year due to all the heavy snowfall and they will happily eat any tree in your yard that provides nourishment! They will even eat the bark off the birch trees.

SUN!

Notice the 'glow' of the sun in the upper parts of the trees and the valley!
Here it is! The first SUN to hit our house since Thanksgiving! I know this probably doesn't mean much to those of you who have sun each SUNNY day, but for us, living on the north side of this mountain, this means SO MUCH!