Same river, just a little closer view of the area where the ice break is beginning.
What is left of the snow caves!
A sure sign of spring...empty bird feeders. In fact, they are being put away today because the news says the bears are out of their dens. Ralph also saw the first porcupine of the year and that is supposed to be a sure sign the bears are awake!
These photos were taken one day after the photos below. This is the Knik River after a 50 degree day. Soon there should be large blocks of ice breaking up. This is basically melted snow on top of the ice.
The beautiful 'maple leaf' of snow in our mountain.
Three shots of the Knik River. Break up is just starting and I will try to post pictures of this river as it changes from frozen to flooding in early Summer.
Now THIS is a sledding hill! Can you see the truck at the bottom of the road? That is where the kids are sliding to! It must be about a mile.
They take the easy way up, by being pulled by our friend driving his truck. The ride up is as much fun as the slide down because our friend swerves back and forth and they run into each other and sometimes get tossed out of their sleds! Then they have to run after their sled because there is NO stopping the truck on the hill! LOL
Just about to the top...
AND.....they're OFF!! What fun!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
