Picture Post!

Hello Friends!

My best friend Anthony from back home came to visit us last weekend. It was great to have him up here for a few days of board games and a soak in the Chena Hot Springs. It made me miss a time when we used to hang out with people, throw dinner parties, and have game/Wii nights.

Four of my closest friends from High School have visited me since I moved to Alaska; I have awesome friends. It is not cheap to get up here as you may know (over $800 to get to Seattle), so it is by no means a small matter. Thanks guys.

Speaking of High School, we are going to see High School Musical produced by the Fairbanks Light Opera Theater (FLOT). I have a few students performing in the production, so either way it will be entertaining. I will be joining FLOT in March to play Cello in their production of Sweeny Todd. I hear the music is rather challenging, so I am looking forward to receiving the music and getting to work. It is a wonderful opportunity to get my name out there.



GABE WATCH:
Gabe is trying to copy everything that comes out of our mouth.
New words:

• Hat - Gabe (now that it gets WELL below freezing) allows us to place a hat on his head. He promptly puts both his hands on his head and exclaims "HAT."
• No - He has been saying no for a few weeks now but now he uses it to answer questions. The only problem is that he uses No for Yes as well. Luckily, my deductive reasoning ranks right up there with Sherlock Holmes (I kid), so I have very few issues understanding. "Gabe, do you want some juice?" Gabe then says "No," and sprints to the refrigerator. That No obviously meant Yes. "Gabe do you want to take another bite?" Gabe responds with "No," and shakes his head vigorously while pushing the spoon away and turning bright red. I usually assume this No means No.
• Two - When we start to count, Gabe chimes in with two. It is adorable. "Ready Gabe?" "One," "two," "Three!" He says it perfectly.

Gabe has also become very good at identifying animals. His favorites are dogs, fish, and kitties. Fish still hold the #1 spot with Kitties in a close second. Dogs are last because they are usually smart enough to stay away from incoming toddlers.

Trip to Anchorage and Beyond

Update: Nov. 14th (More Pictures)

They Grow Up So Fast...

Everyone says that, and now I see why. It's crazy to think that Gabe has only been with us for 14mos when I can't even remember what it was like B.G. (before Gabe). I imagine there was less Yo Gabba Gabba! and diapers.

However it is equally crazy that he has grown so big so fast; he is, indeed, a big boy now. He walks, runs, and climbs with the best of them. He is saying new words every day. Most recently he started saying "Pump-o" for pumpkin, "Taco," "No," and "Hah!" for hot. Each "Hah!" is accompanied by an emphatic pointing in the direction of the hot item. He has become a Parrot, which, at all the wrong times, is hilarious and adorable.

Gabe also enjoys...no DEMANDS to feed himself. There are all kinds of fits that are thrown when Mommy or Daddy try to feed him. This is becoming less of a problem since he is getting better at using eating utensils therefore more food is actually reaching his mouth and not just the front of his shirt. Although he still wears a disproportionate amount of his food.

On a Halloween note, Gabe was Darth Vader for Halloween. His move from the Light Side (he was Yoda last year) to the Dark has coincided with much more tantrum throwing; the costume proved appropriate. He loved having candy, although we were very good about how much we gave him (he only has had a few pieces).

Beth has jumped right in as a 1st grade teacher and is doing great. I am preparing for Graduate School Auditions in January, and staying busy teaching cello, band, orchestra, and trying to help our at-risk student population. On Sunday I taught cello for 6 straight hours then had to run to our Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra Concert! It was a long day.

Gabe isn't the only one growing up fast. It was weird to see how much Aaron has grown up since I moved from Washington. I taught him how to drive a stick...where did the time go. Here we are paddling for our lives together.

Update...Updates To Come.

A bit of a hiatus, but some real posts are on the way. Here is an album to hold you over until then. These were taken on Gabe's birthday, July 31st, 2009. Enjoy... (just click the picture to to look at all of the pics in the album).

Gabe's 1st Birthday

Seward Sea Life Center

When we decided that Alex's younger brother, Aaron was going to be spending the summer with us we racked our brains for 'Alaskan' things to do. This was especially challenging since we were trying to find things I had never done as well, and I was born and raised here. I did know that I had never been to Seward and have been wanting to go for a while. It also happened that Gabe LOVES fish. They have a big aquarium with giant goldfish at daycare and he loves watching them swim around. Hence, the Seward Sea Life Center was on our list of things to do.
We left for Anchorage after work on Friday, August 24. It was a long drive, but since it was in the evening Gabe slept most of the way and Alex did an excellent job of staying awake. Since we arrived in Anchorage so late at night, we slept in Saturday morning and spent Saturday visiting with my Aunt Leona, who we stayed with, and shopping.
We set out for Seward Sunday morning. It was, of course, raining the whole way down and the whole time we were there. But that's the peninsula for you. It was worth the long drive and all the rain, however, because Gabe absolutely LOVED it! Every time we put him down in front of a new aquarium of fish and sea animals he would squeal with delight, smile up at us, and run up to the glass. He was a little weary of the sea lions. Whenever they would swim by the glass where he was standing he would take a few steps back. All in all, we had a great weekend in Anchorage and Seward and would love to go back again soon.

Like Sands Through an Hour Glass...

Gabe's first birthday is almost upon us. Since I haven't updated in... a while, I felt it was time to give an update on our goings on.

Gabe started walking at 8mos, and has continued on the fast track. He runs, spins in circles, flirts, gives kisses, asks for more, chases the dogs, drives a mini 4-wheeler, and (worst of all) climbs everything!

Gabe is a master climber. He climbs onto our coffee table like it is the easiest thing in the world. At first he would stand on random things to get a little elevation, then get his knee up and over and pull himself up. Now, he needs no aid. He now gets his belly over the edge of the table, and then lays his upper half on the table and reaches his arms out as far as they will go. He then lifts his legs into the air, and uses his arms to slide his lower half onto the table. He usually sits triumphantly on the table with his hands in his lap...and then promptly stands up and tries to walk off the side. That is just one of the many things that he likes to scale in our living room.

On a non-Gabe bit of news, my brother Aaron came up in May to spend the summer with us. We have been doing our best to get him out of the house and into various Alaskan Adventures. One of the most fun things we have done was the Nenana Paddle Boat tour at Denali. My good friend Miguel also came up for 10 days and he got in on the action.

Denali was Gabe's first camping trip as well. It went great! Gabe had so much fun running around the woods; up, down, and over rocks. He particularly liked walking through low hanging branches (he loved pushing the branches out of the way).

Preparations have begun for Gabe's Birthday Carnival. We have a Bouncy House, Balloon Animals, and much more. It's all going down Aug. 1st at 12:00pm. If you are interested in going, shoot me an email; the more, the merrier.

More pics to come later.

Mobility

The night we got back from Spokane, Gabe started crawling like a bear...

From Secret Trip To Washington

A couple of days ago he figured out how to use the push toy...

From Gabe Walking

Then yesterday when I picked him up from daycare, he started taking steps when I put him down to get his stuff together. He can take 4 or 5 steps now, the only problem is that he dives forward when he thinks he's close enough.