Balmy Winter

We returned from Hawaii to find little snow in Anchorage and no snow in Homer.  People here wait all year to ski.  They roller ski in the off season to prepare.  I have even seen people Nordic skiing the hard packed sand at low tide.  When there is no snow, and the East Coast is whining about how much they have, people don't know what to do with themselves.
In late January, the ship departed for a five week trip to the Seattle area for training.  I stopped waiting for snow and just embraced the 40+ degree weather.  For several weeks at least, we were consistently 30 degrees warmer than my family in Michigan. Realizing they had the coldest, snowiest, longest winter on record in forever, I felt lucky to be here even if we couldn't ski.  You wouldn't believe the stuff we did in January!

James fine tuning his hula hooping skills at the coffee shop

Kate picnicking with friends

We also started going back to the beach for regular walks in January and February.

 The following sequence is pretty cool.  The kids are just running around, but the eagle, he no like.

They made it to the rock and are really proud of themselves.  Note: Mr. Eagle is now on a smaller rock behind them.

Most of the Nordic ski clubs around the state hold a Ski for Women on Superbowl Sunday.  There is usually some theme and costumes are involved. Since the ship was out and fantasy football was over, and obviously the Lions weren't playing, I didn't care about the game.  Kate and I signed up for the ski event which turned out to be a running event due to lack of snow.  It was held at the high school track and there were a few other silly events as well.

Kate leading the girls team in the 2x4x4 walk

In early February Homer holds its Winter Carnival.  We missed this while in California last year.  Kate was supposed to march with the Girl Scouts, but at the last minute the group kind of fell apart.  Since everyone works last minutes and it's a small town, Kate had a few other options.  She joined some friends helping to support a non-profit family services organization called Sprout.  James decided to ride in the Junior Nordic float.  Since there wasn't any snow, the Junior Nordic was cancelled and the coaches opted to build floasts instead.  Some of the coaches skied alongside the float as the street was a bit icy.

James wearing his Batman mask on the Junior Nordic float

Kate and buddies on the Sprout wagon

I'm thinking next year we need to get a team together for the outhouse races.

I think the moose population is down a bit this year, but there is still a mama and junevenile that we see pretty often on our street.

Moose on his elbows (?) eating grass

Taking photos of moose from the car waiting for them to cross the road.

C'mon snow, we're waiting for you....