The Life & Times of Adria and Garth Tingey

December 2K11

2012-01-15T21:14:00.001-09:00

It's halfway through January which must mean that it is time to post a collage of pictures from December. So here it is:

October 2k11

2011-11-06T13:32:00.001-09:00

Here is a collage of some of the things that we did in October

Here is a slideshow of all the things that we did.

September 2k11

2011-11-05T23:34:00.003-08:00

Here is a collage of some of the things that we did during the month of September.

Really quick explanation of the pictures: if it looks like we are outside we are at a fall harvest festival. The boys liked the hay ride and Thomas really liked going down the zipline.

Summer 2k11 in Review

2011-09-04T21:16:00.001-08:00

Here is what we were up to this summer:

Adria's Mom came up for a visit.

While she was up here we went to the library summer reading event kickoff. Thomas had fun playing with the bells and Isaiah and Julian had fun petting the dogs.

We also took a trip to the zoo.

Isaiah also had fun playing some basketball

The boys also got some matching jammies from Grandma Tingey

Grandma and Grandpa Tingey came up for a visit.
We visited a reindeer farm and got to feed some reindeer and a moose.

We also visited a transportation museum

We also went on a glacier cruise

After the cruise the boys ran through an underground tunnel before we got on a train ride back to Anchorage

When we were in Oregon we went on a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls

We also went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium with my parents

The boys had fun running around the Connie Hansen Garden

We also had fun playing at a park in Lincoln City

We also took a trip to see Munson Creek Falls

We also had a lot of fun in Cannon Beach

We also went to the Portland Children's Museum (Thomas had a lot of fun playing with the water wheel)

Cinco de Mayo 2k11

2011-05-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having a potluck in our backyard. Adria made the piñatas for the event.

We had a fun time. Here are some pictures from the event.

Isaiah had fun running around

Thomas waiting his turn to hit a piñata while Julian plays in the background

Thomas getting ready to hit the piñata

Easter and Whatnot

2011-05-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

We had a pleasant Easter. Thomas had lots of fun coloring Easter eggs, and even though it happened during Isaiah's nap, he didn't seem to mind.

We also recently took a trip to the boardwalk at Potter's marsh. The boys liked running around.

On our walk back to the car, the boys all decided that they wanted to look through the gaps in the boardwalk and crawl around.

Outside Fun

2011-04-17T17:33:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was sunny and warm. We spent the day washing the cars and being outside. The boys had a fun time playing on the porch with their toys

They also enjoyed watching me shovel up some of the last remaining snow in our yard and throw it into the air.

Garage Fun

2011-04-03T21:49:00.006-08:00

On Friday Adria got Isaiah a tricycle that she found on Craigslist. After coming back home we moved the cars out of the garage so that the boys could play in the garage. After about 5 minutes of riding his new tricycle around the garage, Isaiah decided that he wanted to play with the old bean table in the corner; his brothers soon followed.

These are some Sir Topham Hatts that Adria made for the boys to use with their trains.

Model Train Show

2011-03-06T21:26:00.000-09:00

Every year as part of Fur Rondy there is a model railroad show at the train station. Since the boys like trains we spent some time there over the past week watching the trains go around the tracks.

Thomas sometimes says that for his 5th birthday he is going to go on a trip to the Island of Sodor to see Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his friends. So I think that Thomas enjoyed that many of the trains at the train show were from Sodor.


There was Percy pulling some freight cars	James in his splendid red coat of paint (with Spencer just behind him)

There was Thomas pulling his coaches Annie and Clarabell	There was Emily pulling her coaches

And there was Gordon pulling the Express

Here are some pictures of the boys at the train show:

Snowzilla

2011-01-16T14:25:00.000-09:00

Yesterday Adria and I watched the kids of a friend in the morning. We decided to go take a trip to see everybody's favorite 20-foot-tall snowman, Snowzilla.

A Tuba Christmas

2010-12-13T21:46:00.006-09:00

This weekend we attended A Tuba Christmas (or as it came to be known to Thomas "Tuba Fest"). This event brings together many tuba players (and some Sousaphone players as well) to play Christmas songs. We had a fun time.

The view from our spot

The boys enjoyed some pre-concert hot dogs

This was the most unique instrument. Its creator referred to it as a serpentine peddlaphone. He took a Sousaphone, straightened it out a bit and attached it to a bicycle.

The Best Little Snow Shovelers

2010-12-07T14:18:00.001-09:00

Here are Thomas and Isaiah all ready to help me shovel the driveway.

A Thanksgiving Snowman

2010-11-25T20:16:00.000-09:00

When Thomas got up this morning he saw that it was snowing. He said "Let's make a snowman!", so after eating Thanksgiving lunch Adria took Thomas and Isaiah outside and they made a little snowman.

After building the snowman, Thomas helped me shovel the driveway. Isaiah wanted to shovel as well but we didn't have enough snow shovels.

Imaginarium

2010-11-14T22:21:00.000-09:00

We went to the Imaginarium this past week when I had a day off of work. We had a fun time. Thomas liked to play with the trains the most. Isaiah and Julian both liked to see everything that there was to see and play with.

Halloween

2010-11-08T21:56:00.000-09:00

For Halloween Thomas and Isaiah dressed up as pumpkins. Grandma Tingey made the costumes as well as matching pumpkin caps for Adria and me. The pumpkin costumes where very popular and unique as we were the only pumpkins that we encountered at the trunk-or-treat that we attended on Saturday.

A Trip to Oregon

2010-11-07T20:30:00.000-09:00

We went on a trip to Oregon in early October. We were able to do a lot of fun things with the boys and with our parents as well.

While we were visiting Adria's parents we went to the Portland Zoo. While Thomas seemed to look forward to seeing the elephants the most, I think that he enjoyed the Saki Monkeys the most. When we were looking at them they were very active and running and jumping a climbing a lot.

Thomas and Isaiah also liked watching the beavers swim around.

Thomas and Isaiah looking at the polar bear

Adria and Isaiah in front of the elephants

Also while we were in Portland Adria and I were able to visit Adria's former co-workers at the Asian Health & Services Center.

We also went to Cannon Beach with Adria's parents. Eevn though it was a cloudy, windy day at the coast we all had a good time.

We did some fun things while we were visiting my parents too. We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We got there at just the right time because just as we got there it was feeding time for the seals and sea lions.

Thomas and Isaiah both had fun looking at the birds

Thomas liked watching the sharks swim overhead, while Isaiah wasn't quite sure what to think.

Thomas and Isaiah both liked watching the animals in the touch pool even though neither of them wanted to touch them with their fingers although Isaiah dipped his foot in the water.

Here is a picture with me and the boys at a hazelnut farm that we visited as well.

We also visited a the childhood home of the inventor of the Erector Set which has been turned into a children's museum. The boys had a great time playing with all of the things that they had there.

Thomas liked the rooms with the train the best. He liked to make sure that the electric train was going at all times. If the train wouldn't have jumped off the track it would have been much harder to leave because Thomas was having so much fun.

Here are the boys with Grandma Tingey

More Summer Activites

2010-10-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

Over the summer Adria put together some brochures to show in greater detail how she and the boys spent the summer months. She has decided that she would like a link to them to be posted on the blog. So here they are (the pictures look better downloaded than they do on the web viewer)

Birthday Celebration (some of you are saying "The birthdays of Thomas and Isaiah aren't even close to each other, while that is true neither Thomas nor Isaiah seemed to mind not celebrating their birthday on their actual birthday)

Summer Activities

Catching up

2010-10-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick recap of our summer (in no particular chronological order):

Thomas and Isaiah both participated in the library's summer reading program. As rewards they got beach balls and some books from the library.

The boys liked playing outside in the yard. They also liked getting strawberries from our garden.

We also attended the state fair. The antique tractors were a favorite of Thomas. Isaiah liked the popcorn that he got.

We also attended an Alaska Baseball league baseball game. The boys seemed to like the popcorn and running around the bleachers more than they liked watching the baseball game.

Thomas and Isaiah tried out their musical skills in a variety of instruments:

As for Julian, he has gotten big and he likes to play.

A Trip to the Zoo

2010-06-20T23:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to the zoo for my birthday. I think that Thomas enjoyed the otters the most because he spent the most time watching them swim. For most of the other animals he would look at them for maybe a minute and then say "Let's look at other animals". Isaiah seemed to like the tigers the best. While he was watching them he would quietly say "roar". Julian slept through most of the zoo.

Adria, Thomas and Isaiah looking a some animals (llamas if memory serves)

Isaiah getting a ride from Adria

Thomas and Isaiah going off to look for some more animals

Sleepy Julian

2010-06-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Julian likes to jump in his jumpy seat. The other day he was jumping around and the next thing that we knew he dozed off into dreamland.

In other happenings, Thomas' leg has completely healed and he had the rod in his leg removed about a week ago. The surgery was really minor and Thomas walked back to the car with me when it was time to go home. He and Isaiah both like to run around the house.

A visit to the temple and pinatas

2010-05-30T22:39:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago on the way home from the library Thomas said "I want to go to the temple." Since the next day was Saturday we got the boys dressed up and took a trip to the temple.

Here are the boys getting ready for the big day with a heaping serving of craisins before they eat their oatmeal.

Here we are in front of the temple. Isaiah and Julian both fell asleep on the drive over.

Later that same day we had an Ocho De Mayo fiesta in our back yard. In preparation for this, Adria made a bunch of pinatas. They were even better than the pinatas that she made for last year's party.

Thomas had a fun time hitting the pinatas. He especially liked that candy came out when they broke open. For the next couple of days he would say "We hit the pinata, and candy came out. And then we eat the candy"

Various Videos from the past month +

2010-05-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of videos from the past month or so.

Up and walking

2010-03-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thomas started walking this week. Although he has a pronounced limp and frequently resorts to crawling, this is good progress from breaking his femur two months ago.

Dancing Isaiah

2010-03-28T23:55:00.000-08:00

When Isaiah hears music that he likes, he likes to dance.

No More Brace For Thomas

2010-03-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Thomas' leg has healed enough that at his most recent doctors appointment, we were told that Thomas doesn't need to wear a brace on his leg any more. At first Thomas was reluctant to part with this brace, but now Thomas doesn't seem to miss it anymore.

Thomas isn't walking on his leg quite yet. He still has a big sore on his heel that he got from his original splint that hurts when he puts pressure on it. Once that heals then Thomas should start running around again.

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Tingey

2010-03-10T22:11:00.000-09:00

Grandma and Grandpa Tingey recently cam for a visit. They had a fun time seeing the boys.

While they were here we also saw some of the things that were associated with Fur Rondy. We spent a lot of time looking at the model train exhibit because Thomas was really interested in them. He didn't want to leave when it became time to go home and eat dinner.

A dose of Grandma Davis

2010-02-13T21:40:00.001-09:00

Adria's mom recently came for a visit. Thomas was really happy to spend time with Grandma and be spoiled.

Isaiah also had a fun time with Grandma.

And Julian liked being held by Grandma

Everyone is home from the hospital

2010-01-31T20:23:00.000-09:00

Thomas come home from the hospital yesterday. He seems to be in good spirits as long as his cars don't fall off the little table that we set up for him next to the couch (or as he calls it the "little bed"). He also has realized that he can bend at the hip so he has been sitting up a little bit.

Isaiah seems to like not having to compete with Thomas so much for toys

Julian seems to be taking all of this in stride

A Month of Seven Days

2010-01-27T22:24:00.004-09:00

Back in elementary school in class we once read a book titled A Month of Seven Days. The book takes its title from a feeling that the main character has that although the events of the book take place only the course of a mere seven days it felt like a month. I had a similar feeling as I was looking back at some pictures on our camera today. I said to myself "I took those pictures a week ago? I seems like a lot longer than that."

A week ago we had a newly born Julian.

And Thomas and Isaiah both liked to play with their new baby brother.

Then a wrinkle was added to things:

Yes, that is a picture of Thomas lying with his leg in traction. While he was running around the living room on Saturday afternoon, Thomas stepped on a pillow that had fallen off the couch, fell and somehow sustained a spiral fracture of his femur. Thomas will be in traction until Friday when he will get put into a cast for the next couple to several months.

The doctors and nurses say that he has been handling being in traction and not really being able to move better than most kids his age. I think part of this is that he is able to have the movie "Cars" on a near continual loop in his room. But he does have some cars that he can play with and a dry erase board that he can draw on as well, which he has seemed to like and Adria and I have been able to take turns at the hospital during all of his waking hours.

Introducing Julian

2010-01-20T19:45:00.003-09:00

We had a memorable Martin Luther King Jr. Day as our third son was born before breakfast. Julian checked out at 7 lbs 12 oz and almost 21 inches long.

Thomas really likes Julian. Whenever they see each other Thomas points and says "new baby brother" and Thomas likes to hold Julian as well. I think that Isaiah is starting to warm up to the idea of having a little brother.

Christmas Fun

2009-12-30T21:52:00.004-09:00

We had a fun Christmas. I think the highlight for Thomas was coming downstairs to the presents after breakfast and finding a tricycle waiting for him. He started saying "Bike! Bike!" and wouldn't open any other presents because he just wanted to push the tricycle around as it is a little too big for him to peddle. We eventually had to take a break from opening presents to let Thomas push the tricycle around in the garage. He seemed to like that.

Isaiah liked all of his presents. He also liked the birthday cards that he got from his Grandparents. Here is he playing with one of the cards.

Isaiah @ 1

2009-12-25T08:26:00.002-09:00

Isaiah recently had his first birthday. Here are a bunch of pictures from his first year of life.

Coming Soon...

2009-12-20T21:13:00.004-09:00

Everyone's favorite snowman, Snowzilla, is in the process of being built and it appears that the city government isn't going to interfere with its construction. This is a change from their attempts last year to classify Snowzilla as a public nuisance. However Snowzilla "magically" appeared overnight to help combat what its creator deemed "the ba humbug"

We think that Thomas will really enjoy seeing Snowzilla once it is finished. The only thing that he seems to think is more exciting than a snowman are snow plows (or 'no cows' as he calls them).

Family Picture

2009-12-13T22:21:00.002-09:00

The "photographer" is trying to make our stoic boys smile, but he is only successful at making Adria laugh.

Trick Or Treat

2009-10-31T22:13:00.003-08:00

Thomas went Trick or Treating for the first time this year. We went to 6 houses before we saw some kids throwing a football in the street. Thomas thought this was far more interesting and fun than trick or treating so we watched them for a while and then went home. After we got home Thomas helped pass out candy. I think he liked that more than trick or treating too, but he sure was a cute trick or treater.

Playing in the living room

2009-10-31T22:09:00.002-08:00

Thomas and Isaiah both have been having fun playing around the house recently. Although Isaiah recently started crawling he still likes sitting with a box of toys. Thomas likes to be more adventurous and jump on Daddy and play horsey.

Thomas and His Trucks

2009-10-04T15:12:00.003-08:00

Thomas likes to play trucks and to link them together. It might be hard to see in these videos, but he is trying to figure out how to get a small truck to tow a much larger Transformers toy.

They said it couldn't be done

2009-10-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

When I mentioned to people that I was trying to grow corn in my garden, I was often told that you needed a green house to grow corn in Alaska. Well, I harvested our crop of corn this week and here is what I got.

Adria had the same attitude about growing tomatoes. She had more success with her tomatoes than I had with my corn.

A Trip To Oregon

2009-09-25T20:31:00.005-08:00

We recently returned from a trip to Oregon. We spent the first week with my parents in Corvallis, then I left to go to Denver for a work trip and Adria and the boys spent the second week with her parents in Portland.

We had a good trip. Here are some pictures from it.

A day in Newport
We had a fun time at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Thomas liked looking at the fish a little bit, but he liked to walk around and scuff his feet on the gravel pathways even more.

Thomas didn't want to try out the touch pool, but Adria, and Grandpa and Grandma liked it.

After lunch we were planning on going to the beach, but the boys fell asleep in the car so we visited the Yaquina Head Lighthouse instead. Grandma and Grandpa stayed in the car while Adria and I climbed to the top. It was interesting to learn about the history of lighthouses.

Here is Thomas playing with a toy shark that the waitress at lunch gave him. I named him "Sharky"

Corvallis
The boys also had fun in and around Corvallis. They had fun at the park:

And they had lots of fun playing the old toys at Grandma's house. Thomas spent a lot of time linking the cars together in a string and pulling them around.

Cannon Beach
One day while Adria and the boys were in Portland, Grandpa and Grandma Davis took them to Cannon Beach. They had a good time, although it took Thomas a little bit to decide that he liked the beach. Isaiah seemed to like it from the start.

Here is a slideshow of all the pictures from our trip:

Alaska State Fair 2009

2009-09-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

I took the boys to the state fair this week, to take advantage of the last bit of summer weather. We saw more huge veggies (last week at the u-pick farm we bought a zuccini the size of a watermellon for a little more than a dollar, but I thought of making it into muffins before I thought of taking a picture of it)...

...cuddly animals (Thomas especially enjoyed the ones whose language he speaks)...

...and racing pigs.

More Pepper Please

2009-08-02T21:18:00.001-08:00

Dipnetting Extravaganza

2009-07-25T11:36:00.003-08:00

What is dipnetting? Here is the explanation in 3 easy steps:

Take a large net (the legal limit is 5ft at the widest point) and attach it to a long pole (10ft+)
Put the net in the river
Wait for salmon to swim into your net and get caught

Here how it plays out in real life.

I went dipnetting for the first time last week. It was fun. I was pleased with the 13 salmon that I caught.

It was a really busy on the river the day that I went. It looked like there were hundreds of people on both banks trying to catch salmon.

Thomas at 2

2009-07-22T14:37:00.002-08:00

Thomas recently turned 2 years old. Here are a bunch of pictures from his 2nd year of life.

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-04T14:10:00.007-08:00

We had a lot of fun over the long 4th of July weekend. Here is Isaiah giving a recap of the events.

On Friday we went to Potter's Marsh to go for a walk and see some birds. We had a nice time looking at the birds while Thomas had a fun time climbing on the benches. While we were looking at birds, just another visitor was telling us that there was a bald eagle nest nearby one of the adult eagles came into view, flying low over the marsh. That was pretty neat. (One of the neat things about Alaska, is that it seems that whenever you start talking about how you hope to see some animal, that animal tends to come into view. This has happened to us with beluga whales, moose and now a bald eagle) We see bald eagles all the time though.

Potter's Marsh

Adria with the boys

On the 4th we went downtown to watch the 4th of July Parade. Thomas had a fun time running around before the parade started, but once the parade reached our location he was captivated by the classic cars, marching bands and paraders.

Plus there was time for the boys to be silly with each other

The Boys

2009-06-21T15:03:00.004-08:00

Although Thomas can't say many words, he is quite good at letting us know what he wants. This usually involves pointing at something and then pointing at where the thing needs to go. If Isaiah is sitting on our lap, Thomas will often point at Isaiah and then point at Isaiah's chair. Once Isaiah is placed in the chair, Thomas will pull his chair next to Isaiah's and they will sit next to each other. This is how the pictures below came about.

Seeing how Thomas wanted to sit next to Isaiah, I am not sure why he looks like he'd rather be someplace else. Thomas has also been potty training and is getting better about making it to the potty in time.

Here is a video of Adria and Thomas reading the classic book "Snoopy on Wheels"

2 Days in Sitka

2009-05-29T23:45:00.005-08:00

I took a trip to Sitka for 2 days this week for work. I was able to spend some time seeing the sights. Because there are only 14 miles of road in the entire island I was able to give myself a walking tour of the island and see almost everything that doesn't charge admission. Here are some pictures I took from my walks around town and through the national park inside the city limits of Sitka.

Here is a statue of an Alaska pioneer in front of the Pioneer House

A view of Sitka from atop Castle Hill, which not only used to be the location of a Russian castle/fort, but was also where Russia formally ceded Alaska to American control.

St. Michael's Cathedral

A statue of Alexander Baranov, the first governor of Russian Alaska.

A view of some of the smaller islands around Sitka. I sat on a bench and watched 3 bald eagles fly around in the sky.

And I saw a bunch of totem poles.

I also ate at a restaurant that I had read about in an airline magazine article about Sitka. It was the first and likely only time such a thing will happen as I seldom find myself in cities that are profiled in airline magazines.

While it was a fun trip, it would have been better if Adria and the kids were able to come along. It is also good to be home.

The World Beard and Mustache Championships: The Main Event

2009-05-25T00:10:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to start. The World Beard and Mustache Championships was a lot of fun and was quite the spectacle as one might imagine. We were even able to meet some of the contestants, some of whom we remembered from the beard parade. Above is a picture of us and Jack Passion, who is now the 2-time defending world champion in the Natural Full Beard category. It was kind of weird meeting him not only as I had imagined that he was taller, but also because at 25 he is much younger than most of the competitors and younger than both Adria and I.

Here is Adria with Ted Sedman who is the 4-time defending champion in the Fu Manchu category. You can here him talking about his Fu Manchu in this video from the 2003 World Championships.

Here we are with some more competitors. The guy on the left is Jeremy Felton, who took first place in the Alaskan Whaler category. Perhaps because it was a new category, or perhaps because the championships were held in Alaska, the top 3 finishers in this category were all Alaskans.

Here is Adria with a group of German contestants. She is standing between the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in the Full Beard Freestyle category. The one on the left got 1st in the Dali Mustache category.

Thomas and Isaiah both seemed to like the contest, although Thomas spent most of his time pushing the stroller back and forth

We also saw the man who told us "Beards, not bombs" at the parade. We got confirmation that his beard was wire augmented.

Other notes:

The winner of the Garbaldi category claimed to have been working on his since since merely October
The third place finisher in the Imperial Mustache category said that when he decided to compete he looked at some pictures of the beard winners and realized that we couldn't match up with that, so he grew a mustache instead.
The competition was held on the third floor of a downtown convention center. At roughly the same time on the first floor of the convention center, Cedric The Entertainer had a show. I was walking behind the 2nd place finisher in the Freestyle Mustache category when he walked past a couple on their way to see Cedric. Their reaction to his mustache was priceless.
Jack Passion being declared the natural full beard champion was met with a thunderous roar from the crowd. After the roar subsided, Jack announced that it was his beard's sixth birthday and the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to his beard, which is named affectionately "Big Red"

Other interesting Links about the Championship:

A lot of really nice pictures of the competitors
Some more pictures of the competition
Two articles in the Anchorage paper about the championship. One about the winner of the freestyle beard category, and overall winner. Another about the competition in general.

Making Progress

2009-05-24T23:10:00.002-08:00

When he isn't attending beard parades Isaiah has been honing some of his skills.

Beards On Parade

2009-05-22T22:01:00.008-08:00

Almost 3 years ago I stumbled upon the website for the World Beard and Mustache Championships where I learned that the World Championships would be coming to Anchorage in 2009. Needless to say, I circled my calendar and waited. After many months of waiting the championships have arrived. As part of the festivities a Beard Parade through downtown was held. We had a fun time watching the parade.

Here are some pictures from the Beard Parade:

Here are some of the German competitors.

Some members of the Antwerp Beard and Mustache Club

Beard Team Australia

Beard Team Canada

Some members of Beard Team USA

This contestant is obviously going to compete in the Musketeer category

The man on the right is Jack Passion (I have no idea if this is his real name or just a stage name) the 2007 Full Beard Natural World Champion, which essentially makes his beard the best beard in the entire world. I was in awe of his beard.

Adria and I disagree if that his real beard is augmented by a coil (I say no, she says yes), but he did tell us "Beards, not bombs"

Members of the South Central Alaska Beard and Mustache Club

Me and the boys after the parade in front of a giant stuffed puffin.

Here is a video of the event from the local paper. Adria's favorite was the guy with the barbell.

A slideshow of all of our pictures from the event.

Isaiah Being Isaiah

2009-05-18T20:56:00.003-08:00

Nueve de Mayo

2009-05-10T22:43:00.005-08:00

Life Cycle of a Pinata:

Creation

The Finished Product

Hanging From A Stick

Destruction

Final Resting Place

Thanks to everyone who made our fiesta excelente. See you next mayo!

Maracas

Guitar

Ashley's Hot Air Balloon

Crowd Shot

Thomas the Gardener

2009-04-26T21:33:00.007-08:00

Thomas likes to play in the garden. While I picked up some of the trash that had blown into our yard over the winter from the construction in our neighborhood on Saturday, Thomas played in our garden dirt with his pail and shovel. He had a great time. He also likes playing with some of the plants that Adria has started growing inside.

If you turn up your speakers you can hear Adria talking to Isaiah.

Updates

2009-04-05T20:11:00.002-08:00

Nature's Fury

2009-03-29T13:12:00.001-08:00

(it really didn't look like this, this is from Mt. Redoubt's 1989 eruption event)

Mt. Redoubt, one of our nearby volcanoes, erupted multiple times this week. The ash from the first couple of eruptions didn't come Anchorage's way, however that changed on Saturday when the winds shifted and we received a little bit of ash. We were out running errands when the ash cloud arrived in town. What had been a sunny day quickly turned into a hazy day. We headed home and spent the rest of the day indoors.

Below is a time lapse movie that captured one of Redoubt's Friday morning eruptions

Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009 from Bretwood Higman on Vimeo.

Smiling Isaiah

2009-03-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

Dancing Man

2009-03-17T21:50:00.003-08:00

One day last week I came home to find Thomas sitting on a stool and shaking his head to some music that was on the radio.

Thomas' Favorite Chair

2009-03-17T20:43:00.004-08:00

Adria recently made Thomas a little chair for him to sit in. A picture of it is below

Thomas likes to sit it his chair and play with his toys and "read" his books

The Fine Art of Shoveling Snow

2009-03-08T22:01:00.002-08:00

Two Christmases ago Adria and I were walking through the store when we came across a child sized snow shovel. Adria thought that we should get it for Thomas. After some discussion we decided to wait and get it later because:

We live in Alaska, there will always be another time to buy a snow shovel.
Thomas couldn't walk and you need to be able to walk before you can shovel the driveway.

This year we decided that since Thomas could walk, he could help shovel snow. So before Christmas I took Thomas on a trip and we found a kid sized shovel for him. In the store, Thomas really liked the shovel. He didn't want to let it go for the cashier to ring it up. As we were leaving the store, we walked past a man who said to his daughter, "Look at that little boy. He has a shovel." I said to the man "It's time for him to start earning his keep". When we got home I hung the shovel in the garage. With all of the excitement surrounding Christmas we forgot to give it to Thomas as a Christmas present. After a light snowfall last month we decided that it was time for Thomas to start putting his shovel to good use. Thomas didn't seem like he was a fan of this idea.

Adria and her boys

2009-03-08T21:55:00.002-08:00

And cucumbers are good for...

2009-03-08T20:24:00.003-08:00

Here is a video from about a month ago of Thomas having fun with some cucumbers.

A Visit From Grandma and Grandpa Tingey

2009-02-15T15:02:00.002-09:00

My parents recently came up for a visit. They had a good time holding Isaiah and playing trucks and marble works with Thomas.

Relaxin'

2009-02-01T20:10:00.001-09:00

A Visit From Grandma Davis

2009-02-01T17:11:00.002-09:00

Adria's Mom recently came for a visit. She had a great time playing with Thomas and Isaiah.

Snowzilla Lives

2009-01-25T15:16:00.006-09:00

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took a trip to see Snowzilla. While Anchorage usually has a mid-January thaw this year's thaw was extra warm (including a high temperature of 50 one day) and we wanted to see how Snowzilla was doing. A lesser snowman would have melted, but all things considered other than his hat blowing off Snowzilla was looking as good as a snowman could look.

More Isaiah

2009-01-25T14:29:00.003-09:00

Isaiah recently turned 1 month old. He is getting pretty big.

But Thomas still looks like a giant compared to his little brother.

Sing Sing Sing

2009-01-04T18:37:00.002-09:00

Happy Birthday Alaska!!!

2009-01-03T23:20:00.002-09:00

Alaska celebrated its 50th anniversary of statehood on January 3rd. We thought about watching the parade but as much as I love standing around in sub-zero weather, Adria didn't think is was a good idea to have Thomas and Isaiah out in the cold like that. Instead we attended some of the indoor events. Thomas liked watching some performers play with yo-yos. He also had a good time at the tribute to American Bandstand as well. Isaiah slept through the whole thing.

On the walk back to our car we stopped by some of the ice sculptures. I liked this one of a caribou.

Sleepy Guy

2009-01-02T17:41:00.002-09:00

A New Toy

2009-01-02T17:19:00.004-09:00

During the fall I decided to put the wood pallets that we had lying around to good use. I cut the pallets up and used the wood to make Thomas a small cart. I was on schedule to get it ready for Christmas day, but Isaiah showed up earlier than expected so Thomas got his new toy on New Years day instead. He didn't seem to mind about the delay.

2008 In Review

2009-01-01T15:32:00.002-09:00

2008 was a good year. Here are some of the fun things that we did during the year:

Walked across a frozen lake to see Portage Glacier
Saw the Northern Lights
Took a trip to Oregon for a family reunion
Visited the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival
My parents came up for a visit
Saw some really big produce at the Alaska State Fair
Had some fun in the snow
Went to Utah for my brother's wedding
Had a pre-Christmas surprise show up

Big Brother

2008-12-30T23:30:00.005-09:00

Thomas seems to like being a big brother. When Isaiah cries, Thomas brings him his hat or toy bottle. Also when Isaiah takes a nap in his bouncy seat, Thomas likes to check up on Isaiah and ensure that the seat is bouncing.

Little Isaiah

2008-12-27T12:20:00.006-09:00

Here are some new pictures of little Isaiah

And a video too:

A Special Christmas Delivery

2008-12-24T22:02:00.003-09:00

We received a Christmas present a little early this year. Our second son arrived on the evening of December 23rd. We were expecting him to arrive on or about December 31st, so him coming before Christmas was a pleasant surprise. Isaiah checked it at almost 21 inches long and 6lbs 11oz (although that seems like an iffy weight as he was reweighed the next day and came in at 7lb 2oz.) Both Isaiah and Adria are back from the hospital and glad to be spending Christmas at home and not in the maternity ward. Isaiah is a cutie.

A Snowzilla Visitation

2008-12-24T21:16:00.004-09:00

I was able to visit Snowzilla today. Due to his much larger bottom section, Snowzilla seemed larger than last time we saw him. While there was a small crowd gathered the people were pleasant. They waited for their turn to stand in front of the giant snowman. It certainly didn't seem like the safety hazard and/or public nuisance that the city says that it is.

Like a phoenix, Snowzilla rises from the ashes

2008-12-24T10:40:00.005-09:00

It appears that reports of Snowzilla's demise were greatly exaggerated.

Under the cover of darkness Monday night, Snowzilla was completed. No one has come forth to claim responsibility for it. Since the city deemed Snowzilla a public nuisance there have been a handful of mini protests including a snowman being built on the steps of city hall bearing a sign reading "Snowmen of the world unite!"

Goodbye Snowzilla, we hardly knew ye

2008-12-22T15:57:00.006-09:00

Anchorage city officials served the builder of Snowzilla with a cease and desist order, halting construction of the massive snowman with threat of jail time if the project is restarted.

R.I.P. Snowzilla
2005-2008

Piano Recital

2008-12-18T19:36:00.002-09:00

Adria's piano students had a recital tonight. It was at one of the local rest homes. Adria figured that the residents would enjoy hearing some Christmas songs and that it would be fun for her students. She even got me to play a duet of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" with her as well. It was a fun time and Thomas was a perfect gentleman during the event.

Santa!!

2008-12-12T22:28:00.003-09:00

We had the ward Christmas dinner tonight. "Santa" showed up. Thomas wasn't interested in sitting on "Santa's" lap in his get up (although he is totally willing to sit with "Brother Seymour" on Sundays), so Dad acted as an intermediate. Thomas asked for a camera for Christmas.

Fun in the Snow

2008-11-28T13:46:00.003-09:00

It snowed a bit over the course of the past few days. Because it was a balmy 28 degrees today I bundled Thomas up and we played in the snow for a bit. Thomas had a fun time grabbing the snow and then trying to shake the snow off his mittens. He also liked watching me throw snowballs.

Topple the Tower

2008-11-12T20:36:00.005-09:00

I had Veteran's Day off from work. We spent a good part of the day stacking cardboard boxes on top of each other and watching Thomas knock them down.

Later Thomas discovered that he could put the cardboard box over his head.

Jazzercise

2008-11-11T10:39:00.003-09:00

Thomas the walker

2008-11-06T00:06:00.002-09:00

A Quick Trip To Utah

2008-11-03T20:44:00.020-09:00

We recently returned from a quick trip to Utah for the wedding of my brother Jeff. We were able to visit with all of my siblings, most of Adria's siblings as well and many extended family members while on this trip.

We arrived in Salt Lake City on Friday morning. After taking a nap at my Aunt's house we drove down to Provo to visit the Monte L. Bean Museum with Adria's brother and sister. Adria and I visited the Bean Museum the last time we were in Utah and thought that Thomas would enjoy it too. He seemed to like walking around the museum until he got scared by a lion that he got too close to.


Adria and Thomas in front of a rhino	Adria and Thomas in front of a bongo

Adria and Thomas in front of a beaver	Thomas, me, and Adria's brother Hayden in front of many animal heads

Adria liked the variety of pigs, rodents and primates on this wall

A family photo with a polar bear

Jeff's wedding was on Saturday. It was a nice wedding. After the wedding there was a wedding luncheon followed by a reception.

The Tingey clan including its most recent addition, Jeff's wife Jamie

On Sunday, we attended the the blessing of Adria's cousin's child. Afterward there was a brunch. At the beginning of the brunch, all of the children of Adria's cousins were rounded up to take a picture with Adria's grandfather. Thomas was far more interested in walking around the house than getting his picture taken.

After the brunch, we made a detour through Draper to visit the Draper Historical Park. I had wanted to see the statue of Ebenezer and Phobe Brown. Ebenezer Brown is my great-great-great grandfather and was one of the founders of the town of Draper (the town carries the name of his brother-in-law William Draper). Thomas was so tuckered out from traveling and the festivities that he stayed in the car while Adria took a picture of me next to the statue.

Aviators

2008-10-09T15:41:00.003-08:00

When we were last in Oregon, Adria bought Thomas some sunglasses. We forgot the sunglasses there and Grandma just sent them to us. Thomas was glad to get his sunglasses back.

Fine Dining

2008-10-06T20:13:00.001-08:00

Thomas has started to feed himself. He gets messy sometimes.

Thomas and his Dumptruck

2008-09-25T11:26:00.002-08:00

End of Season Yardwork

2008-09-20T12:47:00.004-08:00

Despite Anchorage having one of the coldest summers on record we were able to enjoy some peas, chives, a little basil, cabbage and strawberries from our garden. Today while we were moving our raised beds, Thomas insisted on helping. He had a fun time moving the shovel around in the dirt.

Thomas' Frankenstein Walk

2008-09-06T10:10:00.004-08:00

Thomas started walking about a week ago. Adria thinks that he walks like Frankenstein.

The Alaska State Fair

2008-09-01T10:54:00.004-08:00

We went to the Alaska State Fair this weekend with some friends. We had a fun time eating fair food (I had a caribou steak sandwich), and seeing the giant vegetables. This was viewed as a tough year for giant cabbages; the winner tipped the scales at a mere 79.1 pounds.

Cabbages weren't the only really large vegetables, there were also pumpkins that weighed 300 and 900 pounds.

We also saw a lumberjack show. During the show they had lumberjacks throw axes, saw through logs, climb trees and participate in a log rolling competition. Here are some videos of the lumberjack show.

The Alaskan Primary

2008-08-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was the primary election for Alaska. While the state held a Republican primary and a Democratic caucus for the Presidential race back on Super Tuesday (with the state being won by Barack and Mitt), the primaries for the other races were held off until today. This also marked the first time that Adria or I had needed to go to a polling place to vote as Oregon moved to vote-by-mail prior to our being able to vote. We both felt that going to a physical place was a more rewarding experience than vote-by-mail. Plus you get a sticker when you turn your ballot in.

This election cycle figures to be an interesting one as Don Young, Alaska's long-time Representative, and Ted Stevens, Alaska's even longer-time Senator, both are facing stiff challenges in their re-election bids. Stevens will face Anchorage's mayor Mark Begich in the general election. This is, if he isn't a convicted felon by then. Don Young is currently about 200 votes ahead of his closest challenger Sean Parnell with the absentee ballots still to be counted. Their race turned surreal last week when both Parnell and Young appeared on the same talk radio program where in response to a caller asking the 75-year old Don Young how much longer he intended to stay in office, Young replied:

"I'm more physically capable than most people in this room. ... I challenge anybody in this room if they want to go three rounds with me down at Sullivan Arena,"

Thomas eating a banana

2008-08-26T18:25:00.002-08:00

Thomas eating an apple

2008-08-18T18:27:00.002-08:00

Here is a picture of Thomas eating an apple that didn't make it into the previous post of Grandma and Grandpa Tingey's visit.

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa Tingey

2008-08-07T22:12:00.015-08:00

My parents recently came up for a visit. We had a fun time and were able to show them some of the sights of South-central Alaska.

On one of our trips we took a drive down the Seward Highway to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and to take a cruise to see Portage Glacier. My parents really liked the scenery along the highway.

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center had a lot of neat animals to look at. One of the first animals that we saw was Snickers the porcupine. We got there just as a worker was going to feed Snickers some apples. We also found out that porcupines have needles everywhere but their paws and faces, which makes the joke "How do porcupines kiss?" not very accurate (Punchline to the joke: Very carefully!)

We also saw a bald eagle who is a permanent resident of the center. He was brought to the center due to being shot in the wing by a hunter. His left wing had to be amputated due to the injuries sustained.

Here are some more pictures that we took at the Conservation Center.

After visiting the Conservation Center, we took a short drive to Portage Lake. The lake looked a lot different than it did when we visited back in January. While Portage Glacier seemed less blue in January, on this visit in many ways it seemed bluer than Portage Lake.

Here are some more pictures from our Portage Lake cruise.

For another of our trips we drove north to drive through Alaska's agricultural center and to visit the largest musk ox farm in the world.

The Matanuska River flows through the valley where most of Alaska's agriculture is performed

The musk ox farm harvests the soft inner wool from the musk oxen. Musk ox wool (formally called qiviut) has many beneficial properties which include being 8 times warmer than wool by weight, being finer than cashmere and never shrinking.

We had a fun time learning about musk oxen. Thomas had fun walking around the farm and trying to mimic the sounds that the baby musk oxen were making.

One night we drove out to watch the sun set over Mount Susitna. On the drive my Dad was mentioning that he still hadn't seen a moose in the wild. I mentioned that I often saw mooses around the corner that we were approaching and the tell tale sign is there are lots of cars pulled off to the side of the road because tourists will stop and look at the moose. When we stopped at the corner, I looked to my right and sure enough there were a bunch of cars pulled off the road. So we went past and there was a bull moose with a large rack of antlers standing not far from the road.

After watching the moose for a bit we continued on our way to watch the sunset.

The very top of Mount McKinley is visible above the lower set of clouds

Our other trips included:

Visiting Ship Creek in downtown Anchorage to watch salmon fishing

Visiting Cheney Lake Park and watching some ducklings swim.

And visiting the Alaska Botanical Garden

Baseball in Alaska

2008-07-26T17:28:00.001-08:00

Adria, Thomas and I went to go see an Alaska Baseball League game. We got to see the Anchorage Glacier Pilots play the Anchorage Bucs play for the Mayor's Cup. The Bucs allow you to print out free general admission tickets on their website. We found some seats along the third base line where Thomas could stand up and scoot around in. He seemed to have a good time:

Thomas The Fisherman

2008-07-26T16:51:00.003-08:00

Thomas received a magnetic fishing puzzle for his birthday. He likes to use the magnet to pick up the sea creatures.

The Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival

2008-07-13T16:02:00.014-08:00

Yesterday we took a trip with some friends to the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival.

Thomas enjoying a Daddy-eye view of the festival

They had a moose lawn ornament auction at the festival

The central attraction of the Moose Dropping Festival is the dropping of the moose droppings. The local VFW post finds a lot of moose droppings (which, considering the moose diet, are basically sawdust pellets about an inch long each), coats them in lacquer, numbers them and drops them over a target, and then awards prizes based on where they land. When you purchase your poop, you get a souvenir lacquered moose pellet pin with the number of your dropping written on it.

The bags of moose dropping pins

To even be able to purchase a poop you need to get there really early. Our dropping was number 2909 out of 3000, and there were still 5 hours before the big drop when we bought it. During our wait we were able to see most of Talkeetna, eat some reindeer polish sausage and other delectable festival food (including a $4!! cob of fresh Denali corn), and in general have a relaxing afternoon amidst the festivities with the laid-back valley folk and all the crazies that made the 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage to see moose poop drop from the sky.

Somehow all four of us had gotten it into our heads that they were going to drop the droppings from a helicopter, (the back of the official festival t-shirt shows a moose pooping from a bi-plane). Turns out, the lacquered poops were simply placed in a patriotic homemade bag that was hoisted over the target and ripped open.

Finally at the end of the day came the moose dropping dropping:

One funny thing that didn't make it on tape was after the dropping when a lone kid, thinking something akin to a pinata had just happened, ran out to grab some of the candy-looking turds. Everyone screamed, and one of the VFW guys corralled him and turned him around and sent him back off the target area. Thankfully, none of the turds were disturbed from their original landing positions.

One Year

2008-07-06T01:14:00.002-08:00

Over the past year, I have been placing some of the pictures of Thomas in a folder called "Baby Thomas". With Thomas turning 1 year old, I have decided that it is type to start a new folder for the pictures of Thomas that aren't associated with an event. Below is a slideshow of pictures of Thomas taken over the past year (in roughly chronological order):

The First Fruits of our Garden

2008-07-05T23:00:00.005-08:00

Yesterday as I was thinning our red cabbage, I said to myself "It's a shame that all of these little cabbages are going to waste." After this, I decided to do a little experiment; I plucked one of the leaves off of the thinned cabbages and ate it. It tasted alright, so I gave Adria a leaf to try and she thought that it tasted pretty good. We ended up making a salad out our thinned cabbage, a picture of which is below.

Thomas and his "truck"

2008-07-05T21:39:00.005-08:00

Thomas has a new favorite toy, the box that our printer came in. Adria refers to it as Thomas' "truck". Thomas must have seen how much fun his cousin Ethan was having with his walker and wanted to join in the fun.


	Going to find Mom	Trying to figure out why his truck has stopped

A Trip To Oregon

2008-06-30T10:42:00.003-08:00

Adria, Thomas and I recently returned from a 2 week trip to Oregon to visit family. We spent the first week in having a family reunion with my parents and siblings. All of my siblings and their families were in the same state at the same time for the first time since our wedding. Thomas enjoyed being able to play with his cousins, especially his younger cousin Henry as they aren't yet able to run around like his cousins Samantha and Lilly are.

Henry and Thomas with their mothers

During the reunion we were also able to take day trips to the beach and to Silver Creek Falls.

The entire Tingey clan on the beach at Seal Rock


Thomas and Adria overlooking the beach	Thomas on the beach


Adria and a napping Thomas at the South Falls	Thomas having a good time at the North Falls

While not going on trips, we were able to enjoy some of the parks in Corvallis as well:

After the family reunion, we headed up to Portland to spend a week with Adria's parents and siblings. Adria's brother Nathan was in town with his family for the weekend, so Thomas was able to play with his other cousin Ethan. Then later in the week, Adria's grandfather came in for a visit and Thomas was able to meet his great-grandfather: