Region IV Cross Country Skiing Championships

Mass Start 7.5k Freestyle Race - February 13th

Heather leading the pack up the stadium hill. Heather is Bib #136 while Megan is Bib #139.



Here comes Megan........

Heather leading Marissa......

Megan coming around the corner....

Heather still leading the 1st group..........

Megan's pack coming through the stadium for the 2nd half of the race...

Heather and Marissa almost at the end..........

Megan coming through near the end of the race..........

Heather and Marissa coming in for the finish. A last-second surge by Heather was enough to catch and tie Marissa. Only later did we find out that Heather and Marissa had planned to tie.

Megan coming in for her finish.

Heather and Marissa ended up tying for 1st place while Megan came in 11th out of 39 starters.

4X3, Mixed Technique Relay - February 14th

Megan finishing her leg.........

Heather coming in from her leg as anchor of the Lathrop #1 team.

Heather and Marissa sharing the Region IV crown as champion.

The Lathrop #1 team took 2nd overall..........

....

Besh Cup in Fairbanks

Lots of anxiety in Fairbanks as the final weekend of Besh Cups (#5 & #6) was hosted here on February 7 & 8 and Heather hoped to qualify for the Junior Olympic (JO) team representing Alaska. The Alaska JO team would be named at the conclusion of the races on Sunday. At the end of Besh cup #4, Heather was sitting at 14th in points and they take the top 15 in the JI/OJ bracket. Team members are decided on a point system based on racer placement during each of the six races held. If you are interested in the qualifications, please go to http://www.crosscountryalaska.org/ for more information as I in no way can attempt to explain it.

Besh Cup #5 was an interval 5k classic race with racers individually leaving the starting area every 15 seconds.

Heather placed 10th for J1's with a time of 18:52 and kept her 14th placing in the points though the places from 13 to 16 were all so close. It would be very important that Heather have a great race on Sunday.

Sunday's Race: Besh Cup #6 10K Freestyle Mass start..........Heather is #117.

Some misc pictures of Heather along the trail.........

Coming through for the last 5k........

Heather ended up having a great race placing 10th in her age group with a time of 37:02.

Heather named to the team in the 14th spot!!!! Heather not only was a part of the Lathrop HS Cross Country Skiing team but also participated on a comp team, FXC, which is the organization she raced under for the Besh Cups. Pete, her FXC coach, is on the far left with Heather on the far right.

Stayed tuned as Heather heads to Truckee, California for Junior Olympics. The first race is on March 9th. Dave, Megan and I will be joining her for the week. (Steve won't be with us as he "unfortunately" will be in Maui for three weeks for work no less!!!)

Ixtapa Beach, Volleyball and a Wedding 2009

Now that I have your interest with "wedding" in the title.....Psych! Believe it or not the girls chose not to go to Mexico with this year so Steve and I went later than we usually go in January. In the picture below a sunset wedding (the couple is from Anchorage), a volleyball beach tournament/clinic, and Steve relaxing after a hard day at the beach are all happening at once.

Another dinner at Deborah's - Mama Norma's ending with some "sexy" coffee. It's quite the show with the waiter preparing right at your table with igniting some of the alcohol and making a production out of it. That night it was extremely busy at Deborah's and it was at first questionable whether I would get my coffee or not.

We went exploring down the beach and actually walked around the Ixtapa Marina this year.




Steve posing in front of his new boat and his new condo being built in the background.

The last sunset of our Mexico trip, all vacations eventually come to an end.....

Going......

Gone.....

New Year's in Homer

Irene has already documented the feast that was held during our annual trek to Homer for New Year's for our annual Winter King charter but here's a few more pictures. Matthew and Steve bringing in the crab......

Some deep conversation going on between the "bros" which has Kristin and Jill contemplating just how long of a work-out they are going to do New Year's Day and then there's Steve posing for the camera shot.......

Red, red wine....you're so fine...........

Two more Wise brothers enjoying King Crab.....hope they remember the good times when they are in college.......

The family enjoying robust dialog.........NOT!

Exactly what is Michael doing? Trying to get attention?

Our Winter King Charter thwarted by the "frozen" little harbor that never freezes and some very cold temperatures. If only we could have followed a boat like the Time Bandit out of the harbor........

Regardless of the temperature and the fact that we couldn't go fishing on the last day of 2008 nor the first day of 2009, it is always good times spending with my siblings, family and Jill. Thanks much!

Christmas 2008

It was the night before Christmas and the pellet stove needed cleaning....

and then on Christmas the stockings were opened.....

Checkout the pellet stove and Steve's tile job......

Some happy girls.........

During Thanksgiving, Steve's mom taught me how to do a Ripple Afghan, my goal was to finish by the end of winter but I found myself finishing it up Christmas Eve in time to give to Heather.

A Sprint Series During December Fairbanks "Daylight?"

It's early December in Fairbanks around the time of the greatest daylight and a sprint series is happening at Birch Hill. The racers start out in heats and the top four of each heat move up to the semi-finals and finals. I wanted to capture a few pictures of Heather to illustrate what "day" is like in Fairbanks this time of year. Notice the ski trail lights even come on before the end of the race. (Auto focus doesn't work very well in the below zero temperatures.)

Turning 15 on the 15th

I really admire Irene and how she is current with her pictures and her blog. I struggle knowing that I need to download pictures from two different cameras and that months have gone by since my last post. So while I am trying to download and organize photos, I am going to try and catch up....a lofty goal. When I left off it was Megan's birthday........she turned 15 on the 15th (Nov.)

Megan and friends first had a ski race in Salcha and then stopped by North Pole for games of laser tag followed by a stop at Mom's for pizza and cake.

Steve and I went to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving to visit with his mother who is 88. Though I forgot to take pictures on Thanksgiving, I did get a picture of the buck that visited the yard almost every day we were there (look hard to right of the closest tree.)

A winter Pennsylvania scene along a creek near where Steve grew up.

And here is Daisy dog with her winter jacket from Alaska.