Nana and Grandpa Buck's Big Unalaskan Adventure

My parents just returned to Montana after a week long spa vacation here on the island. They managed some 9ish hours of flying and 5 take-offs and landings to arrive here last Thursday. I believe it's the farthest my dad has ever been away from home and their first trip to the great state of AK. Lucky for them, they got the Aleutian flight tour on the trip from Anchorage, stopping in King Salmon and Cold Bay for extra fuel. But they arrived to some sunny, beautiful island weather and a host of cute grandson activities. And they brought with them some tasty and handy goodies.....fresh raspberries, basil and lettuce from the Cook farm, Flathead cherries, and a host of necessary supplies like dishcloths and toilet brushes! Woo-hoo!

We had a beautiful sunrise the first morning....one of the first we've seen since it's usually foggy in the morning. Yes, lucky indeed.


After introducing them to the schedule on Friday, we took off Saturday for a big hike. We hiked over to the Peace of Mind cabin with Dawson's co-workers. You take off from near the summit of the Overland pass road and hike over a few mountains and valleys until you reach the beach where there is a small cabin, an impressive sauna and some beautiful scenery. This sauna is pretty fancy. It's got a network of coils that hook up to the neighboring stream and could make for a fantastic winter ski vacation!
Senor enjoyed being carried, but it became quite clear that he's really much more of an adventurer. Beaches are fun! Sand, water, rocks.....
Which leads to some interesting fashion statements....



Of course, we couldn't let them leave without seeing their fair share of WWII bunkers...


They enjoyed the many views of mountains, water and boats from the top of Bunker Hill.

And we had a few photo ops for Team Wilco family photos (which are usually a rarity!)


As we were driving one day, we ran across the remains of our favorite Goose....being shipped back to the island on a barge. Hmmm...it looks a little the worse for wear.


Lest you think the vacation was all fun and scenic vistas....Grandpa Buck did prove his skills on one smelly occasion....He was trying to redeem himself after receiving a failing grade on his feeding skills with sandy yogurt on the beach. We're not sure he gets an A, but how about an E for effort?


Thanks for the visit, Grandpa Buck and Nana! We're already excited about the next one!

Pure Squashy Goodness

Thanks to Dawson's dad, we have a fresh stockpile of tasty home grown yellow squash straight from the Boise garden. Thank you, DeWayne! The whole family, Buck included, loves it!

Happy 2-year Lapacaca

Long before there was a Senor.....

Happy 2 years Dover!!

Woo-Hoo for Ballyhoo!

Pondering the mountain from below as we walked over to the beginning of the race. Hmmm...pretty darn steep!

As we were walking over, the famous Goose landed on top of us, so we thought we better take a picture...the white goose, that is (the blue goose still hasn't quite recovered).

As for the race itself....whew. Dawson did excellent and came in 3rd place in 36 minutes. Not bad at all....especially since 1st place was taken by a ringer from out of town and 2nd place went to this guy who appears to be quite famous and has a few mountains under his belt (like Everest and K2 to name a few!). Boodah and I had a bit more leisurely pace and came in at 1 hour 12 minutes. I'm proud to have made it to the top in 45 minutes, though. Both Senor and Dawson got medals for their achievements.

Senor was playing it cool after the finish line,

But after we made it home, he was pretty darn thrilled with himself.

We tried to go for a hike the next day, but Senor was tired of the backpack and our legs were just a little sore. Plus, Dawson had a major toenail injury, so as you'll see he is donning extreme one-sided flipflop hiking gear.

And to continue the extreme breastfeeing series, here's a few shots. Do you think La Leche League has any competitions I can win??

Friday Night News

We've been working on a map project, putting cyber pins in an on-line map. It's kind of a work in progress, but it's pretty fun to put together. Once you've stuck the pin, you can write a little bit about the adventure or whatever it is. Anyway, you can click on it over there to the left on the My Maps button. Or here. Feel free to comment and we'll paste those comments on there.

Sam sent an article about a program I might try to get going around these parts. It's really an innovative approach to physical therapy and the latest fitness craze. Women are the main target market, but some men may be good at it. I just love the image of Dawson taking the class.

Congratulations to Bryan T. Hall! He's been climbing the corporate ladder (Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Chicago, and now Dallas) ever since leaving WU. Now he's a VP. We won't at all be surprised when he's the CEO.

Tomorrow's excitement is the Ballyhoo run. The record time is 22 minutes to climb to the top of Ballyhoo and run back down. We don't know what the record is for a Boodah in a backpack, but it will pretty much be broken tomorrow. The record, that is. Not the Boodah.

We've been calling Senor Boodah lately. Hopefully that's not bad karma. We're avoiding the bad karma and any potential blasphemy through clever spelling.

1600 feet of vert in about 3/4 of a mile.

Mr. Pax Rev had a breakthrough on the crawling this week. He's graduated from the commando to traditional all fours maneuvering.



Sensitive teeth, possibly, have been keeping him up at all hours. This morning he wanted to play from 4 to 6 AM. (Not to mention eat at 12, 1, 2, and 3.) I read the first few pages of Deepak's Buddha, and Buddha means "someone who is awake." Maybe we're getting a taste of that karma after all... he "spent his long life trying to wake up the rest of us." Uh-oh.

Good luck, Emerson! Dawson's co-worker's daughter is racing in the All-American Soap Box Derby in Ohio tomorrow. She made the front page of the Akron newspaper.

I Rock Crocs

An Outside magazine somehow ended up in our mailbox and I noticed an ad for a contest...."I Rock Crocs". Send in a picture and a short essay about how you rock crocs and you will be eligible for a free pair of Crocs every month for a year. Now I'm thinking to myself, what could I use more than a new pair of crocs every month??? Not much. Plus, I do rock. So we did a quick photo shoot while backcountry extreme snowboarding/breastfeeding/water playing. What do you think? Which photo is guaranteed to win me 12 pairs of shoes to clog up my arctic entry??

Extreme mothering....


Scenic vista shot....

Smiling mom and baby

My best impression of a bad ass

Extreme hiking....

Playing in glacial ice water...

Alas....this is completely unbelievable. While trying to hyperlink a link for the I Rock Crocs contest at stay30forever.com (OK, so I'm not exactly 30), I find that this contest is over!! What the heck? I was just getting ready to enter! Just because our mail out here is delayed by a month or so. They don't even know what they're missing....