Christmas Tree Adventure

 As usual, we headed out to the powerlines to find ourselves a good tree.
After much debate we settled on a western white pine.

 

Sawing

 Timber!

 Up and decorated. Or at least the top half is decorated...

 Decorations from the bottom half of the tree have all been removed and piled into various locations.

A rare family shot with all smiles : )

NatureNerd-Approved Blocks!

I got Cassia these nested stacking blocks for her birthday. I liked them because they were made of wood, had animals on them and nested nicely. They also had the big bonus of having pictures of animals that were not from Africa or a farm. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against elephants, giraffes, sheep and cows. But it just seems that the large majority of kids books is about these animals and our local wild animals are often missing from books and toys.

And then one day I noticed something really cool (um, ok, really cool for really nerdy biology-type parents perhaps). The animals are colour-coded into ecosystems. So, all the ones with blue backgrounds have sea-creatures on them...

 Red is for the farm animals.

 Green is for North American wildlife.

 And orange is for African animals.
Obviously a very exciting  and blog-worthy discovery around these parts.

Here and There

We went to Canmore for a visit, where it is properly winter with snow and everything. 

Cassia had her first toboganing adventure and loved it.

 Back in Revy we were still enjoying some balmy weather and nature walks
(until the snow-rain-sleat of today that is.)

I bought Cassia a few plastic bowls recently. J thought it was a grand idea to use them as bath toys first and then I encouraged her to wear them on her head in the bath. It all made perfect sense until we introduced the same bowls at the dinner table. 

Cassia thinks these stocking are a hat. As far as I know she has never actually worn these on her legs.

Willow

Woodstove Visit

Somehow this flicker got into our woodstove. 

Willow the cat went a bit bonkers and then James finally noticed it while he was feeding Cassia lunch. He locked the cat upstairs, kept Cassia in her high chair, opened a bunch of windows and let the chaos of a sooty bird in the house ensue. It took some chasing with a blanket, but the bird finally flew out. We're hoping it cleaned the stove pipe on its way in as we are too lazy to do this ourselves.

Drummer

No pressure Cassia, but mom and dad could really use a rhythm section.
Plus, you look good behind a drumset.

Tigger

Cassia as Tigger on Halloween night.

The backpack had to be worn to collect all the treats (all two of them).

Our new cat Willow was NOT impressed with the tiger in the house. She normally has a very sleek tail, but it is all puffed up here in reaction to the small tiger that replaced our toddler. The effect was most impressive when Tigger's ears were in the up position. Sorry Willow!

Visit and New Backpack

 Oma and Opa up for a visit - back when it was sunny.

 They delivered a backpack for Cassia - a gift from her great aunt and uncle in Germany. Danke schön Ute und Berthold!

The backpack is a hit!

Autumn Sunshine

 She is suddenly so big and toddler-like. And adorable. 

 Mischief

 Picking up speed

7 Summits (well perhaps more like 3 or 4 summits)

I went down to Rossland, BC with a good friend a couple of weekends ago. We went without the children and it was three days and two nights of adult conversations that were in chunks longer than 30 seconds. So good. It was a bit surprising how easy it was to get used to. We also biked half of the 7 summits trail, which was rad.

First Hike on Mount Revelstoke

 We went for a short hike on Mt. Rev. Since this was her first hike where she'd actually be hiking, Cassia was sensible and started off with a bit of stretching. Here we have some downward dog.

 Then a bit of meditation. Our toddler is just zen like that.

 And we're off!

She hiked a good 200m of trail. We were pretty impressed.

Denali State Park

The view from a pullout on the Parks Highway in Denali State Park. Some big mountains that are not Denali. We had fantastic views of Denali, but somehow, no picture.

Our cabin on Byers Lake in Denali State Park. 

There are three 'Public Use Cabins' named PUC #1, 2 and 3. This here is PUC 3.

PUC 3 had a lovely view of the lake and James and I sat and watched a pair of loons and a pair of swans while Cassia napped.

PUC 1 definitely had the most character - lots of burls and a living roof - but it was a bit too close to the parking lot and we preferred our view from PUC 3.

Funky burl seats on the porch of PUC 1.

Inside PUC1.

An old trappers cabin decomposing back into the woods.

View from our high point near the ridge above Byers Lake.

Wal-Mike's!

Walking

Wobbly Walking from Nature Nerd on Vimeo.

Cassia perfected her walking skills while we were up north. Here she is wobbling around the Eagle River Cabin.

Talkeetna

The cool little town of Talkeetna is the jumping off point for most folks climbing Denali. We spent a day wandering the main drag (which isn't paved) and checking out the old trappers cabins. We stayed in Blue Moon Cabin, pictured above, which was one street over from main street.

 Mini kitchen of Blue Moon.

 Touques with ears are decidedly cute.

Cassia was pumped about this old snowmobile.

The blacksmiths old cabin, hand-hewn in 1924.

1916 Trapper's cabin.

Inside the cabin.