apre' ski fun

Trying to get Doodle to sit still thru story time after a good day freezing butt while skiing outside can be a bit of a chore.

Boy seems to really love the snow.

Now THAT is a GOOD thing!

Cabin cookin

First good snowy night at cabin. Lovely 15 degree out. Thank goodness for down coats. I'm out here grilling the pork loin while wiffy n boy cozy warm playing games in side. Ok, me finger cold now, going back in glove.

Lord of Nordspeps

Supreme commander of the Nordspeps riding his ski sliding slave creature.

OK, the sled is now in retirement. Although heavy, this works. He is happy as a clam in his shell (ducktape and all). He just mumbles along. Giggling when sliding gets fast and bumpy. Since he loves to bite his gloves off, I took his suit and gloves and made a modification. I sewed strips of velcro "hook" to suit and then strips of velcro "loop" to gloves. Hopefully this replaces the need for ducktape. Although ducktape is not necessarily a fashion problem. Many a skier has had to improvise a patch to the torn clothing when needed. That is probably where the term "ripping skier" evolved from.

take me to your leader

Alexi preparing to go into the snow. At least I think he is in there somewhere.

Note the duck taped gloves to stay on hands.

jeep safari

G-ma lin get him the Jeep. Quickly becoming most fascinating toy. It was the matchbox car before, but now it is becoming the Jeep.

Another hot contender is the the Elmo laptop.

This one is "just like mommy and daddy" who spend lots of time staring at these things instead of paying attention to him. So he wants to play too.

New phone shot

Guess what Santa brought Papa. ....The new 3G i-phone!!!

OK, I hear you!... but the old one couldn't take pictures anymore. And I need to take Alexi pics and instant-blog them. Isn't that enough justification???

Anyway, here is one of the first pics with it. Alexi found Papa's hat and was putting it on. Then taking it off. then On. Off, on-off on-off. Just had to blog the shot.

Now the pic posts should be easier again.

Chillin at G-momma's

"Oh I dont feel so good."

Theo is suffering from a bit of a bender at my Mom's Christmas party at their house in Denver, a.k.a., Crab Shack Studios. This is a gathering of their music lover friends. Lots of food, libations, and a merriment of music were served, so who knows what theo might have gotten into that night.
Alexi had a good time too. Here he is with G-ma Lin. Who took time out from a blur of activity to stay in focus for a moment for a photo. Alexi on the other hand was too enthrawled and incapable of sitting still with all the music going on.
And of course the big hit for him was watching and distracting G-maw from squeezing it, all night long.


Louie on the other hand, was less than enamored with what he considered just a bunch of noise in between tasty treats falling from platters and plates.

new hat

New to Alexi fetishes is the "new" hat he found. Picking up on the excitement of the first good-snow-of-the-year backcountry tour, boyo finds momma's ski helmet.
But he thinks it looks best in the reverse orientation.
Skiing with him is not quite as good as it was last year, when he would sleep for hours in the sled. Wake for bottle, then back to sleep.

This year though, it's different. Alexi only handles about 1hr cooped up in the back before he starts to whine from boredom. He then needs to be let out to stomp around. and around, and around.
Thus did not get a chance to get turns, but did see that at the top of Porterfork road, there was about 15 inches of fresh, right-side-up snow. A cruchy crust at the bottom of depth-hoar crystals toped by a poorly-bonding thicker layer and then the last 10 a good "cold-smoke" of about 4%.

Alexi my boy, you gonna need to start learning these snow dynamic principles. It is part of our life, and may help you keep your life when conditions get dangerous in the backcountry.

Hm, I look good.

boy has become the hat man.
One of his new found favorites is the china merchant hat.

Also a new found interest in seeing himself in the mirror.
Boy's got himself some other hats. The Andy one, a crabby-dongle thing that glows with is face. And the Moose one, with antler horns. That one is the chick magnet for him.

Took him for sushi at Takashi's tonight. As usually, he was mostly all good behavior. Hardly a raised voice. A bit of rice thrown on the ground. Some fondling the neighbors. But mostly he was a delight.

We had to eat fast because we only had 30 min to Pumkin Time. Like the Cinderela story, he is pretty much clockwork now. At the end of the evening, the clock turns to 7:30, and he undergoes a conversion. Mind you, we did not know from watching the clock that this was the time, but rather from the switch in the Doodles attitude. Booger brains turns from the giggly happy boy to temper cranky boy right at 7:30. Eye rub and whiny mumble, yes it is time to get out of the restaurant and get him home.

Back at the house, the key words are spoken "Oh, somebody looks tired. Its time to go night-night." That triggers a Pavlovian response, and Alexi's eyes glaze over. A quick round of kissy-good-night and it is off to bed.

How did we get so lucky????

Facing down the Private Invader

Ok, I did it. I've been dreading it for a while now. Holding back and seeking the truth. But now I can put it off no longer, because everyone is doing it.

And what is it you ask? the simple one word answer:

Facebook

What does this privacy invading monster mean?

Where will it go? What does it want from me?

What buried daemons from my past will it summon?

Word is people from the distance past will appear like magic in the internet ether. A supreme strength of Networking connectivity awaits. No other media is needed.

Does this mean the end of this blog. Will Facebook steal away precious idle time and Choppingtwigs-life will fade away into distant memory?

Only time will tell.