Keebler-Beaver Year in Review 2010

 January got us off to a wonderful start when Robin and Ari arrived on New Year's Day evening to spend a few days with us while Meg attended a conference.  Santa had left presents for Ari at her home in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and at our house.  But she had to wait until the next morning to have Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's winter quarters in Sun City, Arizona -- Oh yes, and Butter's quarters too.

    Our holiday was already off to a good start in December with our acquisition and wrapping of gifts for Ari and preparation of her room -- complete with a youth bed and Elmo comforter.  

Karen had decorated and Jack made his traditional chocolate candy like his mom used to make.  We spent New Year's Eve with friends, Randi and Bill, before meeting Robin and Ari at the airport the next day.

Lake Pleasant

       Robin and Ari's visit sped by with lots of outdoor play and exploration in the sun at Lake Pleasant and rock climbing at Badger Creek Wash. 

Badger Creek Wash

Then it was time for Grandma to make that pre-dawn run to Sky Harbor and say good-bye until next time, whenever that might be. 

      We had a few days to get ready for a semester break visit from our "Montana kids,"  Russ and Erin. They hit the ground running with egg-noodle making lessons by Erin for Jack, followed by a "memory lane" trip to The Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson and the disappointment of finding our favorite Italian restaurant closed.  Then Russ and Erin closed down our local German restaurant with dancing applauded by patrons, band and us.  Those pre-wedding lessons surely paid off!

In February we visited with Karen's fellow snowbird relations from Minnesota.

You can't even tell that cousin Patty, Dave, Karen and Jack really hated this Thai restaurant!

Dave & Patty, Aunt Lovie, Diana, Karen & Jack (Stevee's photo)

Jack, cousins Stevee and Diana with Aunt Lovie.

Not a snowbird, this Costa's hummingbird adopted us.

Randi & Karen at Amuse Bouche

March saw Jack departing for his six weeks in Southeast Asia after a short visit from fellow Alaskans, Joyce and Julian. We were so delighted to see each other, neither couple remembered to document our visit or our dinner at a cool French restaurant, Amuse Bouche, with photos!  But Karen went there a couple more times as she nurtured her relationships with friends like grad school friend, Randi, who lives in Phoenix.  She also went to a concert in Wickenburg with Augsburg College friend, Deanne, and subbed in Aunt Lovie's Bridge group.

Deanne and Karen at Wickenburg

Ginny, Miriam and Aunt Lovie at Bridge

Karen rediscovers the joy of painting a wall.

 March also saw the completion of Stage I of our remodel of the Sun City Condo with replacement of the door and a window to the patio with the sliding glass door that used to separate the Arizona Room from the rest of the condo.  Karen got to paint a wall for the first time since she started living in log houses!

Contractors, Don & Terry rip out wall between AZ room and patio.

Jack's chair by new patio door awaits his return in the fall

Spring Equinox in Fairbanks

      Jack's Southeast Asia tour precluded his receiving from Robin the "offer that couldn't be refused" that went to Karen in mid-March.  After extensive job searches by Robin and Meg, they accepted positions in New Mexico -- Robin at Los Alamos National Labs where he'd done his physics Ph.D research and Meg at University of New Mexico on the economics faculty.  They planned a house-hunting trip to Albuquerque in April.  

     Could Karen join them to help with Ari for that week?  Indeed she could, but she needed to return to Alaska as scheduled for equinox, hair appointment and March book group meeting.  Robin got a mileage ticket for her to return to AZ, drive to Albuquerque for a week in April and then return to AZ to fly home.

Erin Juliet, Aaron and Silas at Lemon Grass

Karen and Silas Worley

The young Worleys drove Karen to the airport in Fairbanks for her return to AZ at the end of March.    Meanwhile Jack languished in the heat of Thailand and Cambodia.

Restaurant owner's grandson at Jack's daily breakfast

Eight special drinks on menu -- try a different one every day of the week and two on Sunday

E. Bunny left a basket at Grandma's.

April brought Karen's and Butter's  much anticipated drive on Easter Sunday to Albuquerque where they delivered goodies left at Grandma's house in Sun City since Ari would be flying with her parents to New Mexico.  For the next week Grandma, Butter and Ari visited parks near their rented house in historic Albuquerque while Robin and Meg house-hunted.  They found a house and we visited a nearby Montessori School where Ari would subsequently be enrolled.

"Puff the Magic Dragon"

Ari likes the playground at school.

Meg, Robin & Butter at park near house

Back of house they will close on in late June

 Karen drove back to Arizona to catch a flight home to Fairbanks in time to pick Jack up from the airport after he spent a couple of days with the Worleys in California en route home from Bangkok via Seoul.  He got to see Jay's pride and joy, "QE II."  Photos at left were shared by Jay in upper photo.  That's Pam, Jay's "Silver Fox" in lower photo.



Back in Fairbanks, we tried to "hit the ground running" so we could get out to the Tozi for 3-4 weeks before the mosquitoes got too thick.  We had things to do and people to see before our 10 May departure for the Tozi.  Among those things was walking and greeting the sandhill cranes back at Creamer's Field, Fairbanks' wildlife refuge that hosts the returning birds and waterfowl while they await "Break-up" further north on the rivers, lakes and tundra where they breed.

11 May 2010

May - Break-up had occurred on the Tozi by the time we arrived 10 May, but we were able to observe greening with photos from the outhouse as shown in photos to the right and below right.  Photos below were taken from the bank in front of the Summer House.  

5 June 2010

11 May 2010

17 May 2010

Our down river neighbor, Tom, who now lives in Tanana on the Yukon River spent a week at his place.  We were able to visit back and forth as in the "old days" when five households formed our full-time Tozi community. 

Tom invited us down to his cabin for dinner one day.

Karen was able to get some work done on her memoir when she wasn't photographing from the outhouse or doing daily chores like cooking and cleaning up.  Anyone interested in more detail of our activities between 10 May and 7 June can view her public album at 
http://picasaweb.google.com/tozikaren/ToziPhotos10May7June2010#




June and July found us catching up on our Fairbanks social life and enjoying a continuation of the wonderfully and unseasonably warm summer weather we'd experienced on the Tozi all throughout May -- temps in the 70s and 80s!

Grampy-uncle Jack wants to know if Silas is ticklish.

We celebrated our 14th/44th funniversary 13 June with the traditional spaghetti dinner.
          
     

We enjoyed getting re-acquainted with Pam and Jay's 6-month old grandson shown here with his mom, Erin Juliet.






We had to stop at McGrath and Farmer's Loop intersection one evening to watch a pair of moose feeding on the lush summer greenery alongside the road.

We celebrated Father's Day with brunch at Pikes, a more rare treat now that we've both retired and are trying to live more within our means.

      Spending time among the  birds and wild flowers at Creamer's Field is well within our retirement budget.  Irises are probably an invasive species, but they sure do cheer us up.  As do visits to our backyard by moose.

 

Our annual camping trip with Doug and Joan over 4th of July weekend was a bit soggy, but we kept the campfire going and made good use of Doug and Joan's screen tent, awnings and . . .

. . . yes, umbrellas.

     

Not everyone gets rhubarb for their anniversary.

Jay and Pam returned from their winter and spring in California and we celebrated their anniversary.  Karen went blueberry picking at a really good spot with friend, Barb.  Karen's Bridge group met on Tuesdays whenever possible.  

Mike, Connie, Joan and Karen all look ready to bid a slam.

The last two weeks of July Karen attended the Creative Writing class at Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival while Jack prepared for his very own "offer he couldn't refuse" -- three weeks helping Robin and Meg move into their new house in Albuquerque and helping Meg with Ari while she recovered from surgery performed three weeks before the move from Waterloo, Ontario to New Mexico.  

We finally got our friends and house-sitters from two years ago, Deanna and Trevor, over for dinner in late July.  The nice thing about having house sitters is that when you invite them over for dinner, they can fix dessert without having to ask you where anything is.  

Trevor and Deanna know our kitchen well.

They prepared an awesome creme brulee for dessert.

We also had our new neighbors, Steve and Susan, along with her parents from Texas, Joe and Wanda, up for chicken parmiggiano prepared by Jack and served on the deck.

     Before Jack took off for Albuquerque, we had a surprise visit from his best man, Billy, and family who brought fresh caught salmon, crab and scallops up with them from Kenai.  Jack prepared an awesome seafood dinner.  

Jack with Billy and Annie

     








We also had a chance to go to dinner at the Thai House with friends, Gordon and Sarah, friends from our earliest days in Fairbanks who've lived in Juneau for many years.  They came to Fairbanks for Sarah's high school reunion.

Gordon, Sarah, Jack and Karen

August

Speaking of high school reunions, while Jack was bonding with grand daughter, Ari, in Albuquerque, Karen spent ten days in Minnesota where she attended the 50th reunion of St. Louis Park's class of '60.  She visited with Wuollet and Kohout relatives during the first five days while she stayed with Aunt Lovie.

3 generations of Wuollets gathered at Jerry & Cathie Morey's

Resident Wuollet elders, Aunts Charlotte and Dee

Darlene and Jim Wuollet

Cousin Cathie and husband, Jerry, hosted Wuollet gathering

On the Kohout side, Aunt Lovie and Karen visited Karen's grandparents' graves at Sunset Memorial Cemetery and got together for dinner at a restaurant with several Kohout cousins.

Larry & Laverne, Colleen & Todd, Diana, Karen, Irene & Larry, Aunt Lovie, Stevee

Aunt Lovie flanked by nieces

Bobbi, Judy and Karen met for dinner

  After reunions with as many relatives as possible, Karen stayed the next five days with high school friend, Bobbi, while attending reunion events.

Bobbi, Ginny and Karen.  In 6th grade I thought we were "Betsy, Tacey and Tibb"

Sheila and Karen were in Brownies together

Back in alaska . . . 

Joyce, Elaine and Karen at Pike's on the Chena River.

Deanna and chocolate-covered strawberries with flowers from our deck

. . . a few days before Jack returned, Karen had lunch with friends from her working days, Joyce and Elaine, and shared her famous (infamous?) chocolate-dipped strawberries with Deanna who stayed with Butter and house-sat while Karen was in Minnesota.

Porcelain Doll Watering Flowers

 Meanwhile, Jack seems to have spent the entire time he was in Albuquerque with his camera glued to his face as he followed our awesome Ari around in her new environs.  Believe me, these are only a few select photos.  (It didn't hurt that Ari's daddy's hobby is photography and Ari is so used to being photographed!)

"Mom needs help with her computer."

"Hey, I've discovered rain!"

"There's lots of sand here in New Mexico -- like my whole yard is sand!"

"You'd be tired too if you commuted 100 miles to work every day and then came home to play with me!"

   

"But, I LIKE rain!"

Practicing for Miss America Pageant 2020

"Of course, I'll be able to wear a strapless dress by then!"

Patio Painting Class

"Grandpa got my daddy a really good deal on this grill.  It's one of his favorite toys -- next to his camera, of course."

"These flowers need a lot of attention."

"My grandpa makes great strawberry shortcake!"

Jack returned home to get ready for the Tozi. Pam and Karen celebrated Karen's birthday before we left for our fall Tozi trip on her birthday. 

Our 25 August to 23 September time on the Tozi is documented with a the first post of this blog, August-September 2010 Tozi Time.  As with our May trip, we had awesome weather and no bears.

September - October 

We seem to have taken a break from photography.  That may be because Karen's expensive camera disappeared, causing her much grief.  It was back to the old HP for celebrating Jack's and Jay's birthdays.  Our yearly Thanksgiving guests up until we started spending November in Arizona, Chris and John, joined Pam and Jay and us for Jack's new Arizona specialty, enchiladas.

Chris and Pam chat while Jack visits with the other guys.

John and Jay relaxing before dinner

  
Another specialty of Jack's is his jalapeno cheese dip invented by him when Safeway quit carrying the Kenai dip we'd become so fond of.  It's quite a project involving roasting of the peppers and then an operation that requires gloves and mask.  As long as he's willing to do it, Karen and our friends are more than willing to enjoy the dip!  

After brunch at the Pump House with Janet and Steven

We spent much of October preparing to depart for Arizona.  Among those preparations, we enjoyed getting to know our house sitters, Steven and Janet.  They are moving to Alaska from Colorado to be near their granddaughter and building a house, which operation can't be resumed until spring.

November 

Our friend, Seth from the BLM fish counting camp on the Tozi (and who house sat for us in May while we were on the Tozi) "floated" the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for 21 days in October-November.  We scheduled ourselves into Arizona in time to have him spend a night with us after that trip.  Seth is an avid birder and we enjoyed sharing the birds in our court yard with him.  It was fun sharing a meal on the patio with him and having him supervise Jack in our Arizona kitchen.

"Is that a Gambrel's quail, I see?"

"You know what you're doing there, Jack?"

Colleen

Karen took Seth to the airport on Saturday and returned to Sky Harbor on Sunday to pick up Aunt Lovie accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Colleen.  We joined them for dinner at Aunt Lovie's one evening before Colleen left for a conference in Phoenix and home to Minnesota.  

We'd received another "offer we couldn't refuse" from Robin and Meg.  So, a week after we arrived, we drove over to Albuquerque to fetch Ari for a week with us in "ARI-zona" while Robin went to Japan and Meg spent long hours working on her research in between nightly video chats with Ari at our condo in Sun City.   Ari proved to be a great traveler and adapted easily to life at Grandma and Grandpa's in "her-zona."

Helping Daddy make biscuits

"Have fun in ARI-zona, Ari."

Day 1:  Trying on life-jacket swimsuit

Pouring milk from "Kohout" pitcher into Alaska cup.

Going shopping:  "I have to check these ads."

"Grandpa set up my gym in the courtyard."

"Grandpa thinks he's so funny talkin' 'bout finding alligators and hippos in my teeth."

Day 2:  Shopping with Grandma, Ari got a Dora backpack.

Day 3:  We went to the Phoenix Zoo

Ari's favorite Zoo Day photo.

Grandpa makes finger-lickin' good candy.

 On Day 4, Ari and Grandma made pumpkin pancakes for brunch.  Then Ari helped Grandpa make chocolate candy and talked with Daddy on Google video chat shortly after he got up the next morning (time zones!) in Japan.  Grandma and Ari took some pot roast over to Ari's Great-great Aunt Lovie's and had a "girls' night out."

Great-great girls in pink

"That's Daddy on the computer!"

Enjoying the rocker her Great-grandma Elfie had when she was a little girl almost a century ago.

 On Saturday before Thanksgiving, we braved the frozen slush on Hwy 17 out of Flagstaff and headed for Albuquerque with our precious passenger.  Jack managed to avoid our joining all the cars sliding off the road and got us headed east on Hwy 40 where we were blessed by a rainbow stretched across the sky to the northeast.

On Monday we went to Ari's gymnastics class.

On Tuesday Grandpa took Ari to school.

It was a busy week getting ready for Turkey-Day.  On Wednesday Ari helped her Daddy and Grandpa clean up the kitchen.

Then Grandma and Ari made pie crust.

You gotta mix it . . .

. . .  then make a ball and . . .

. . . pat it flat.

Then you roll it out.

Thanksgiving morning we woke up to snow.  While Robin, Meg and Jack tended to the dinner, Ari found Grandma reading on her bed and proposed, "Let's read together."  She got her book and Grandma hollered for Grandpa and Robin to bring their cameras.


Before dinner we visited a nearby park with a dog park where Butter could run and a playground where Ari and Grandma could play.

See-saw designed to handle large weight differential!

Then it was time for dinner at Meg's pretty table . . .

"I got a bone!"

 . . . and dessert . . .

. . . and a show . . .

and family photos.

(Photos of Ron, Ari and Meg and of Karen, Jack, Robin and himself  by Robin)

We stayed to give Robin and Meg a chance to take in dinner and a movie out and drove back on Saturday to Sun City where there were cookies to bake, gifts to buy, wrap and mail, and a condo to settle back into.   We plan a quiet holiday with Aunt Lovie, friends and neighbors in Sun City.  The kids will spend the holidays in Connecticut with Meg's sister and family while we rest up in preparation for our next visit from Ari. 


In January Ari's daddy will fly to Arizona with her en route to business trips in Singapore and Sydney and pick her up on his way back home.  Meg will be getting started teaching at UNM after a semester of research.  

We're looking forward eagerly to 2011 and it's adventures including Stage II of the Sun City condo remodel.  We hope our other adventures will include opportunities to enjoy the company of those who've dared to scroll through our "Year in Review - 2010."  

Meanwhile, we wish all our friends and relations  

Happy Holidays 

and peace and joy 

in the New Year. 

-- Karen, Jack and Butter