Happy Birthday Macrina!

Macrina had her second birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday!

Christmas

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. We had a great Christmas. My brother Aaron came up from Washington to surprise our mom. He flew up a few days prior to us heading down to Homer. The plan was for my sister Cyprianna, from New Hampshire to come in on the 23rd, late in the evening and for us to all drive down on the 24th. Cyprianna's plane was delayed - her flight was now not expected to land till the night of the 24th. It was decided that we would drive down, and our Dad to drive up to pick Cyprianna up and turn around and drive back (about a 5 hour car ride). We all woke up early on the 24th and were out the door at 7am! It was Kari, Joachim, Macrina, Aaron, John and myself. We only stopped a few times and were in Homer about 1:30pm. We passed Dad on the highway just ouside of Anchor Point, about 10 miles from Homer.

At my parents church they have a midnight service for Christmas. We all hung out with Mom waiting until church started at 11:30pm. The service ended about 1am, and we all headed back to the house. When we got there, Cyprianna and Dad were back from Anchorage. We all broke the fast with some egg, sausage and hashbrown mixture that was heavenly. Then all headed to bed. In the morning we all woke up and opened our presents. Joachim got all things Star Wars, and Macrina got play cooking and baby stuff. Both of them loved their gifts. For the rest of the weekend we hung out, ate, played games, went to the spit, and watched movies. It was a good Christmas.

The Family

Joachim and John. Joachim is opening Luke Skywalker's X-Wing figher from 'The Empire Strikes Back.' Joachim can now tell you all the major events from all 6 movies.

And Macrina opening up a play cooking set.

Here is Joachim in a Clone Trooper helmet and holding his Clone Trooper gun - it shoot nerf bullets.

Grandpa putting Macrina on her pony.

There were two presents that were not wrapped that Joachim and Macrina could see when they woke up. For Macrina it was the Pony, for Joachim it was the Clone Trooper helmet.

The family in front of our tree.

Joachim and Macrina.

From brietbart.com

An interesting look at Obama's first year:

7,949.09—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 20, 2009.
10,609.65—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 15, 2010.
13 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of January 2009.
14.7 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of December 2009.
7.7 percent—Unemployment rate January 2009
10.0 percent—Unemployment rate December 2009
$787 billion—Cost of economic stimulus approved by Congress.
$10.6 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 20, 2009.
$12.3 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 14, 2010.
$296.4 billion—Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund before Jan. 20, 2009.
$173 billion—Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund after Jan. 20, 2009.
$165 billion—Amount of bailout funds repaid by banks and automakers.
139—Bank failures between Jan. 20, 2009, and Jan. 14, 2010.
274,399—Number of properties that received forclosure-related notices in January 2009.
349,519—Number of properties that received forclosure-related notices in December 2009.
34,400—U.S. troops in Afghanistan in January 2009.
70,000—U.S. troops in Afghanistan as of Jan. 12, 2010.
319—U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan from January 2009 through Jan. 15, 2010.
139,500—U.S. troops in Iraq in January 2009.
111,000—U.S. troops in Iraq as of Jan. 12, 2010.
152—U.S. military deaths in Iraq from January 2009 through Jan. 15, 2010.
539—Appointments to top federal policy positions submitted to the Senate
352—Appointments confirmed by the Senate.
180—Appointments in top policy positions carried over from the Bush administration.
12—Formal news conferences.
21—Foreign countries visited.
29—States visited.
10—Visits to Camp David.
2—Vacations.

At the Spit

It has been a long time since I last posted. Instead of one big post, I've added three new, smaller ones. I hope to do more in the next couple of days. It has been a busy couple of weeks and with less than three weeks till baby Labrecque #3 comes it will stay that way.

Here I am taking a photo of Macrina

Joachim and Kari at a memorial on the Spit.

John and Macrina climbing on the statue. Look at John's finger!

Joachim gathering rocks to throw into the ocean.

Macrina on the beach.

Some pictures from Homer

An eagle at the end of the Homer Spit.

The Spit from my parents house at mid-day.

The spit at about 8am.

And at night.

You can see the tip of the Spit in the lower right. This is just a cool shot of the cloads and sky.

Joachim's First School Play

Above are some pictures of Joachim's first school play. It took place about a week before Christmas. The Preschool I and II classes sang 'Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star.' Joachim was one of the only kids who actually sang.

Thanksgiving

Last night we got about three more inches of snow. We now have enough for dog sledding. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving Morning. Kari took Joachim and Macrina down Darby Road, cut up to Monestary, came out at the Big House / Church then went down Monestary to the Old Glenn then took the new bike bath along the Old Glenn back to Darby. I did the same without the kids. It was a blast.

The Parents' New Crib

My parents recently moved to Homer, AK. Here are a few pictures taken when we visited in October. It is a rather large, log home. There are three stories, the basement is heated with an oil heater, the rest is wood stove. The views are spectacular. You can't really tell but you can see the Homer spit from their house, also about three glaciers.

This picture is a little fuzy becuase of condensation. I left my camera in the car overnight, then brought it and took this picture. It is of their living room - awesome cathedral ceillings and a long stove pipe.

Update

Kari and the kids went down to MN on Oct 15th. I joined them Oct 31st and we all came back on Nov 10th. While in MN, my parents were able to stop by the cities on their way back from MI to AK. They went to the Mall of America, a goat farm, a pumpkin farm, we celebrated Halloween, went to Duluth for a couple of days and stayed at a hotel with an indoor water park. We visited Taylors Falls. I went deer hunting - It was a team effort but I got a 6 point buck. It was a great trip. But we are all glad to be back home. Enjoy the pictures.

Joachim dressed as Luke Skywalker. He is pretty obsessed with
Star Wars.

Macrina dressed as a penguin.

We trick or treated at Uncle Phil's and Aunt Bonnie's church. Each year they have indoor trick or treating and it was a blast. Lots of candy in a short amount of time.

At the Pumpkin Farm.

Four Generations.

Joachim showing off his car he made at Legoland in the Mall of America.

Getting ready to race the cars.

Macrina in Legoland.

In the amusement park in the Mall of America.

Joachim showing some of his Jedi moves at the Goat Farm.

Macrina checking out the chicken, at the Goat Farm. In case you do not know, Kari really wants to get goats and any chance she gets will go to see some.

Ridding tractors. Uncle Paul would be proud!

Grandpa, Uncle Phil Joachim and myself at Canal Park in Duluth.

Macrina, Uncle Phil and Aunt Bonnie at the end of the Pier in Canal Park.

Grandma, Grandpa and Joachim on the Pier.

Looking down at Canal Park from Enger Park.

At Enger Park. Joachim really wanted to climb the rocks.

At Taylors Falls. This is on the border of MN and WI. It is really cool because when the glaciers were receding from the last ice age a huge river formed here. The eddies in the river caused the small pebbles to boar down into the soft beadrock and form perfectly round smooth potholes. Some as big as twenty feet across and 60 feet deep!

Joachim and Macrina looking down at me. This is the St Croix river, still at Taylors Falls.

We had an awesome time at Taylors Falls. Both Joachim and Macrina are great little climbers for their age.

And finally the deer. Tim, my father in law shoot it first. His shot went thru the gut and out the other side taking out a back leg. The deer still had pleanty of life in it however. When I heard his shot I got out of my tree stand and went to his. I was able to track the deer down and then shoot it in the front shoulder, I was aiming at the lungs/heart. The deer got up ran about 20 feet then was down for good. I kept the antlers and will mount them. I think they will look good next to my gun cabinet. It was quite the experiance.