Autumn? What Autumn?

Actually, fall in Alaska (half of the state, anyway - the Southeast is full of evergreens, while western Alaska and the North Slope have no trees at all) is beautiful, like a muted New England fall in fast forward. We have a couple Tamarack larches on the property that turn bright yellow before losing their needles. The northern latitudes (us, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia) are like endless oceans of trees, mostly birch, and they really come alive with colors in September. But it doesn't last long, and with October now nearly over, fall has come and gone, leaving the beginnings of winter in its place. We fired up the wood stove over a month ago, and have had snow on the ground for a couple weeks now. Of course, we're loving it.

We've been posting so many photos here lately that we thought we'd take it easy this time and just share a few. Still, we've been busy - Malcolm continues to shine in first grade (he is now enjoying his first "big" book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), as has Chloe in her dance class. In fact, the dance instructors are scheduling a special day of teaching themselves some new techniques, and they've asked Chloe to join them as their model. Looks like the student will now teach the teachers.

Calvin is growing up fast these days. He's started on solid food (well, rice cereal anyway), wears big boy clothes, laughs and plays and tugs on Daddy's beard mercilessly. Stephanie deserves all the credit for his achievements, however, and is lucky enough to take him with her to work every day (just like she did with the other kids).

Malcolm has been begging and pleading for so long (and to help keep him busy in the winter), that we decided to let the kids get a guinea pig. We named her Totoro, after the classic Japanese film, and she was an immediate hit. The kids have done a terrific job taking care of her and being responsible, and love to walk around or just sit with her in their arms.

The annual Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) convention is going on now in Anchorage, at the new Dena'ina Center next door to Brandon's work. The AFN convention is the largest annual Native event in the country, and ranks with the Iditarod in importance and popularity in Alaska. Brandon visited for a few minutes during work last week, and the scope of beautiful clothing, artwork, crafts and people was inspiring, similar to his too-brief trip to Emmonak a couple years back.

That's about it for now. Malcolm's 7th birthday (!) is coming up soon (and Stephanie would kill Brandon if he didn't mention his own impending birthday), so we'll be back with more words and photos before long. And of course Halloween is just a few days away. We'll have a teddy bear, a dirty pirate and a "cheetah princess"in tow, all bundled up and eager to go trick or treating regardless of the weather. Life is grand. :)

♥, The Tuckers