Busy...

Life has been a bit busy around the Kern household lately. Heather returned to full-time work the first of January, so I have managed, with trades and an awesome job to have most week days off to be Mr. Mom at home with Kye. Watching Kye has been a lesson in patience and letting go of expectations of skiing as much as I have in the past.  Although Kye has been out in his Chariot and in a pack numerous times skiing with me, I just can't ski the same stuff I would without him.  I don't have too much to complain about, as hanging with my little guy and watching him grow and learn is quite amazing, and I wouldn't trade this time for anything.  As far as what we have been up to, here is a quick (sort of) summary:

Kye enjoying the warmth of Grand Junction Nordic Hut

Kye has not only learned to grab his pigs, but also stick his tongue out!

I managed to put together a very informal randonee race series up here at the pass in hopes of finding more ski partners to train with.  The first official night race had a disappointing turnout, only one person showed up, so Lowell and I did a couple laps and enjoyed our cake awards.

Lowell on the booter section of the course

Heather had a 3-day weekend and we had plans to go to Mt. Bachelor in Oregon to ski and for me to compete in the Vertfest Randonee race.  One week prior, we got a phone call with the bad news that my Grandfather had fallen and broken his femur bone near his hip.  We were quite worried about Grandpa. Heather and I decided to cancel our Bachelor trip and go see Grandpa instead.  Then, after a couple of days Grandpa started to show signs of improvement. So, we decided to wait until February break to see Grandpa, so we could have more time with him.

At this point, it was too late to pull together a full family trip to Bachelor, so I decided to drive down to Bend in a quick turn-and-burn (leaving at 3am) to participate in the Vertfest race.  Crazy, I know, but, actually, I had a great time.  I got down there with an hour to spare, and got to see the Mt. Bachelor ski area for the first time.

The race went pretty good. I didn't have time to look at the course at all, and this would prove to cost me the race.  Normally, I am not the fastest guy at a race, so I don't have to worry too much about getting lost.  Well, this time when the gun went off, I sprinted the first 200 feet or so and only had one guy in race garb fairly close.  By the time I got to the first transition I had probably a good 15 or 20 second head start on the second place guy.  So, on the first descent, I was skiing along, and skiing along, and then I started to wonder if I had missed the transition.  I slowed to look for markers and the second place guy went whizzing by, dang it!  I quickly gathered myself and sped to the transition, arriving 30 seconds or so behind. With a fast transition and some quick skinning, I regained the lead and led the second ascent.  On the next up-to-down transition, I had a bad transition, and Jason (the other race dude) had a good transition, so I fell behind a good bit.  The last uphill I managed to reel Jason within striking distance, yet I just didn't quite reach him for the next to last transition. Again, a bad transition for me and a good transition for Jason equaled a second place finish for me.  I was a little disappointed because I felt that I really could, and should have won this race.  But, that is also what I really like about Skimo racing, always looking for ways to improve and become more efficient.  I walked away with a really nice pair of $600 skis for my efforts, raced home to make it to bed by 9:30.

Feeling the elevation at Bachelor at the second to last transition (Tapper Photo)

When Heather and I got up on Sunday, we planned out the rest of the weekend; one day relaxing at home and taking turns skiing, then the other day we would go on a climbing gym and movie date while Grandma Ellie babysat.  Unfortunately, we found out that Grandpa had taken a turn for the worse.  So, last-minute, we loaded up the car and made a dash to Montana.  Once in Montana we were glad to see Grandpa, but also sad to see him under the circumstances.  Grandpa really seemed to enjoy Kye, he kept on complementing him.  It was also good to see Grandma, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Huey and Aunt Nyla, and sister Sheena.  We stayed a couple of days, visiting Grandpa as much as he could handle, and catching up with the relatives.  Lots of prayers going out to Grandpa, he is a special guy, and we love him very much.

Kye meets Great Grandma Long 

It was really touching to see Grandpa with Kye. He really liked him, smooched his cheeks even!

Nana T, B, Great Gpa Long, Kye, H, and Great Gma Long

Some random cute pics of Kye:

Kye is eating real food 2x a day now, and really loves it.  We call him our little bird because he opens his mouth like a little hungry bird when we don't feed him fast enough!

Tummy Time

Blessed

It has been sunny and beautiful for over a week here in Western Washington. My drives home from work (yes, I'm back to work full-time) have been stunning, jagged, snow-laden mountain peaks pushing into blue sky. Not as often as before, but at least a couple times a week, we get out to skin up Hyak in the early evening and watch the alpenglow shine on Chikamin Peak and Rampart Ridge. Last weekend, my friend Dawn and I took Kye on the nordic trails to a nearby hut, where we enjoyed lunch. Later that afternoon, my mom watched Kye while I took a few ski runs in the fading sunshine.

Whenever we return home from our outdoor fun, we notice the hordes of people in the ski area parking lot piling all their gear and small, sniveling children into their vehicles to drive home...and we say to each other, "We live here, aren't we so blessed?!" (Of course, we feel differently when Kye screams the whole way down to town to go grocery shopping, at which point we think, "Why don't we live closer to civilization?!?" :)

Our number one blessing in 2012 was the arrival of Kid Kern, of course. And so, some more pics of our little cutie.

Proud to be a Seahawks fan, even after last week. ;(

Blurry pic of Kye's favorite skill, grabbing his toes.

Reading a good story

Sweet Ride

We finally got around to putting the skis on the Chariot for Kye.  Mixed reviews on the ski setup, it's a pretty good workout pulling the thing up hills, then a little sketchy on the downhills.  Let's just say on the way home down a ski run dad got going a little fast and scared Heather a bit!  Kye likes it just fine, he sacks out as soon as we start going somewhere.

 

For it's inaugural journey we took Kye out to Grand Junction with cookies and hot cider by the fire.

Work!  and Kye is still little

Kye's sweet ride

 Snack

Taking Turns

Many people will tell you that when you have a kid you'll have to quit doing the things you love. Yes, things have changed a ton. However, we have not stopped climbing, biking, hiking, or skiing. Last weekend, we took turns taking turns in the backcountry.

Brandon headed out with Seth and Kevin in the a.m. to explore the Kendall Couloirs. Time was limited though, so they ended up just lapping Kendall bowl.

 Kevin

Seth

 Brandon, photo courtesy of Kevin Curd

When he got home, we did a quick swap (he got the baby, I got the car) and I met up with Holly (Seth's wife) to ski Kendall as well. The snow was perfect, the sun broke through here and there, and it was great to get to know Holly. Unfortunately, us girls were moving fast and didn't take a single pic.

Ski touring was something I thought might be difficult to me to continue, at least in Kye's first year, but we are not far into the season and I've already skied powder on one of my favorite tours so I'm thrilled!