24 hours with April & Jeb et al.!

While in NYC, we took the Amtrak down to Baltimore to visit our wonderful friends April & Jeb and met the newest addition to their family: Torin!

Unfortunately, we only had 24 hours with them but we had a great visit.

We went for a nice walk and took in the Fall colors

Marit is a ham! It didn't take very long before she warmed up to us.

Dave taking a turn with baby Torin

Marit & Dave the gnome

The cats love all the baby toys! Here's Fernie:

And here's a video of Buddha on Torin's swing



'I gotta pumpkin' video:



I taught Marit 'Patty Cake' and she loved it. I think we played it at least 30 times that evening.
Here's a link to a video that that Jeb & April put on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTlX2e_vrA4

Fantastic to see you guys. Everyone in AK misses you! Move back soon!

NYC

We took a detour on our way home from Quebec and stopped in New York for several days to visit Dave's cousin Craig and check out the City. I haven't been there since Sam graduated from med school. Just as busy and crazy as I remembered it to be!
Times Square. We saw Spamalot. With Clay Aiken. I enjoyed it - thought it was hilarious but I also love the Holy Grail. I think Dave would have preferred to see Wicked or something a little more dramatic.
We hit Central Park. We missed the peak colors but it was still gorgeous.

Empire State Building

not something you'd see in Seward:

We also hit China Town:

Grand Central Station

We spent an entire day at the Museum of Natural History and didn't even make it through 1/2 the exhibits! We came upon a film crew at one of the entrances. Turns out they were filming a scene in a movie with Danny DeVito and Michael Douglas, 'Solitary Man'. If you see someone in a bright orange jacket in the background - that's me!! :)

There were some really cool exhibits, some really old. Some specimens are over 100 years old!

like this Labrador Duck

The moose on the right, when collected, held the world record for antler size at 77+ inches.

And then we checked out Rockefeller Center. Ice rink was open.

Saw this in a window:

Had a great time! Great to see Craig. But it's nice to be back in Seward where the pace of life is a little slower in some aspects.

The Eider Team Takes Quebec City

The 3rd North America Sea Duck Conference was held in Quebec City this year. The flight from AK was uncomfortably long. We left Seward at 8:30A on a Sunday and didn't get into Quebec City until noon the next day. On the way out of Newark, we could see NYC and the Statue of Liberty (red arrow).

Dave, Rebekka, Tuula and I gave talks and Ann presented a poster

Tuula also presented a poster. Can you see it? That's OK, no one else could either. It's like the Emperor and His Clothes: Tuula and Her Poster.

Went out for sushi one night - Julie's first time eating edamame!

Ann was very excited about her blue bird foofy drink.

and maybe not so excited about the 'duck rilette sundae topped with duck foie gras chips'

the wine was really good

and for the entertainment there was a string quartet of sorts. they were all siblings and did a lot more than play music. first, they walked around to each table and took requests. Our table requested Prince and The Beastie Boys - they played 'Kiss' and 'Fight for Your Right'.

I had the guinea fowl for dinner - tastes like chicken!

And here's a photo of all the folks from AK at the conference

and Tuula's team

and we couldn't resist trying out the wine vending machine - never seen anything like it!

There were loads of stimulating talks and I had a great time meeting new people and hanging out with old friends.

Here's an interesting video from the banquet:

Up to Delta Junction

We headed up to Delta Junction for a moose hunt and a visit with the Masons. Jeff had a permit for a cow moose and shared the hunt with Dave so we could get some meat in the freezer for the next year. On the drive up, we came across this red fox which was either fearless or dumb. I've never seen a fox this close before. It kept walking across the road in front of us whenever we started to accelerate.
While Dave and Jeff hunted during the day, I spent some quality time with Ellie and Wyatt who is almost 2! We haven't seen him since last Fall and he's grown so much. He talks. A lot. It's like having a running commentary on everything that you're doing.

Here's Wyatt, showing us Papa's 'muskwats'.

Rebecca & Torleif made a day trip over from Tok to visit us!! So nice to see them, too! Torleif is 5 months now. thanks for making the trip Rebecca!

seems like he's always putting something in his mouth

my friends and their wee ones! ya, it was a little bit of a reality check hanging out with these guys. Raising a family is a lot of work. It scared me off a little bit... oof.

Here is Wyatt eating all of Dave's cookies!
proof that it wasn't me and Ellie snarfing on them!

The Mason homestead is a dog's heaven. They raised 2 pigs this summer and Emma was out there constantly digging for and eating frozen pig poo. gross.
We managed to get out for a ski in single digit temps. Ahhhh. gotta love the interior. at least there's snow to ski on up there!

And we finally met little Nugget! The newest addition to the Mason farm.

This is Callie, Nugget's mom. She's super friendly, too.

oh. and of COURSE. The other reason we went up there. Jeff got a cow moose! and we now have moose meat hanging in our garage ready for processing this weekend. Thanks Jeff!

Processing the neck meat, ribs and other scraps for burger and sausage.

That's a moose heart! it's gigantic! it's the size of his head! maybe bigger. and yes, Dave likes to eat it.

it's definitely winter up there

Ellie, Jeff & Wyatt - Thanks for having us!!! Nice to spend some time with you guys.

Here's a cute video of Wyatt: