My husband rocks...know why?

It's hot in Fairbanks. I know, I know, 80 degrees would have Las Vegas people chortling at the "heat wave" but really, it is VERY unpleasant here. The houses here are built specifically to retain heat, there's very little air movement and 80 degrees is just sweltering. I have been suffering in my sleep at 75 and I just about broke down in tears thinking of what 80 would be like in our top floor bedroom. Seven months pregnant, hot flopping toddler and pubic bone pain in addition to heat makes for a cranky woman. So Charlie hauled the guest room mattress down to the basement on Friday night and we've camped out there since. I LOVE this man. And I LOVE permafrost.

I will just tell you now, people can tell you all the horror stories you want of construction snafus, mucky roads, etc, but I LOVE permafrost. Why? Because it means my basement hovers somewhere between 58 and 64 degrees all summer long. I had such a blessedly peaceful night of sleep on Friday night I could smile beatifically on all those around me, which is probably a good thing...I have not been a nice wife and mommy lately with the achiness, heat and exhaustion. Last night was less restful because the cats have decided to entertain themselves at 3 am by bounding across my head AND I watched Resident Evil after Connor went to bed...not a good sleep inducing combo. But still, much more sleep than I would have had in the convection oven of a bedroom upstairs. Oh and did I mention the basement is DARK? Huge boon this time of year.

We went to the Midnight Sun Festival yesterday...they are not kidding when they say 40,000 people attend! It runs from noon to midnight to celebrate the solstice and hence the longest day of the year. The sunset at 1248 am last night and rose at 258 am. That is a LONG day. There were tons of booths, stages and crafts all shoved into a small four block area and it was so hot the lemonade and ice cream lines were truly awe-inspiring. It was right off the banks of the Chena river, so Connor had to throw a few obligatory rocks in the water after he enjoyed a hot dog and cinnamon pretzel. It started being quite windy and looked like it was blowing up a bit of a squall, so we headed home at 2 pm or so after running a few errands. Perhaps it cooled the festival off...I hope so! There was also a Midnight Sun fun run and baseball game, but neither started til 10 pm, long after little boy bedtimes, so we had a rest and then a walk over to Polaris Lake for Connor to throw even more rocks.

While there we spotted a moose and her baby on the opposite shore, but we don't know if it was OUR baby or not. If I hadn't said it, or you hadn't heard through the grapevine, our moose buddy from the backyard stakeout during mom and dad's visit decided to calve back there the day after they left. i think they were disappointed to miss the moose birthing. She must have thought the bananas and apples the neighbors threw out to her were wonderful maternity treats, so she had her baby right there. I walked around to warn all the neighbors to keep their kids away from the area so she didn't feel the need to defend the baby. I thought there was something wrong with the baby -- it didn't get up for the longest time and seemed awfully small -- but they eventually moved off. Later there was an article in the paper about this new baby moose being a victim of dwarfism, and as it's in the same family grouping as our base albino moose, they think there might be a sire out there with some genetic problems. It did look small but every time I've seen it again it seems quite hale and hearty. The mama looked a little young and skinny herself, so who knows? Well, winter will be the real test for it, I'm afraid.

Well today is a day to get a few chores done and let Charlie get some much needed relaxation time before having to head back to work on Monday. We have an airshow here on Tuesday so we'll try to take some pics and video of Connor going nuts over the "airpanes" for everyone to enjoy. Have a great Sunday!