Croquet

Yesterday, we bought what appeared to be the last croquet set in the Fairbanks Metro area (Truthfuly, the "Fairbanks Metro area" is somewhat of a misnomer, as there is only Fairbanks, North Pole, and Fox with any "Metro" appearance). We got the croquet set home, only to realize that one of the balls was missing in action - now we are down to a 5-player game until we can find an orange croquet ball. Our backyard is quite large enough for a game of decent size, and bumpy enough that it makes the game ... interesting. Allison is not quite as interested in playing the game as she is in just hanging out and hitting her ball around randomly, which is ok with us. Christi has turned out to be the Croquet shark in the family, winning more than half of all the games we have played thus far.
We have come to the conclusion that we have spent more time outdoors as a family in the (nearly) two months since moving to Alaska than we did in the four and a half years we lived in Georgia. It will be interesting to see how our family reacts to the crazy cold weather that is coming before too much longer. I keep expecting to see a dusting of snow when I wake up in the morning, but it has not materialized yet.