Out of my element

We got invited to go four wheeling on Saturday and the kids were thrilled.  Mark, a teacher who has been in Elim for 11 years, has 2 four wheelers and the one the kids are sitting on has the wooden box for his dog!  Well these two were a perfect fit so they rode with Mark and Jack took me and Crew!  It was a 40 degree day and overcast.  I was just waiting for it to pour, but luckily it didn't while we were out.

The kids are getting gloves put on their hands by Jack and Mark.

Crew and I are ready!  So here's the before picture.  I am clearly out of my element, I'm wearing a WHITE coat in the bush.  This was a last minute buy in Anchorage.  I was by myself, Jack had already flown out, and I knew I needed a winter coat.  This one was the best fitting and warmest.  Little did I know that Elim has only dirt roads and is a roughing it kind of place. Any off decisions made from May to August is blamed on pregnancy/post pardom.  I was expected to think logically while having a third child, selling my house (and everythign in it), and moving to Alaska!  No, I plead the 5th. 

Crew is the black coat blob attached to me!  The kid slept the entire time, even when some mud splattered his face.

Joy riding!

Mark is helping Ila put her gloves back on.  He's a patient man for not having kids!  He teaches High school science....or social studies?

And this is the after photo.  I thought no big deal, mud washes out.  Right?  WRONG.  I washed this coat 7 times before I got it looking semi unstained.  Many stains are still on it and it was the first time I wore it! I even noticed a tag still attached while we were riding, ha!


And here's a better picture to show how muddy I was. I love my new rain boots I bought on Amazon.  I've never lived in a place you've needed rain boots!  

 It had rained a lot last week so we drove through a lot of mud.  We had to lean several times through some of the deep water not to tip the four wheeler and when I leaned I got nailed by the back tire spewing mud.  I actually had an awesome time and found myself smiling while riding because it was such a cool sight to see.  I got to walk through the real tundra!  We were going to pick berries, but its the end of the season and we couldn't find any.

The kids are pretty comfortable around here! The post master took an afternoon break so we were waiting in the post office for him to come back and take our mail!  Our closing papers for our house to be exact!

The road to the only gas pump is near our house so we hear a lot of truck and four wheeler "traffic."  I run this road sometimes to add extra time to my workouts (the village is kind of small) so I took Jack out to see it.  Photo courtesy of Zax.

The one and only gas pump.  I think gas is around $5.25/gallon

This cemetery is on the way to the gas pump.  It's in a really pretty area.



I know bread makers are not a new thing and many of my friends have and use them.  We ordered one because the bread at the store is around $5 a loaf and we ended up loving the bread maker bread.  Since it is still a novelty to us we are currently eating a lot of bread, so yummy!

I laughed so hard this day!  This is Willy and Terrance, they are cousins.  Everyone loves the teeter totters, but it's only fun if you have someone who matches your weight.  Willy is twice the weight of Terrance so he wasn't having any fun even with adding Zax's weight.  So I got on with Willy!

Their faces were hilarious!

This kid is only 9 years old and in 3rd grade!  I met my match for the teeter totter!  Zax and Ila together are Terrance's weight.  Hilarious!

Faculty parking! 

And the puzzle making has begun!  We have a drawer full luckily.

Ila did this one on her own...i think? That's what Jack said.