Thankful

Our first Thanksgiving in the bush was a success and surprisingly delicious.  I kept my expectations low to avoid strange food disappointment, but everything I tried I liked.  There weren't enough volunteers to cook the meat at home the night before that was purchased so Jack took two servings of reindeer meat to cook!  I was annoyed with him because we have never cooked that kind before and I didn't want to ruin it.  But I was wrong, he did an excellent job and it was eaten up!  There was caribou soup, turkey, reindeer meat, stuffing, mashed potatoes, noodle salad, and lot of desserts!  Our table buddies were prepared and brought tupperware to take some home.  Next year I will remember that one.

I went to the gym to lift weights that morning and all the gym was ready for the feast! Enough seating for around 150 people.  More showed up and had to eat on the bleachers.

Zax and Ila drew pictures on each card and handed them out to people at the dinner.  They all started with "I am thankful for" and ended with "your smile" or "your hardwork" or "your friendship" or "your kindness."  I loved the pictures they drew on each card and the older ladies loved receiving them!

Friday we had a potluck teacher Thanksgiving.  Once again it was delicious.  We signed up for rolls, stuffing, and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  We ate smoked fish in a vinagarette, homemade ice cream on pumpkin pie, turkey, mashed potatoes, and other goodies. 

Jordan is our immediate neighbor, newlywed, and the special education teacher.  Kids love him!

The ocean is frozen!  It is a very cool sight.  The chunks of ice are huge too.

Jack got to hold Crew during this outing so I was freeeeeeee.  Crew does great in his carrier, he gets heavy though!  I miss a car seat and a car to put my kid in.  Last week I pushed the stroller in a snow fall to the school and after an hour when I was ready to come back home it snowed so high I had to leave the stroller at school! 

A village kid skating on the ocean.

Snow caves are all the craze of course.  Jack, Zax, and some kids made this next to the school one evening.

I was kicking the snow out of the snow cave and Ila thinks it's so funny to jump on my back everytime I get low enough for her to.

Recess!  This is a good hill next to the playground.  Jack ordered 20 or so sleds for the kids to use at school and the teachers say it is hard to get them to come inside now after recess.

For the school Christmas program the kindergarteners are singing, "1 little 2 little 3 little snowflakes..."  This is Zax's class plus Ila and minus one student.

One of the janitors got the school snow machine to work last week.  We have to park it at our house instead of the school because kids vandalize things. On Sunday we went for a family ride!  As we were coming back a group of 5 teachers saw us and laughed pretty hard so they took our picture.  

We took the snow machine a little ways out.  The horizon in the background across the ocean is mountains and another village.  We are in the Norton Sound inlet.

I was told many times I would be spending a lot of time indoors so I should get puzzles and games to play as a family.  What I would advise on the other hand is JUST DANCE!  We just got it this week and we are having a lot of fun, plus it is a workout.  I've organized a teacher gathering next weekend in the library to try it out so I can socialize!  The tv there is ginormous.  I know at least one teacher is going to come and I like her enough that if we are the only two I will still have a blast!

Depending on what the girl on Just Dance is wearing (shorts, dress, or pants) Ila leaves mid song to go change her clothes.  It is hilarious!

Crew's erratic sleeping schedule caused me to try a jar of baby food. He liked it enough to take several bites and with Jack he finished the entire jar in one sitting.  He started crawling (army crawl) this week and it is so fun to see him move all over the floor to get his toys.

Every day there is open gym by ages and once in a great while we remember to go.  1st grade and under is from 7-7:30pm weeknights.

Mr. Aiden (batman) turned four and had a birthday party.  All the kids got capes to take home.  It was a great idea and a fun social gathering for me!

Jack and I watched some videos on youtube that we watched before we got here about our village, Elim today.  I was curious at how accurate and helpful they actually were now that we are here.  My verdict is no one can really be prepared for a place like this, but more info would have been appreciated.  We are planning on doing a village video tour on the snow machine and doing a voice over!  Should be fun and funny.
New "Staying Fit In Bush Alaska" videos are up on our youtube channel too!

Halloween, Veterans Day, and everything inbetween

Village life! Walking around in the cold, for fun because there isn't anything else to do! But now there is snow so we sled!  The sun is rising around 10am and sets around 5pm for now, but it changes so rapidly.  It can be up to a 7 minute increase from day to day.  Even though the clock says 8am, it leaves me completely unmotivated to get out of the bed being pitch black!

We were all excited to experience Halloween here! Zax was Batman and Ila was Robin! I wore a basketball jersey from the school and basketball shorts and called myself an 'Elim Eagle'.  No one was very impressed, ha! Their big deal here is to wear a costume that conceals their identity and you have to guess who they are. A bit backwards to me! Since i don't know their names without a mask on I was really bad at it.

Crew was a grandpa for Zax's Halloween class party.

Zax's kindergarten class party! Teacher Sammy is the best! One of the kids broke his leg which is why there is a walker.

It snowed Halloween morning so this was our attempt with food coloring and a rotting pumpkin. It was sleeting that evening so i didn't take pictures of us trick or treating.  The kids got a small amount of candy and it was perfect to let them indulge!  My favorite random treat was donuts!

Jack and the teachers put together a haunted house and carnival for the community at the school. Everyone loved the haunted house and the kids had a great time with kiddie games to spend their tickets on.  The school is the hub for all activities.

Zax is the baby whisperer. He rubbed Crew's head till he fell asleep.

I helped out a teacher by babysitting her two kids (8 month and a 4 yr old) for a week while her husband went to have surgery in Anchorage. Let's just say I'm not cut out for twins!

The kids had their primary presentation Sunday. Check my Facebook video for it! If you saw that post you'll know there was a bad storm and our phone line wasn't working so they didn't get to participate.  When our cell phones wouldn't connect we bundled everyone up to go to the school to use their landline. Well that wouldn't work either. I hit redial 63 times on my cell phone hoping to get through so we wouldn't ruin the program by not participating! After an hour and a half we were able to get through and just in time for me to teach relief society. This picture is the week before, primary sharing time.  They were singing the song about the "turn that frown upside down."

Snow day at the beach. Beach and snow should never be used in the same sentence.

Check out our youtube channel, "Staying fit in bush Alaska" for the latest workout and great footage of the ocean freezing over! If nothing else you can see northern Alaska summer to winter changes.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnbqXtfygUX0zTuM79cV6A

 Zax and Jack filleting a fish.  This one is the funniest of all the videos!

 

This one was on our way to Moses Point.

I should preface with, poor Crew! The next one i promise will be a neutral color, but i can't complain about a free snow suit! Jack likes to joke, it's gender neutral!

I can't even post this picture for real because of how ridiculous this baby boy looks in hot pink!

There is one road that takes you 10 miles outside the village to a river you can fish on. Perfect in the summer for salmon fishing! Jack took us there for the first time Saturday. I was needing some time out and it felt good to just be in the truck going somewhere. This is Moses Point. 

These villagers recruited Jack to help them get the boat in the water. They were bringing it back to the village for the winter.  There were big chunks of snow in the river so he had an ax to chop it up as he went.  They came just in time because two days later there was 36mph winds and a snow storm! 

Jack has loved being the wrestling coach. We visit practice sometimes. This is Zax and his friend Colton wrestling with Jack's encouragement for our entertainment.

Memorial day service at the school Jack planned and executed beautifully.

These 4/5th grade students read the name of each military branch and recognized the veterans.