We finally made it. The trip to Hawaii was beautiful. We had a great time. I can not even begin to write about the stark differences between these two worlds.
We will put up the rest of the photos on Picasa as soon as we can. Much love to all of you.

Mild panic

Mild panic setting in. No let me rephrase that it has been severe panic for a few hours. Our plane to Anchorage was canceled yesterday due to weather, but not to worry we had scheduled an extra day just in case weather was bad.....Then the plane was canceled today......no extra time set aside for two cancellations! With Hawaii fading away into the darkness Jeremy and I grasp onto any shred of hope but dark circles start to form around our eyes. No beach, no ocean, no little drinks with the umbrellas! In the darkness and cold you can not begin to imagine the allure it holds over us. Then just minutes ago a call. The plane will try to land again at 6:00pm. We hold our breath...........

Going from this.......
-30 snowy, cold, and windy.












To this on Friday.....

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Sunny. Highs 73 to 81. Light winds.




I do not plan on posting for a while. I have a lot of sunbathing to do.

Seal Skin Hat

One of the best parts about traveling to new and unique parts of the world is getting to explore the culture of a place. Here at our home on the tundra we are surrounded by the Inupiaq culture. A huge part of that Inupiaq culture is the prevalence of and use of sea animals. Back in the states I would have been aghast at the thought of a seal and beaver skin hat. Here they are everywhere and they are perfect for the weather.
Here is Isa wearing her father's hat. The seal skin is beautiful, and furry. It is also waterproof and windproof just the thing for -40. Working skins here is seen as an art form. People are paid well for their hats, mittens, mukluks, and parkas. The skins and furs are almost always local caught and skinned right here in Unalakleet.

Feeling Better

Things are going much better today. The jeep is shot. Don't quite know what we are going to do with her. She was a good rig for us up here. Thank you to everyone who sent me nice supportive messages. We love you all.

As most of you know we are heading off to Hawaii here in one week!!!! WOOOOO! Wow will that be fun. Anyway as part of Isa's homeschool we have been studying about Hawaii and the Polynesian culture. Here is Isa making us a mural of the making of Hawaii. If I could figure out how to do a video I would put it up here. We have one of Isa walking us through what her mural means. The first picture is of the volcanoes that created Hawaii. The next is the island filled with palms, animals, and flowers without any humans, next is a canoe carrying people from Polynesia to Hawaii, and the last is Hawaii with humans, pineapples, bananas, and coconuts. We made this while listening to Hawaiian music on the computer and dancing the Hula. (yes I danced too.) This was a great fun activity. It took our minds off the cold for a whole day!

Rough day!

Ugg, some days you should just not get out of bed. To start things off we are on our second week of below -30 weather, the homeschool work I had planned with Isa was a flop, the computer continues to be slower then honey, I spilled almost an entire jar of pasta sauce on the floor, then I went out side and blew up the Jeep. Great, fantastic! oh and just to top it off we have guests for dinner tonight, echhhhh what else can go wrong? Did I really just say that?

Making Musk Ox Yarn

It has been very cold up here on the tundra for a while now so we have been doing a lot of inside activities in an attempt to fend off cabin fever. Luckily homeschooling has taught me to be prepared for some on the spot "learning experiences." Isa and her friend Judy asked to learn how to spin wool. We had collected some Musk Ox wool when we were living in Nome so I brought that out and taught Judy and Isa how to card the wool. Both took to it like pros and carded all that they could find.



Then came the much harder job of spinning the wool on to a drop spindle. I am in no way a pro at spinning. I went through a phase where I learned the basics both on a drop spindle and a spinning wheel but never was more than a beginner. I taught Isa and Judy the basics and demonstrated the technique few time for them, including how to do a great job messing up. After I showed them all of the ways not to spin it I left them alone with the materials, carders, and drop spindles thinking I would clean up the mess later. After an hour of not hearing from them I walked up to check on their progress. They had spun a good two feel and Isa was becoming very good as shown in this photo. She could spin, pull and roll it all by herself!

And the best part? She learned it all by herself.

Happy New Year! Here in Unalakleet new years day is celebrated by having community games and potluck. Here is Isa getting ready to race. She did great winning 5 of the 6 races she was in. After foot races the kids all had musical chair and wheelbarrow races. The little kids (4 and 5 year olds) were not allowed to participate in those ones yet.







After the kids the adults got to play. All the adults in the gym were expected to play all sorts competitions. Here are a couple of pictures of me doing a basketball relay race. Jeremy was a bit worried that my competitive side would take over and I might do something drastic but I behaved myself. My team won of course.












Jeremy and I got kicked out early on this game that is like musical chairs, only the man is the chair. The women walk one way and the men walk the other way. When the music stops the men kneel and the women rush over to their man and sit down. The last to sit down loses. We were the first ones out.







The last game Jeremy entered was the most impressive. Two men held a pole, the contestant has to hold on to the pole one handed and then they run with the contestant. Jeremy scored second! holding on the entire length of the gym.

It was great fun!