Yooper in Alaska

Update Finished!

2009-03-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

Again with the roaster - you may notice, he doesn't fit quite the same as he did a month or so ago. He has grown 3 1/2 inches since October and gained 2 pounds. He is now 39lbs and 34 1/2 inches.
Hiding out eating his Oreo. You do have to hide to eat those around here you know! :)
This is what your first experience eating a real banana looks like. Note to mom: next time, use the booster seat and strap him down! It was too cute regardless of the mess!
We love our pj Saturdays!
Just some cheesy grins to share!

Happy Valentines Day! It's so funny to look at the difference in that first year!

Nap time! He only takes one nap a day now. So you may be questioning where Brock is right now and how I have time to do this update... well he is not napping - look below:I put him up to the table with my old laptop and let him at it. I downloaded my itunes with some cartoons and he is all set to work at the table with Momma!
Brock loves being outside! He splashes in the puddles, wades in the mud and loves being at Pa's barn! We have some pictures of that too... just on the other camera... so you'll have to wait on those! I am still happy to be back in Michigan and loving my job, as a teacher and as a mom!
Well there, you have it! We are doing great, loving life and having a blast!

Update continued

2009-03-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

Brock still loves his Biscuit! When you ask him what the doggy says, he pants. He is constantly learning. He does a fair amount of talking, a lot of it is gibberish of course but I am positive it means something to him! He blows kisses and high fives, and at church, he often shakes hands.
Kicked back watching cartoons! He loves Handy Manny and Pooh and Friends. He is partial to anything that has music. Mickey Mouse is a favorite as well.
SuperBowl Sunday - I am all to aware of the fact that the Lions were no where near Super Bowl, however, we were donning our Lions apparel regardless. In all honesty, we didn't even watch much of the game. I am sure there was something more pressing at the time.

Brock puts many things in my roaster and carries them around. This particular day, he decided it was a good place to put himself. I thought is was quite cute! He finds some interesting uses for many things.

2009-03-09T15:16:00.001-07:00

I've been reminded that it's been awhile since I've updated. Needless to say, I just don't have the free time I once had! It's been a blast but wow... talk about busy! Some days it is just being busy with our cars on the floor, some days it is throwing a ball about the living room, once in awhile we are busy reading a book, regardless of the activity, we have been busy! :) And I do love staying busy!
Brock creating his masterpiece. His first drawings were framed and given to Grandma and Grandpa. They were just beautiful of course.
Brock loves to talk. Here he is on his cell phone talking to Uncle Randy I believe. He is certainly a multitasker, riding his lion while carrying on a conversation. Such talent!
Empty bottle... might as well sleep! I love this picture. He actually fell asleep with his head on the old answering machine. I'd think it was a bit uncomfortable. Of course, he didn't stay there long, I did pick him up and take a cat nap with him!
Brushing the teeth is a great habit to get into so we are starting that young. He does love to do it too. I am sure it is playing in the water that he likes, regardless the pearly white are getting the benefit of it all!

Happy New Year

2008-12-28T22:14:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 2008 has been a blessed year for us! Hoping 2009 brings more joy, more love, and many more memories for all!

Christmas 08

2008-12-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

Brock and his animals. He really likes his Tigger. He likes to carry them around, push them on his tractor, rock them... and of course... throw them, feed them and once in awhile, kind of beats them up. Typical boy I suppose.
In his Red Wings outfit. He looks so grown up these days. It's so hard to believe my baby is no longer a baby. And then there are the times he still looks so baby like....
So peaceful, so quiet, so lovable... so much my boy!
This picture cracks me up. He is actually trying to lift the lid to the footstool, toybox. I just love that face! Lord only knows what he is up to in this picture. He was sitting behind the chair. This is usually where the cat hides... but no cat... probably hiding somewhere else being that the kiddo was in his zone! This was taken Christmas Eve '08.

While I was wrapping presents... Brock was busy wrapping stuff too... I guess... He took off with the roll of wrapping paper and headed to Randy's room. Here he is sitting on Randy's bed with the wrapping paper all around him. When he was done in that room, he headed back out to the kitchen... bringing his paper with him. We had wrapping paper all over the house... oh well... tis the season!Brock and I spent Christmas Eve out at mom and dad's house. Santa did make his way out there. He brought Biscuit the dog for Brock. I have to say... it was a hit! Brock just loves his doggy.
Brock drinking from his bottle... Biscuit chewing Brock's hand... Sounds like a fair trade to me.
We had a great Christmas. It was so much fun seeing Brock react to all his gifts. We did pretty good on the gift situation. I got a new kitchen table from mom and dad, Randy bought me a new bed frame... the kind I wanted... the log kind... (will take pictures when it is up and ready) and Brock gave me a pair of opal earrings, his birthstone. I love being home with my family and friends... it has been a great 2008!!!

Just some pictures...

2008-12-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

Ok... so cowboys are suppose to ride horses... well this cowpoke is riding Lion! Dare you to do that!!!
Uncle Mark bought this outfit for Brock awhile back. It was hanging in the closet and I decided because Brock was wearing 18 month size... I better try it on him and see if it fit... well... it did but I knew it wasn't going to fit too much longer. He was the best dressed chap that day in church for sure! Thanks again Uncle Mark!
I just love that face. This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. He has such a personality! In the picture below he is telling me one of his stories. He loves to talk! I have no idea what he is saying most of the time but he gabs away like we all understand every word!
Pickford had a Fall fest up at the park this year. We went up and got Brock's pictures done. It was a week before he turned 1 so I figured... good excuse to get pictures. When we got there we met up with Brock's buddy Drake. Hard to believe but the boys were dressed in identical outfits. Brock had his cowboy boots on and Drake had his work boots but that is the only difference! They are two very handsome boys! The boys will be in school together but Brock is four months older than Drake. Sure look closer in age than that don't they???

Best of buds!

I put these totes in front of the tv to stop Brock from pushing the buttons on the front of it... needless to say... it no longer works. He has learned he can climb on many things that I would rather he didn't!
Just kicked back relaxing in his rocking chair. He no longer stands in that chair... thank goodness! He just rocks in it... sometimes gives his stuffed animals a ride in it as well.
This is Brock with Rudolf. He really didn't know what to think of him at first. If you pinch his ear, he sings the song. I think it honestly freaked him out at first... but as you see... eventually, he fell in love with Rudolf!

Another one of my favorite pictures. He's my little dude!

This thing called snow...

2008-12-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

Ok... so we got Brock all bundles up and headed outside to see exactly what he thought of the snow... well... being a true Yupik Yooper... He loved it! Note: mom has her flip flops on...
He really likes his new sled! Pa would pull him around the driveway and bring him back to the house. When he got to the stairs, Brock would start to cry until Pa pulled him back out to the drive. It was pretty cute... well we thought so... not so sure what dad thought... He did it and that is all that mattered to Brock!

He just loves being outside. The cold really doesn't seem to bother him. He loves to feel the snow falling on his face. He will hold his hands out and try to catch falling snow. He really doesn't like mittens much... didn't like the hat either until he realized it really did make it a bit warmer! Perhaps he will someday get used to the mittens as well. We'll see!
This is Brock loving his new chair! He thinks he is pretty darn cool sitting in it. He often gets Little Bear, pulls his chair up to the end table and watches his DVDs. It's pretty cute!

Here he is with his juice... watching a movie... with his feet up! What a kid! What a life! (Wish I could do that!)

October... it came... it went....

2008-12-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

I was informed the other day that I hadn't posted to my blog in a long time... well... I guess it is time to update. So... this is for you Momma Love!

Many changes occurring daily... Brock no longer likes baby food! He is now on a mission to feed himself. The newest obstacle is trying to find food that he likes. He likes pasta a lot... really likes Easy Mac! He insists on feeding himself as well. I am all about independence however... what a mess! Brock also turned one year old October 18th! It is amazing how dang quickly the time goes. It surely doesn't seem like a year ago already! He really didn't get into the cake too much but he did enjoy what he did taste. I even had him all stripped down just in case...

He had a "Barnyard" birthday party complete with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandparents. He got lots of new toys and enjoyed everything. I did learn that come Christmas... none of his toys will be wired down when he opens them! Lesson learned!

Above is Brock reading his card he got from his father and Ryan. It sang a song when he opened it. It was pretty fascinating for him. I love the way he sits with his feet crossed. By the way... check out the size of those feet!Brock loved being Tigger... welll I think he loved getting lots of candy, juice , and toys for Halloween. It was a fun night for all of us.

Still catching up...

2008-09-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Grandma made fudge... Brock licked the spoon... needless to say, he liked it! Anytime he tries something new... I can't help but think of Frankie... who was always trying to get him to try things!
He often has peaches with grandpa! I would probably like peaches if someone skinned them for me!
Grandpa and Brock in the John Deere. He loves being on the lawn mower and the tractors. I am sure he will enjoy riding on them eventually as well but for no it's just sitting! He likes to steer them and he has found the horn on the Deere.
Grandpa is going to get a jump seat so that Brock can safely ride with him. Brock loves spending time with grandma and grandpa! He is really a Papa's chum!

Pictures from home

2008-09-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Brock got pretty good about pulling himself up and walking along the furniture. He has a ton of toys both at our house and at grandma's. When we first moved back to Michigan we stayed out at the farm until we got our house "Brock ready". We got new carpet, new bedroom and living room furniture. We finally moved into our house about 6 weeks after living with grandma and grandpa.
Here's Brock in his tote of toys. I knew those totes would come in handy again someday!
Brock and Aunt Patty sharing a drink in the midday sun. We had some good times with Aunt Tunie and her family. We sure do miss her and Uncle Mark! The picture below is out at Grandma C and Papa Joe's house. I just like the way it turned out so I included it. He loves his ice cubes but after Aunt Tunie's story... we don't do ice anymore!
Brock loves being outside! He loves the fresh air. This was the first time he was out "walking" in the grass. At first he wasn't too sure what to think but once he got used to the feel of it, he was on the move. (We love his Elmo outfit Auntie Watty!)

Last one before bed...

2008-09-12T23:37:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Brock on the cruise. We had originally thought we were going to be able to meet Dan in Valdez and I was going to go flying... however, he didn't get there when he originally thought he would, so that plan is on hold for another year. It will happen one of these days Dan! :)
On the way from Valdez to Anchorage we had two flat tires and if that wasn't quite enough, stone chipped the windshield. Never ask if it can get any worse!
By the way, another milestone was reached the first evening we were on the road. Brock had been experimenting with the whole crawling thing... after sitting in the car from Anchorage to Fairbanks, he decided he could make it work. He was on a roll crawling all over the hotel room floor! This is a picture of the proud little guy that day.
Here is the sad little guy, realizing that our "Alaska Tour" had ended... no actually taken in mom's living room after we had made it back to Michigan. He wasn't happy and usually when we gave him the phone, it worked... well not this time.
It is necessary that I quit blogging for the night and get some sleep. I am not sure that Brock realizes that we CAN sleep in tomorrow... so just in case, I better get at least a couple of hours!
I'll post some summer pictures perhaps tomorrow evening!
night all.....

Pictures Continued

2008-09-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Brock did some napping while on the road. While we were on the Riverboat Discovery, we were able to meet Jessie Royer. She ran the Iditarod in 2008 and we look forward to following her success as a musher. Brock liked her just fine but wasn't too keen on the dogs!
Poor little guy had no idea what to do... so he did what he knows... he cried! She was a great sport and his tears dried almost instantly... so all was well.
Mom and Mary Jane checking out the pipeline. Afterall, what is a trip to Alaska if you don't even see that???!!! This picture was taken about 10 miles north of Fairbanks. I do believe it is the same place that Gov. Palin just gave her speech! (By the way, she rocks) After our Fairbanks adventures, we headed south to Valdez! I love Valdez! I had a couple of things that were on the "needed to do" list. 1. visit the Eagle's Rest folks 2. Glacier cruise on the Lulu Belle! All was great with Laura and Jeff but Barb and Harv hadn't made it in yet so we missed them. The Lulu Belle had just scheduled her first tour of the season and we were onboard!
Mom and Mary Jane on the boat. We were on a glacier cruise but Captain Fred is more interested in finding whales, otters, puffins, seals, etc. That is exactly why I wanted to take them on this cruise. It was my third trip with him. By the way, we did see all the above mentioned!
Brock was fairly entertained with Sitka, his new eagle. It really wasn't the best day to be outside so we pretty much hung out inside the cabin but I think he enjoyed it. I know I did!

to be continued...

Pictures

2008-09-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

When we first got into ANC, May 19th, we met Cynthia and Betty. It was so good to see them both! I love introducing Brock to all his "Aunties". We spent that day with the girls shopping and enjoying the company! The following day, we hit the road heading North!
Brock was entertained watching "The Wiggles" while mom, Mary Jane and I watched the scenery of Alaska. We saw some wildlife on our way to to Denali. It was a nice drive.
The four of us at Mt. McKinley. We didn't drive into the park... been there done that and probably will never bother to do it again. Patty and I took the bus tour (11 hours) and were not able to actually even see the mountain so needless to say... never again. The views from the roadside park were just beautiful. :) From Denali, we headed North to Fairbanks. We spent a few days up there playing tourist! We did the Riverboat Discovery, visited with Roger and Bob, went to see Santa Claus at the North Pole, and enjoyed our time!
Brock and I outside Santa's workshop. Brock was actually quite taken with the reindeer outside the shop. He also liked the sled, as you can see!
To be continued....

Finally - some news from Michigan

2008-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

It's been forever, I know!
Mom and Mary Jane were in SMK with us until May 19th. We all flew out to ANC and spent the next ten days on the road. We had a blast while touring the state! I have lots of pictures that I will post later.
We flew back into Michigan May 28th. Brock and I stayed with mom and dad until we finished redoing our house. We have new carpets and new furniture now. We moved back home, much to the dismay of grandma and grandpa.
Patty was home for part of the summer. It was great spending time with her and her family. Brock does love his Aunt Tunie. She and Mark are still in Unalakleet and doing well. I am hoping that Brock and I will be able to visit them every year.
Auntie Jody came to visit us in July! It was so great seeing her. She brought her mom and managed to squeeze a little Tupperware party in while she was here. Miss you Jodes!!!
Brock continues to amaze and delight me! He took his first real steps July 23rd. He "experimented" for the next week or so and now, he is always on the go! It's so cute when he gets excited, he tries to run. He gets going so fast he usually ends up on his rear end.
Brock now has 8 teeth. He is working on getting his molars now. They really don't seem to be bothering him too much, hope it stays that way! He is usually such a happy go lucky little guy.
Oh wait, I guess he really isn't too little. I don't know for sure but I am guessing he is now about 32 inches and about 30 pounds. He doesn't like to stand still to be measured or weighed so until be goes back to the doctor, we just guess!
I started back to school 9-2. I was extremely fortunate to "fall" back into my position in Pickford. I am teaching 6th grade math and Special Education. I love it! It's so great to be back in the PHS halls. It is a bit strange coming back but all in all... it's going great. Things, of course, did not stay the same while I was gone so it's taking some time getting used to the new faces. Brock is staying with grandma and grandpa while I am working. He loves being out there. He still wakes up in a great mood and is usually quite lively by the time we get to their house. (3 1/2 miles) He enjoys the farm animals and the dogs at the house. It will be an adventure here in a few weeks as we will have a new litter of puppies coming. I can't wait to see his reaction to those!
I promise to put some pictures up within the week. It's just crazy finding time to do some of those things. If I have the computer on while Brock is awake, he is trying to use it.... lol I am sure he will be a computer geek... and as long as it brings him happiness... go for it!
Ok, back to matters at hand - work.
Have a great day! And a word to my AK peeps... Miss you all lots!

April 24th - Heading to ANC

2008-04-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well it used to be just the two of us:
Brock and I are heading to Anchorage today so that we can meet mom and Mary Jane there tomorrow! It's so hard to believe how fast that time has gone. It seems like yesterday we were talking about... 100 days from now!

Brock still loves his bath. I love those big brown eyes! He is now 6 months old and has 4 teeth! He is growing so much it is just amazing! Below: Brock practicing his Elvis look. I just love that little snarl thing he has going!

We'll be updating you on our life with our visitors so stay tuned!
Love ya'll!!!

Updates

2008-04-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

Brock's new love is "The Wiggles"! He will sit and watch them for the longest time. It's so funny to watch him! He is so content it isn't even funny. I, on the other hand, am getting a bit tired of Captain Feathersword! Not really... I do find myself humming their songs from time to time.
The above picture is when Brock was "dancing" with the Wiggles. Below: It's like he is telling me to hurry up and take his picture. He was missing his show!

Above: Brock in his playpen, chewing on his ring. This was when he was working on his upper teeth, which he now has.

Ok, I have no idea why this is underlined... but.... Brock was sitting on his blanket when I went out to the kitchen to get a bottle. I came back in to the living room and this is what I see - computer geek in the making! He is doing some crawling but more of the elbow draggin kind of thing. He also scoots on his butt pretty good. He's learning!

2008-04-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Honest to God, I do feed the child... although it doesn't appear that way with these photos...
Here he is chewing on my chin...

and on his foot!

I love that smile! He loves the camera. I grab it, turn it on and ask him where he's hiding that smile. He breaks out into that big ole grin!

Today is April 1st - Happy birthday to Julie and Jen! Here in Alaska this week is known as testing week. We are giving tests to all the kids 3-12th grade. Our younger kids take the SBAs and 10-12 take HSGQEs. (Similar to the MEAPs back home.) Our high school students have to pass the HSGQE in order to graduate so they seem to be taking it fairly seriously.
We now have less than a month til mom and Mary Jane get here. We are all getting more excited the closer it gets.
Our weather has been very spring like! The past couple of days it has been about 40 degrees. It is really starting to feel like spring! Spring brings the mud... the roads are starting to get pretty soupy. Yesterday when I went to the store, I arrived with a mud spattered face. I have to say, honestly it doesn't bother me! Things like that just become second nature out here.... if you drive a Honda... you are going to get muddy! Of course I do still wipe it off before I actually go into the store... but it's funny how little things really don't get to me anymore... is that from living in the bush... or becoming a mom??? Not sure!
Hope you are all having a glorious April! Remember... no May flowers without some April showers -

Parent-teacher conferences

2008-04-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Parent teacher conferences are always an interesting time for us! This year was no exception. We had conferences Thursday afternoon/evening. Those who didn't attend conferences got teacher visits Friday afternoon. Thursday evening Brock attended conferences with me. He was sitting on the table in front of me while I was talking to another teacher. Dan, our principal, was also standing in front of me. Dan started laughing... then the other teacher was laughing... at first I had no idea what they were laughing at... but they were looking at Brock -
Dan had slipped a cookie to Brock and he had been very busy licking and gnawing on it! Dan did send me home to get my camera. This is a picture I will treasure for a very long time!

Easter Bunny makes it to SMK

2008-04-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, the Easter Bunny did make his way to St. Michael. Brock got this fantastic little exerciser. Of course it is all farm stuff, just like his room. He just loves jumping around and playing will all the fun toys! He is quite the little character, always brings a smile to my face!

It didn't take him too long to figure out that if he pushed the chicken down, it played music. There are all sorts of fun things that happen with the toys. The seat actually spins 360 degrees so he has access to all of them. It's fun watching him as he discovers something new. He also got this great stuffed bunny, which he also loves!

St. Patrick's Day

2008-04-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

We got home from UNK on Monday, St. Patrick's Day. The little Hooligan and I were invited to Stanek's for dinner. It was an Irish feast! I really don't know why Brock ended up with the napkin on his head but he did look like the little shepard boy. Jill, Brock and I all in our Irish green. Thanks to Leah and Frankie for hosting the Irish dinner and the stew was great!

Finally an update:

2008-04-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me start by saying that I did do an update about 2 weeks ago... but it didn't save! I really didn't feel like retyping it all so... you didn't get anything. So now... I will make another attempt at posting!

Brock and I headed over to Unalakleet on March 14th. We had our spring break 3-14 to 3-18th so I figured it was a good weekend to head east. (Besides the fact that I had to go over there to take the Praxis test.) We got over to UNK and Patty was there to pick us up. We dropped stuff off over at the house and then went to the coffee shop. It is a new little business that is pretty sweet! We then headed over to the DO to say hi to all our SPED buddies in the office and back to the house. Imagine my surprise when we opened the door and there stood Morgs! Morgan teaches in White Mountain and had flew over to surprise us. (We love you Morgs!)
We spend Friday evening chatting and relaxing. Knowing that Patty and I had to get up bright and early for the testing Saturday morning! I really don't know what time it was but all of the sudden the dogs started barking and we knew that someone was coming in downstairs. The door opened and in came Mark and Diane Thompson. They had snowmobiled over from St. Michael. They were planning to go on to Koyuk to do some hunting. (We did eventually get to bed but it wasn't as early as I had planned!)
Saturday morning Patty and I left Brock in the many capable hands... and went to take our Praxis. When we got back to the house we were able to sit and visit. Patty did a lot of baking... cinnamin buns to die for... and homemade bread! Teresa Hickerson joined us for dinner and another good night was had by all.
Sunday Mark and Diane headed for Koyuk. (They had attempted this on Saturday but Mark's sled needed some attention instead.) Morgan had to fly back home.
About 5-ish Mark and Diane came back. They had made it to Shaktoolik but it had started storming so they decided to call it good and return to UNK. We all headed over to Teresa's for dinner. She had some visitors as well. Kerry had worked with the district and Jose, well he was a tourist!
After the Iditarod passes through there is another sporting event called the Iditasport. These people, I call crazy, bike or ski the Iditarod trail. Jose is a man from Spain that was skiing it. He is one of the most interesting people I've met. He is a police officer in Spain, married, and lives for adventure! He has climbed Denali, kayaked the Amazon river, and all sorts of things in between. He has a web site and when I get that address, I'll post it... he is an amazing man.
Monday morning the phone woke us all up. It was Hageland telling us that my flight was leaving at 9:45am. (That call was about 9) Up and at 'em. So I packed up the our stuff and off we were.
Tuesday was laundry day. It was nice to have a day to "unwind" so to speak. We had a great time with all of our friends over in UNK. It was great to have our surprise visitors and we love you all! Thanks again to Patty and Mark for everything!

Iditarod Winner - Mackey

2008-03-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well Lance Mackey did it again! He was the first to arrive in Nome. He crossed the finish line with a strong string of 11 dogs at 2:46 a.m. March 12, winning the Iditarod in 9 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds. This the second year in a row that Mackey won the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.
Mackey with his lead dog Hansom. Can you tell this man loves his dogs?
Mackey and King were pretty close for a good portion of the race. Mackey set a trap for King in the village of Elim. Here's a short news clip of what happened:

The old Mackey magic was back. They trotted smoothly up to Elim. There, he set a trap for King. Mackey had his cooker going and was feeding his dogs when King pulled in, just three minutes behind him. King, who’d been exhausted since Kaltag, fed his team and lay down for a quick nap. Mackey sprung up when he heard the first snore and snuck out. King jolted awake 30 minutes later, figured out Mackey was gone, and got his own team up and out of the checkpoint. But he’d lost an hour on his rival by then.

On the ice out of Elim, hoping his ruse worked, Mackey wondered. “If this actually works, it would be one of the coolest things I’ve done in the race,” he said. “I don’t know how else to out-run him.”

I guess it is pretty common in the racing world to do things like that. At one checkpoint King fell asleep with his feet on Mackey's boots. That was the way he knew when Mackey was getting ready to leave the checkpoint. I believe it was Mackey's brother that in one race left a cooler behind in a ruse that he would be back in the bunkhouse to get it a few minutes later... by the time the other mushers realized they had been had. There are some pretty interesting articles on the race... and after reading the majority of them, I'd say these guys are pretty great people as well as excellant mushers.
(Photos were taken from Alaska Daily News.)
More updates:
Yooper Ed is currently in 30th and Jake is in 63rd. Rick Holt is in 58th.

Iditarod Update -

2008-03-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken by Mark and/or Patty Vink, Unalakleet, AK:Jeff King coming into Unalakleet. He arrived at 2:02 pm, stayed almost 5 hours and hit the trails again.

The above picture is Jeff King as he checks over his dogs. Jeff is one of two mushers that still has all 16 dogs. He is currently in White Mountain doing his 8 hour mandatory lay over. Patty noted that the Heet is used by the mushers to start fires along the trail.
Here is Lance Mackey coming into Unalakleet. He arrived at 3:32 pm and took off at 6:17. He is also now in White Mountain with 11 of his 16 dogs. He was about an hour ahead of Jeff King
coming into the lay-over. They have 55 miles to Safety, just a checkpoint, and then 22 miles to Nome... so here it is folks... the race is on!!! (Oh yea by the way, the Yoopers are currently in 31st and 62nd place. Rick Holt is in 56th place.)

From the Iditarod trail...

2008-03-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't taken any of Mark's pictures yet... but this picture appeared in Alaska News so I did "steal" it. The guy on the yellow machine is Mark. He is taking a picture of Jeff King as he comes into the Unalakleet area. Mark says he got lots of photos that I can "steal". So if I have permission... is it still stealing???? Hmmmm....
More later....

It's Friday!!!

2008-03-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Good day - of course most Fridays are good days! I really do love Fridays. I don't know what it is about them but they are all good! It's a busy time here in Alaska!
The Greatest Race Ever is taking place. I've been following that pretty faithfully. It seems that everyone has their favorite musher but this year most of the BSSD family is pulling for a rookie musher by the name of Rick Holt. Rick taught in Unalakleet for quite a few years. He is a pretty great guy and we'd all like to see him do well. (Check out the interview with Rick on our school webpage.) Of course we are still hoping for our favorites to win... I'm holding out for the Michigan mushers. There are two of them still in it, both from McMillan. Ed Stielstra is in 37th and Jake Berkowitz is back in 63rd. The thing about this race... it takes next to nothing for positions to change. One bad leg and you can lose many positions. Get lost on the trail... if the dogs get sick... so many variables.... The leaders should be in Unalakleet sometime this weekend. Mark is planning to take some pictures out on the trail so if he does... I'll "steal" some to post!
I said it was busy... we are also having our regional basketball games right now. St. Michael's boys lost their first game last night but there is still a chance.... Unalakleet is playing well - they have won their first two games and just lost their first game last night. It is double elimination so they still have a good shot! Top 2 teams go into ANC for state championships. Best of luck to Coach Patty and Coach Steve from UNK!
I'll keep everyone posted as to how things go...

Nancy and Jack... you better be cheering my musher on!!!

2008-02-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Brock turned 4 months on Feb. 18th. Holy cow, time is just flying by! He got his first tooth on the 14th. He was fantastic about it. I can honestly say I didn't notice any difference in his mood, happy go lucky as always! Thank God for such a sweetheart! Here he is on 2-18-08.

This past weekend we went to visit Aunt Patty and Uncle Mark in Unalakleet. We love them both... did I ever mention they are fantabulous cooks??? (Thanks for everything guys!) While we were there we also got to see Mia lots! Brock was trying to tell Patty something...

Finally she figured it out! Sunday morning Aunt Patty discovered tooth #2 had arrived! Again, no fuss!

Not a great one, but there they are! It was a great weekend!!!

Winter in SMK

2008-02-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

The above picture shows you about how much snow we have here in St. Michael. The majority of our snow blows away. Today it is -5. It has been pretty warm, actually up to about 40 one day last week. Average has been about 0. We had a lot of -20 the past couple of weeks but it has warmed up quite a bit lately... now if the snow would just melt...lol Both pictures are taken across the canal looking toward the mainland. You can't see much in the top picture but you can see the hills in the picture below. It really is a beautiful sight!
Brock and I spent the weekend over in Unalakleet with Patty, Mark, and Mia. We had a great, relaxing time with them. Of course I had some pictures but will post them later. Hope all is going well for each of you!

Valentine's Baby

2008-02-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, who would you want to spend Valentine's Day with... the love of your life right??? Well here I am with my one and only! He is honestly the love of my life!
Mr. Brock is all giggles for everyone on this special day. He is such a little ham.

Here's another Valentine outfit - Thanks to Grandma! We love and miss you lots!

Ok, so here is a serious pose of the little man. I think it is the hat, he really doesn't like having his head covered... wonder where he gets that hey?

I hope everyone has a great day filled with love and special people! To all our special people back home - we love you all!

2008-01-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

What??? Five more days in Pickford??? Can you handle that????
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aunt Tunie, Macers, and Irene came to visit us. We went to see some people we hadn't seen yet.
Had a few more bath experiences, some of which were very interesting! We really enjoyed our extra vacation days! But then, as all good things must come to an end... it's back to the airport -
Grandpa, Grandma and Brock as we say a tearful goodbye
The Nixon Family Farm Boys

This time we did board our plane and headed back to Alaska. We spend the night in Seattle. We actually got a hotel room because we had a 10 hour lay over. We were traveling with a baby and Patty's dog, Tiqa so.. it just made sense. We got to Anchorage Friday morning, did some quick shopping and headed on.
It was a super Christmas and I'm glad we had the extra time, being Brock's first one and all!
Hope everyone had a great holiday!

More Christmas break pictures

2008-01-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

The Sunday after Christmas we did brunch with the Lockhart side of the family. Here are some photos from that:
Brock Jordan and Hannah Jordyn
Brock and his buddy, cousin Hunter
Brock and I in our Sunday best, literally.
Brock and his Grandma
My boy is all smiles - he loves being with his family in Michigan!
Ok, now off to the airport...
We were scheduled to fly with Aunt Tunie at 6:20 a.m. so we were up early and off we went. Once we had gotten checked in, we sat and visited with Joe and Irene. The nice lady at the ticket counter came on and announced our flight had been delayed an hour. Patty and I had pretty tight connections so we were a bit nervous! About 15 minutes or so later, that same nice lady announced our flight had been cancelled! Patty and I stood there looking at each other then just broke out into these big dumb looking smiles! Making a long story short - we rebooked our flights for the next available flight - Thursday afternoon.
So we headed back to Pickford!

Pictures from Christmas break

2008-01-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

Brock and I got home the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We were greeted by mom, dad, and Randy at the airport. It was great to be home! As tradition has it, we joined the McConkey's at the Sunday for dinner. It was great to spend some relaxing time with family. Cliff was there and I honestly don't know when the last time was that I saw him. Peg, Steve, Carrie, Glen, Lance and Emma were also there. Below is Brock with Carrie and Emma.
Christmas morning - Brock and I spent the whole vacation at mom and dad's. I did tell them that when we come home in May - we will be living at my house! We woke up mid morning and so the day began. Brock was showered with tons of presents, as you can see below! He got all sorts of things from books to John Deere steering wheel to an aquarium, which he loves!
Here's Brock's Christmas stocking, thanks Jerry and Sally. I love it! In years to come I am sure he'll find lots of little goodies but this year all he found was a stuffed Eeyore.
Brock and Grandpa got matching sweatshirts for Christmas. Brock's said Nixon across the back.
One of the other advantages to being home was being able to see our friends! Brock loves his Auntie Watty! (we miss you and Ed!)
You know no matter how long you are home, it's never long enough... off to the airport Sunday 1-6-08.... to be continued...

Santa comes to St.Michael

2008-01-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

The National Guard met Santa somewhere along the route, picked him up and flew him to St. Michael! It was a very exciting day for everyone.....
Well except for Brock, who slept through his whole meeting with the jolly ole guy. I am sure there will be many more encounters in the coming years.
Brock and I in our Christmas attire. This was Wednesday night before the Christmas program. We headed to Unalakleet to spend the weekend with Patty and Mark and then on to Anchorage Sunday. We made it back to Michigan Christmas Eve! We'll post more on our Michigan adventures later! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Can you ever have enough pictures?

2007-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Seriously, can a person really ever take too many pictures? I'll tell you, Brock will be two months tomorrow and he has changed so much it isn't funny. He's starting to smile a lot more often and even actually laughed from time to time. He's still growing like a weed !
Above: Brock ready for bed, complete with his slippers from Hannah
Brock's attempt at a wink - well I don't know what he was doing but boy genius is way ahead of himself so... lol
One of the many times I have been able to catch that smile I love. His face looks really large here but honestly, it isn't! Like his momma would say, just a bad angle!

He has a thing for his tongue! Sorry dad but I think you may see lots of it while we are home! Just a note: The only spanking I ever remember getting from my dad was for sticking my tongue out at him. Now I guess you also need to realize that I had just been warned not to ever stick it out at him again when I did... long story but needless to say, I don't think I've ever done it again! Lesson learned!

I'll be in touch. We are heading to Unalakleet Friday to spend a few days with Aunt Tunie and Uncle Mark, before heading to Michigan Sunday. We fly out of Anchorage Sunday evening at 9:30 pm and get home Monday about 4:00 pm. Hopefully Brock will travel well again. He sleeps most of the time! Looking forward to seeing everyone over break!

More Brock pictures

2007-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Trying to catch a smile on his beautiful face.
Caught it!!! He is such an adorable little guy.
Brock with his books from Auntie Betty
I don't think he really cared for the hat but you know how it is... anything for a picture!
These pjs used to be long ones... they now come up to his knees. Seriously, growing spurts aren't supposed to be happening yet are they???

There's no place like Nome ???

2007-12-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

Brock and I headed off to Nome for our Special Education cadre last weekend. Once again, Brock was a champion flyer... he sleeps the entire flight! I had good conferences while Brock entertained the girls. It was a good weekend! Here are some of his latest pictures.

Brock loves his new tub - thanks Aunt Cynthia! We miss you lots!
Brock and Auntie Morgs in Nome. He was such a hit with the ladies!
Momma's little prince.
Brock and Aunt Tunie talking to Uncle Mark
Brock gets weighed on the scales at the airport. His blanket weighed .7 pounds and the grand total was 15.5 pounds. He's growing so fast it is crazy!

Tuesday, December 4th

2007-12-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Not too much to talk about... other than holy cow... it's cold up here! I don't know what the actual temperature is but according to my computer, it is now -2. I am not sure that is accurate but it sure feels cold today. We've had some terrible winds lately as well so I am sure that is doing a number on how warm anyone feels. When the winds get real bad, the planes are grounded. When planes are grounded, we get no mail. When we get no mail... it just isn't a happy place to be! :)
Mark T. and I were discussing the winds this morning. He was saying that we usually get these wicked winds in Sept. or Oct. My response was something along the lines that hopefully this doesn't mean that our snow will be here until July! Seriously, we don't have much snow to talk about. I understand there was quite a bit earlier, before our return. However, that snow is gone. Here's my theory about the disappearance of snow:
Last winter we had a nice, well as nice as snow can be, amount of ground covering. The fields were semi smooth for riding. My dear sweet friend Jodi ordered a new snowmobile. A couple of days before it arrived, all of the snow melted! Well, our dear principal Dan, just recently ordered and received his brand new snowmobile! Guess what happened??? You got it, the snow melted once again! Let's just say this spring, when I am sick to death of snow... I just may order a new snowmobile! (Not)
Ok... those were just some random thoughts for the day. By the way, did you know that a gallon of water here in St. Michael costs $6.15?

Back here in Alaska

2007-12-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Brock Thansgiving Day

After spending lots of quality time in Michigan with our family, Brock and I left for Alaska the day after Thanksgiving. We flew from Kinross to Detroit, Detroit to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Anchorage. Brock did very well on all of his flights. Aunt Tunie and Uncle Mark met us at the airport in Anchorage. Unfortunately, our luggage didn't arrive with us. We were able to go back that night and it was there. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Anchorage with Patty and Mark, then flew back to St. Michael.
The boys relaxing in Anchorage

Once we were back in St. Michael, we had to begin unpacking. A very special Thanks to Linda, who was the sub in my room. She left lots of little "treasures" for us! She made a beautiful quilt for Brock. It is simply priceless!

Sorry, it's sideways. I don't know what the deal is, I turn it on my desktop but this program still flips it the original way. Point is - it's a beautiful quilt! It is the view outside my classroom window of the Sister mountains (volcanoes).
Brock and I telling stories. He is such a riot. He's such an awesome baby!
Another sideways one... This one is Brock emailing Grandma! He sends his love and says only 23 more days Grams!!!

The latest chapter-

2007-10-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest adventure in my life! I returned to Michigan September 16th. The newest chapter of my life was about to begin: Brock Jordan Nixon entered the world 10-18-07 at 7:15 p.m. He was 8 pounds 8 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long! He is the most beautiful baby ever... I know everyone says that about their own... but I'd think so even if he wasn't mine... lol

Brock takes a nap as mommy watches tv.
Brock taking another nap... he is awake at times.
See, told you he didn't sleep all the time. I was on the computer and he was hanging out watching. He's pretty alert and watching everything around him.
ok, so this one is sideways but one of the most adorable ones I have. We were on the way home from the doctor's office. He is doing great! He's up to 9 pounds now, as seen below.
We are both doing great and enjoying our time back here in Michigan. We will be heading North the day after Thanksgiving, then back here for Christmas. I'll attempt to keep things updated!

2007-09-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday! After a nice long weekend, we are back to school and things are going well. I did make it over to Unalakleet Friday and came home Sunday evening. I was a bit nervous when we left UNK being that I had not gotten a hold of Dan, our principal. I had left him a message and prayed that someone would be at the airstrip to pick me up. (It's about a 3 mile walk to town.) As our plane was touching down, I noticed the suburban sitting in the parking lot. A great sense of relief washed over me. When I got of the plane, not only was I welcomed by Dan and Bonnie, but Mark T. was also there. He knew I was coming in on that plane and wasn't sure that Dan would be there. Mark also told me that he had met Chuck, who had also been on his way to make sure someone was there to get me. Man... do I feel taken care of!!! These are the greatest guys!!! I guess it only takes getting left at the airstrip once to really appreciate a ride. Thanks guys!
Our adventure in Unalakleet was rather limited because of the rain. We had thought about going fishing on Saturday, however, it would have been rather wet. We did spend some great quality time resting and relaxing instead! I'll tell you one thing... Tunie and Mark are awesome cooks. Friday night they grilled up some fab pork ribs... that was good but did not compare to Saturday's dinner of grilled salmon and smoked chicken. I told Patty I was coming back here to SMK to starve. (I have lots of food but nothing quite those two invent.) Special thanks to The Vinks for a good weekend of comfort and company!
The landing strip in UNK is growing with lots of SMK gravel. I did not take any pictures though... sorry.

Friday Posting -

2007-08-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, I did go out to the Clear Lake mining operation. There is a huge DO NOT ENTER sign across the drive. I decided to obey their wishes and turned around. It was a nice little ride. After getting back I was talking to Jodi. She said they had gone out but they rode across the tundra and were able to see it. My tundra riding days are on hold for the time being so we'll see what else we can do.
I am flying over to UNK today to spend the weekend with Tunie and Mark. I'll see if I can get some pictures of it all from the air. Stay tuned....

Not exactly Michigan Limestone but... bush equivalent

2007-08-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's the deal - they are improving the landing strip at the airport in Unalakleet. The gravel they are using is coming from St. Michael. It is quite the process and after working at the quarry, I find it quite interesting to watch. They are using a similar technique... just a much smaller scale. The above picture is of the shovel dumping the already crushed gravel into the bin where it then goes onto the belt.
The belt takes it down to the corner where it is dumped on another belt that heads a different direction. The below picture is the last set of belts that carry the gravel out to the barge.
The bottom picture is where the gravel is actually dumped on to the barge and then put into huge piles so that it can be carefully carted over to Unalakleet.
I've not made it out to Clear Lake yet to see the beginning part of this process but once I get out there, I'll post that as well. By the way, I don't think they would pay Jack to sit in that crusher shack! But I know he would enjoy it regardless! I have no idea what the cost of operations is but going to guess this is an expensive adventure.
I am going to Unalakleet for the weekend so I'll be sure to check that end of things out as well.

Daily Post

2007-08-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so don't get used to seeing something every day but I am going to try... at least for the first while.
Today I'll tell you about the picture below. Steve, our reliable and trusted custodian, is often our chauffeur. Steve carts us back and forth to the landing strip on a regular basis. (Our airstrip is about 3 miles from town.) Steve had picked nine of us up and we were underway to Unalakleet. About a mile from the strip we met this big ole machine that was grating the road. There were several "boulders" in the roadway. I think Steve was trying to straddle those, however, he didn't do a very good job with that. We heard this loud burst and noticed that the suburban wasn't traveling as smoothly down the road as it just had. Before too long we could smell smoke. When we met an oncoming vehicle our fears were justified. With an apprehensive look on his face, that driver was staring at our rear tire. Steve just kept plugging along, we did have a plane to meet after all. Once we got to the airstrip, we all piled out and scurried over to the driver's side of the suburban. This is what we saw:
Thankfully, Steve had put a new tire on and was there to pick us up three days later! Steve is quite the handyman!!!

Back to St. Michael - School Year 07-08 underway

2007-08-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well here I am back in Alaska. I made it back to the island Aug. 10th, after spending 3 days shopping in Anchorage. It's good to be back and starting to get things settled here once again. I moved into a new apartment and am still unpacking a couple of boxes.
We had our district inservice in Unalakleet last week and have now officially started the school year! It's good to be back into the swing of things here at SMK. The school is alive today with kids and so far, so good.
I'll attempt to keep you posted on a regular basis - I know, not starting off very well... been here two weeks and this is the first post... anyway... more later -

YIPPPEEEEEE

2007-05-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Graduation is done and over! We had two seniors that completed all of their standards and are moving on to bigger and better things. Dara and Gen both plan to attend UAA this fall. Both girls also received scholarships this year. Congrats to both of them!
The weather here in SMK has been pretty nice. Friday night we had a bonfire down on the beach. All but two teachers were in attendance. It was a great night of laughs and memories! We seriously have a tight staff and I am really going to miss those that are not returning!
Jill took this picture of Chuck and I. I personally thought it was pretty funny, however, Chuck was not nearly as amused as I. That could be because I was actually making fun of something Chuck had done earlier in the evening. All in fun Chuck - no harm done!

Well Randy will be in St. Michael tomorrow! I am so pumped... but not nearly as much as he. I believe I've gotten 3 emails from him so far today. He leaves home about 4:30 so I don't expect too many more - but who knows. He's taken to emailing me through his cell phone lately...
Happy last days of school to all the PHS graduates! Nathan, Emelia, and Victor - you guys rock! Congrats and best wishes to each of you! (and to the rest of the class as well.)
Back in Michigan in 2 short weeks now...

2007-05-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well... only 10 days of school left! Things are really starting to wind down. So explain this to me, when things start to wind down... things get SO busy! We are planning prom, graduation, and end of the year picnic activities! It is getting crazy!
Our principal, Jeannie, is off on medical leave through the end of the year. Rick Luthi is now taking control of SMK. He was a principal in UNK last year. We are very glad he is here and I am sure the year will come to a peaceful, easy end!
Eddie Wood, an artist, has been with us for over a week now. He has been teaching the kids dancing. They are really enjoying themselves. There will be a community performance this Friday night. Hopefully the kids will be doing some of the dances next weekend at prom!
Ok, that is about all the news I have for now. I just don't want another email from Emelia chewing me out for not updating! ha ha
I'll be posting you on the upcoming events!

Update for Emelia -

2007-05-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Above is Sir Sid chopping wood. Sid and Silas were busy boys chopping wood while we were over at the camp last weekend. It is a beautiful place, very peaceful and serene! The picture below was taken from the porch of the camp, looking over the ocean.

Last Monday and Tuesday we had an inservice over in Stebbins. I decided to take the Honda instead of cramming into the Suburban. On the way we spotted the reindeer herd, so we stopped for some photos. I guess there are some babies out there but I didn't notice them. I'll have to try to get back out to see if I can get some closer pics.

Here's our Diomede buddy Ben. Ben is moving to Stebbins this fall. The RL does not stand for Real Loser - it's the Red Latern award. There was a game night during the inservice and Ben won this wonderful award.
Well our days are dwindling! We have 15 days of school left. The kids remind us daily, what they just don't get is that we've been counting much longer than they have! Randy will be here in SMK on the 22nd. We'll spend a couple of days here and then we are off to Anchorage. We are going to spend about a week or so on the roads! We are going to go down to Valdez and visit some of my friends and we'll be spending some time in Fairbanks with family and friends up there. Looking forward to showing our wonderful state of Alaska to someone from home!
We then will head back to Anchorage and fly home June 2nd. Looking forward to spending the summer back home!
There you go Emelia... it's updated for now. I'll try to do a much better job for the next three weeks!

weekend update

2007-04-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a close-up of one of the blocks of Ryan's quilt. I hope he likes dinosaurs for a long time!!! The bottom picture is one of the whole thing. I love making rag quilts, they are so forgiving!

Friday afternoon Patty and I went seal shooting, with the camera of course. We spotted several but were only able to get fairly close to the one below. Yes Jill, unique up on 'em.

Here's Patty out on the ice. We were going to go back out over the weekend but it was pretty dang windy and decided to stay inside and warm! (Actually Patty spend time in her classroom working. This is when I finished Ryan's quilt.)
Hope everyone had a good Easter! Patty and I had a nice dinner and then topped the night off with a few movies.

An afternoon adventure

2007-04-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here's Patty and Jill checking out a seal hole. It's amazing to see what these creatures are capable of doing.
Here is the hole. We are thinking the seals keep their hole open all winter. There are about 3-4 feet of ice out there right now. You can see where the seal was sunning himself when we first spotted him.
This is the CM tree that is growing in the middle of the canal, bay, ocean, whatever that body of water is called where we were. On our way over, we noted that the trail was quite well marked with sticks, etc. Cynthia, my passenger, said, "Look at that tree growing up through the middle of the ice." I laughed... and then thought... wow... I hope she is kidding. I then turned and said.. "You were joking right???" Thankfully she said that she was... this will forever be known as the CM tree!
Here's Betty! Betty, Cynthia, and I took the trail over to the tundra while Patty and Jill did some ice exploration. We climbed the hills and got some pretty great photos. We watched the other girls out on the ice but opted to stay on the land. We played around for awhile and then started to head back. We could no longer see Patty and Jill so we waited around and watched for them. No sign of them anywhere... we climbed one of the hills again and still nothing. We went back down on to the ice and waited. About an hour later, we still had no indication where they were so we decided that we should maybe head back and see about getting someone else out there to help us look for them. We hated to take the ice around, we had no idea what direction to go... and if we took that way, surely the girls would come up across the tundra. Betty headed back to SMK while Cynthia and I stayed out on the ice to watch. Not too long after Betty left Cynthia spotted this black dot that appeared to be moving toward us. Sure enough the explorers had made their way back. They had seen some interesting sights. I have much faith in Patty's decisions but she had that rebel Jill on with her... made me a bit nervous!!! (Montana rules - don't know what those rules are on the ice, but I know in UNO they suck... LOL)
This was taken from the shore of mainland Alaska. It is looking over to St. Michael Island to the left and the very tip of Whale Island to the right. I have absolutely no idea how far over it is but it was a nice ride... Lots of thick ice Dad... not to worry!

Finally an update:

2007-04-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, this posting is just for Mark. He happened to mention the other day that my blog was starting to fail and that I really needed to update it... that being said, here it is Mark!

Let's see, I think the last post was when my room mate had left me alone to bake bread myself. She had been in Anchorage with the SBT - Student Broadcasting Team covering the state basketball finals. Patty flew home Sunday evening. I think we met in the air somewhere as I was flying into Anchorage Sunday as well. I took Monday off as a personal day and spent some time in ANC shopping and relaxing! I had rented a car and had a motel, and yes Rebecca, it was a Motel. I truly enjoyed my mini vacation.
I returned to SMK late Monday evening. Back to work on Tuesday. Let's see... the rest of the week was fairly routine I suppose.
Patty and I had rented a ton of movies for the weekend and that is pretty much all we did. Oh, aside from packing. Patty will be going to UNK next year and I will also be moving. I was offered a contract and intend to sign it but I will be moving into a new place. I am asking for a single apartment and I really don't think they will let me stay in the large house that Patty and I now have. So... I am packing. This year the decision to stay was abit more difficult than last year. First and foremost, my roomie is leaving. Secondly, I am really a bit homesick! I think this is in part to not going home for Christmas. I loved Hawaii and do not regret going at all, but I really think that is why I am as homesick as I am. I really miss my little Pickford home! I still love SMK and that is why I've decided to stay. It just doesn't feel right to leave... so this will be home for yet another year. Saturday night we had an awesome display of Northern Lights. They started out right above our house. It was an awesome display as they danced around the sky. I still look for the green and purple colors but didn't see any this time around... although they did have a pinkish hue to them. Someday... I'll see those splendid colors.
Randy now has his tickets for Alaska. He will be coming up the end of May. After spending a couple of days in SMK, we will head for Anchorage and then spend a week traveling the interior. I can not wait for him to experience the life I live. I know he is going to love it! I've booked my ticket to return to Michigan with him on June 2nd! YAHOO
Oh, that pretty much brings me to this week... The week of testing! Our students are testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. It's similar to the MEAP testing back in Michigan. Each teacher has a group of students. We have several groupings, students with accommodations, students with SPED accommodations, and students with no accommodations. And that is for each testing level... It's pretty crazy at times but I think we are all going to make it! Friday will be an early out day and I think we are all looking forward to that!
Ok, I think that pretty much updates you on what has been going on... not a whole lot - but such is life in the bush!

Spring break has sprung -

2007-03-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is what happened when I attempted to make bread this weekend. Mind you, I was using the bread machine and I think it was something faulty with it... because I certainly couldn't have had this outcome all on my own! See, my roomie is the breadmaker in our house so I've never attempted to do it. She spent the weekend with her hubby in UNK and then left for ANC so I was left to my own devices, which as you can see, didn't turn out so well for me! Actually the second loaf did turn out practically flawless! Should have taken a picture of that one too...

Well spring break came and left - and I spent the entire time at 906 Yooper Heights Drive. If you've been reading my blog you know, I had originally planned to go to Nome, however, there was some sort of reservation (hotel) screw up, so I elected to stay in SMK. I did enjoy the rest and relaxation! Saturday night we had a chocolate fondue party at the house. I had some of the other gals from SMK come over. We also played some screwed up version of UNO, it was with Montana rules... I'll show you sometime if anyone is really interested. Needless to say, we did have an enjoyable evening. It was really nice to have yesterday off as well.

I am not sure what the temp is out there but the sun is shining and it looks like spring is on the way. Keep in mind that once it is on it's way, it usually takes about 3 months... so June should be good! Hope the snow is melting and the golf course is getting green back home! Miss ya'll!

The Sleepover

2007-03-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

These are some of the rowdy gals that spent the night in the school Saturday. This one was taken between 1 and 2 am.
The rest of these pictures were taken about 9 am Sunday. Keep in mind, the time changed Saturday/Sunday so the poor girls didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Personally, I came home Sunday and slept a few additional hours! The one above is of Elaine, Tammi, and Kinik. The one below is of Gen, who was mighty comfy under my table. (My room was trashed)
This is Natalia - I have no clue how she could have been comfortable but she seemed to be just fine!

It was a great weekend, a great season, and as I've said all along, they are a great bunch of girls! I love the Lady Storm!!!

Tournament is over!!!

2007-03-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

These are the coolest M&Ms ever. Cynthany, our 2nd grade teacher, bought them and packed a little bag of goodies (below) for each of the ball players. They loved them. Ahhhh... isn't she so sweet! Thanks Cynthia!

Here are a bunch of the girls from all over. This was taken Saturday night after the Championship game. I promised the girls the last night of tournament we could do a sleepover at school. It was fun and they did enjoy themselves, so did I.

Here are Gen, Christine, Andrea and a couple of Golovin girls. This is also Saturday night. The girls made a lot of new friends over the season and it was great to be able to spend time with them.
Ok... now for the tounament news itself. The Lady Storm was scheduled to play our first game Thursday night. We were to play Teller, however, they couldn't make it in due to weather so the Lady Storm picked up our first win by way of forfeit. We then played Stebbins on Friday at 2:00. We knew our odds weren't good, as they slaughtered us in the regular season. Well, we did stick with them pretty well and ended up losing by a mere 21 points. (That is good by the way.) Ok, so now we are in the loser's bracket. We then played Savoonga at 4:00 Friday. We had beat them both games in regular season, so we were feeling pretty good about this game. However, we also know what going into a game with a "superior" attitude can do... We did beat Savoonga by 20ish points. Our next scheduled game was with Shishmaref. Yikes. This is the team that we played a week ago. Our first game we lost my 51 points and our second, was like 60 points. We knew our game was up...lol We played a heck of a game and ended up 26 points behind them. The girls played like champs, kept their heads held high and I am extremely proud of each of them. White Mountain did go on to win regionals. Congrats to Mike and the gals.
When the championship game was over, the awards were handed out. The Lady Storm had two girls that made the All Star Tournament Team, Gen and Mary. They were very deserving! When this part of the evening was finished, we had a new feat on our hands. The coach of the year, Mike, was to coach the All Star team and they played against all of the other coaches. It was a riot! We had a blast. Of course the coaches were beating them quite badly at first but then the girls started coming back. It wasn't until the end of the second quarter that one of the other coaches noticed that Mike had stuck in an additional player... or two perhaps. We did allow them to keep six in and when all was said and done, the All Stars beat us by 1 point. (I did receive the only technical in the entire tounament during this game.) Mind you the refs were girls from White Mountain, Mike's team. One of the refs made a questionable call and so of course I had to go over and "rough" her up. She had the nerve to call a T on me! lol Many of the Lady Storm girls then told me I had 50 sidelines... I laughed and was thankful the season was over, or I may have had to do them.
It was a fantastic weekend but I have to say, Thank God it is over!
Love the Lady Storm!

Just want you to know...

2007-03-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today Alaska is living up to the reputation it often has... it's extremely cold!!!!!! Right now my computer is registering -28 here in St. Mike, no clue what the wind chill is here. Reports are -45 windchill in Nome. Now... I am not really concerned with how cold it is, normally.... however, one of my starting 5 girls is in Nome right now! We have our first game of regionals TONIGHT in SMK... and she NEEDS to be here. Typically planes will not fly if the temp is -35 or colder... let's just hope and pray that it warms up A LOT!
As I said, our first game is tonight, at 8:30. So... after the weekend I should have some pictures and news to report. Hope you all have a splendid weekend!
By the way Nancy & Jack... I'm going to Nome next weekend!!! Can not wait... going to see the finish of the Last Great Race - the Iditarod. And yep, I know, you are jealous!

Introducing...

2007-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

DANGER!!!!

For any of you who don't know who Danger is... watch Million Dollar Baby!
And I get the pleasure of living with her!
Love ya Danger Tunie!

Weekend in Shishmaref -

2007-03-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

The Lady Storm all dressed up to play ball????

OK, now we are ready to play ball... Thanks to Betty for the Gatorade. She had it flown into Shish for us!

On the court...

Here we are on the plane

This is coming into Shishmaref. It's north of Nome. Shish is a little spit of land in the middle of nowhere... even more so than St. Mike

We had a great weekend in Shish. Thanks to Colleen for the Fashion show. The girls had a blast playing dress up. Some of them actually were able to buy their prom dresses, and they all had a great time. Now... as for the games... it was apparent in the first few minutes that we were going to be the underdogs big time! (20-0) within the first few minutes. I called a time out and told the girls they might as well just enjoy playing ball... because it was looking like we were going to get our butts kicked big time. (and we did)
Lesson is life: it isn't all about winning - make the most of it!
See you girls all next weekend... and I hope you kick some White Mountain butt!
:)

Here today... gone tomorrow...

2007-02-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

You know, right now that saying could be applied to many situations in my life, however; it is referring to my hair -

This past week we attended the Special Education conference in Anchorage. Of course, this also means shopping, dining, and hair appointments. Rebecca and Patty had planned to get their hair cut so I joined them. Until I sat in the chair, I had no intention of getting it whacked. I decided it is only hair... and went for it. Did the same thing when at the mall at Grand Ole' Opry with Sandie and Kathy... anyway, I promised mom a picture, so here it is!
The photo below is Kristy on her body ball. We are using the body balls for exercise. We've had a lot of fun thus far, and no broken bones or pulled muscles. I do have to tell you, it looks much easier than it really is. Pauline and I also enjoy the workout!

Mark flew over for the weekend. The Lady Storm played two home games. We played the Gambell King Polars, which is coached by our friend Morgs. The Storm came out with a double victory! I still love this team. They are great gals and lots of fun!

Storm vs. Lynx

2007-02-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

Storm vs. Lynx
The Lady Storm traveled to Golovin to play some hoops! Just thought I'd share some photos from this weekend.

Above: The Lady Storm

This is Mary slammin' the ball. By the way, Mary is about 4'0".

When we travel, we are only allowed to take 8 players. We have 13 girls on the team so it can be difficult to "pick" who is going. We decided to do it the only "fair" way. If a girl misses practice, her name goes into the hat for each practice she misses. Before traveling, the names are drawn out of the hat and those girls do not go.
This picture was taken just before our trek to the store in Golovin. The girls threw on their boots and off we went. (Note: the girls are wearing trunks, not shorts. If you say shorts, you are referring to underwear. Don't think I didn't get that one confused a few times!)
Oh yea, we didn't win either game but we had a lot of fun with the Golovin gals and we learned a few things along the way. Thanks to Arin and Jason for all the fun. Also thanks to Gay for everything!

No snow in Alaska

2007-02-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

The picture above was taken Tuesday evening about 5:30ish. The sun is staying up much later. This sky just looks like a painting to me. It is almost two dimensional. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

To all my "homies" back in Michigan - here is the amount of snow we have here in St. Michael, Alaska! I see on the front page of the Evening News you guys have lots!!! I am so happy for you! Keep it!!!
Off to Golovin for basketball tomorrow so I'll post after the games... Have a good weekend all.

It's Monday

2007-02-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well... another week has started! =)
Patty and I were in Unalakleet for Mandt training this past weekend. I came back Saturday evening while Patty stayed on until last night. It was the first time ever that I have taken off sideways! The winds were so wicked as the plane was taking off, it drifted off to the side and so the pilot just went with it and took off... want to talk about stress! Needless to say, we made it and neither of us got sick... so all was well. (We were in the 4 seater again.)

Our basketball teams were gone to Nulato without us. They did well and we are both proud of our STORM! The boys placed second in the tournament. Congrats to them. The girls received the Sportsmanship trophey. We had two boys and two girls from SMK that received All Star trophies as well. This coming weekend the girls travel to Golovin while the boys will play host to the Golovin boys. We'll keep you posted!

Congrats to the COLTS!!! I did watch the Super Bowl yesterday with a couple of friends. Cynthany was rooting for the Bears, Betty and Jill wer fairly neutral, so I had to go for the Colts... you know me... can't go with the crowd no matter what. Anyway, I just want all my Michigan peeps to know, I did wear my Lions shirt with pride! Someday they will be a team worth some praise! GO LIONS!!!

Happy Monday to all!

Monday night was Family Movie Night

2007-01-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

Monday night we had our first Family Movie night. A few of the teachers and a couple of parents decided to try to get some community involvement going. We've come up with some pretty good ideas and we had our first one this past week.

We had free popcorn and lemonade for all movie watchers. We were fortunate to have many students, parents, and teachers helping out.

Here are three generations of Lockwoods watching "Goonies". It was a fun night for all generations.

Some of our kitchen help getting stuff ready.

Bobbi and Tunie popping the popcorn.

Here's "Little Man" kicked back, relaxed, and enjoying the movie.
We are trying to bridge the gap between the school and the community. We sometimes feel that we are two separate entities and we'd like to close that gap. We've planned a few other community events for the near future!

Thursday - January 25th

2007-01-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well one year ago today we lost all water and sewer in the village. I'd hate to jinx that fact, but... so far... so good. We haven't had the extreme temps that we did a year ago. It was actually colder in Pickford this morning than it was here in Alaska. (It brings a smile to my face!) Mind you it is -9 here right now. It's supposed to warm up over the weekend.
Speaking of weekend - we are off this weekend! No bb games!!! It will be so nice to be able to sleep in! Did you hear that Mark... SLEEP IN!!! LOL
So anyway... that about sums up the majority of what I am thinking right now.

It's Friday... best day of the week!

2007-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

Honestly I believe Saturdays or even Sundays would qualify for the best day status but regardless it is Friday! Well the Storm Girls had some great games last weekend! We played four games, two district games and two non. We won both of the district games and lost the other two. So... we are officially 2-0! We have two more home games this weekend. We will be playing Koyuk - we are pumped and ready for some action on the court! We did lose two of our players in our first game. Cece and Elaine both went out with knee injuries. Cece looks to be out for the season while Elaine may be able to come back in a couple of weeks. They will be missed!
Patty has spend the majority of the week in Anchorage. She had a dentist appointment, a dental appointment, and she met up with some good looking dude! (That would be her husband by the way.) Mark survived the road trip and has reached his destination of Alaska. They are flying into Unalakleet this afternoon and setting up his apartment. Congrats to Mark on his new job and best wishes over there at the DO.
Happy weekend everyone!

Good Morning -

2007-01-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday morning and we are having a bit of a heat wave here in SMK. It's been pretty warm up here the last couple of days. Today it's about 0. Monday morning it was 20 below, so as you can see, it's a nice change of temp! We really don't have too much snow but what we do have is really blowing around. The winds are pretty wicked! Our area is under a blizzard warning - which has an up side as well as the obvious down: the tons of possible snow and the temps should remain fairly high. (High nowadays is anything above 0.)
Basketball is now in full swing here in the bush. We have our first games this weekend. SMK is hosting a jamboree - oh the fun. The girls will play at home the first two weekends then we hit the road, or should I say air? Looking forward to a great season with a fantastic group of Lady Storm!
Great day to everyone!

More from Hawaii

2007-01-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

More from Hawaii - It's -17 here in SMK today so it does me MUCHO good to look at these pictures and relive that "warmth"!!! Hope everyone is warm, healthy, and happy.

Melanie, Summer, me, and Eva at Pali Lookout. This was the only day that it rained. I think it rained about 5-10 minutes and that was it.

The Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. This memorial was built over the USS Arizona. While standing inside the memorial you are able to see the battleship. She has been down there for 65 years and she is still leaking oil to this day. The survivors call the oil the "black tears". They claim she will stop crying the day the last survivor goes to rest. Many of the survivors will have their ashes put onboard when they pass. (It was a pretty sobering experience to be there.)

Timmy and Summer striking a pose. This was somewhere along the northeast shore. We were looking for Leia Point but I don't think we ever found it.

I am not real sure what kind of flower this is (Hibiscus perhaps) but I thought it was pretty sweet. The flowers and smells of Hawaii are so fresh... I love the Plumeria!

This is Waikiki Beach. We spent a couple of days just laying on the beach. It was so neat to see so many people just minding their own business.... all only there for one thing... soak up the sun! I bought a painting of Waikiki Beach. I'll have to take a picture of it to post one of these days. It looks perfect in my Hawaiian bedroom!

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I arrived back in St. Michael December 31st. The village had a great display of fireworks at midnight, which was pretty cool. I had a fantastic Christmas break in Hawai'i. Here are some of my memories!

This is the Dole plantation. We had fresh pineapple, coconut, sugar cane, mango, and bananas. It was quite a day.

This is Diamond Head, one of the volcanoes on O'ahu. It was taken from Waikiki Beach.

Here I am playing in the trees on North Shore. I believe this was Christmas Day. We had fresh shrimp from the shrimp shack for Christmas dinner.

This is Hanamah Bay. There is a terrific coral reef with lots of great snorkeling. Another fun day in the Hawai'i sun!

Parasailing... and yep, it's me. It was a blast and I really can't believe I actually did it! We took off from the boat and sailed about 600 feet into the air. It was an awesome feeling... and I did NOT think of the what ifs... like my dad did!

I'll try to post some more pictures shortly. Back to reality tomorrow... Until next time -

The rumors are true...

2006-12-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

I am now 40! Patty organized a wonderful dinner party with a few selected guests Saturday night. It was great fun!!!

I personally do not feel 40 is over the hill and I am sure my parents would agree with me!

These are just some of the wonderful "Over the Hill" decorations.

My wonderful, and might I add talented, boyfriend carved this watchband for me. I can't get a real clear one but it is flowers carved into the ivory pieces. Each of those pieces is separated by a piece of petrified ivory(darker) leaves. It's pretty awesome!

Pictures from Nome

2006-12-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our adventures in Nome.

Mandy, me, and Tunie - giving the SPED hello sign. (long story)

Me and my roomie, Tunie.

Me and Reb - we were so excited that our cell phones worked in Nome. It's funny that we've been there before but we had no clue that we had service. In this picture Rebecca and I were actually talking to each other. It was cracking us up that there was such a delay and we were only inches away from each other.

Here's Tunie eating Chinese. The two of us had Chinese on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It really was good... or we wouldn't have eaten it every day. (Golden China)

Ok, so this is the House of Bargains in Nome. It's nothing like the House of Bargain in Sault Ste. Marie... I didn't venture inside for a look but I am going to take a wild guess that they do not sell furniture!
Patty and I went to Nome on Thursday because I had a dental appointment that afternoon at 4:00. We spent Friday shuttling people from the airport to the hotel and shopping. Saturday and Sunday were spent in training. It was a good weekend!

Monday we started basketball practice. I have 9 girls out and Patty has a full round of guys. We are running practice together for now. (Thank God for Tunie and that is all I need to say on that.) So our day now looks like this... get to school about 7:45, teach all day, 3:30-4:30 is tutoring, 4:30-6:30 is ball practice, 7:00 leave school... go home and crash!!! I'm already wiped out... can not imagine how I will feel come March! Looking forward to next Friday!!!

Nice mini-vacation

2006-11-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

November 22 was a special day here in St. Michael. Ryan turned 4!

Ryan playing with his new helicopter. He got a lot of cars and trucks... you know that boy stuff! He loved his new truck from Patty and Mark. He also got some clothes of course but they aren't near as much fun! By the way Mark, he misses you.

What birthday is complete without cake and ice cream??? It was a fun day for all of us!

Another weekend Flies By...

2006-11-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

Yikes... why is it that no other days go as quickly as Saturday and Sunday??? I know they each have 24 hours in them, however, those hours just tick away like nothing! Saturday evening Patty and I had a birthday dinner for our school counselor and friend, Betty. We made a Chinese dinner for our guests. It was great having social time and enjoyed the conversations girls... right down to the one on bears...LOL

Jill, Cynthia, Patty, and Betty getting some chow.
Sunday - day of rest... we are taking that fairly literal these days! Sunday evening the community put on a fantastic feast for the teachers. They served us turkey and all the trimmings. It was awesome!
It's now Monday and the week is going to fly by!!! (here's hoping)
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!!!

It's Opening Day...

2006-11-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Good luck to all the Yooper deer hunters!!! Thousands of miles away but November 15th will always be opening day for me! (A bit depressed that even though we are yoopers, we don't get the day off...lol)
Things here in St. Michael continue to go well. We are now deep into the cold and windy winter! We've had some sort of snow 4 out of the last 5 days, and our temps have been below freezing for over a week now.

The other night poor little Paco, Patty's dog, froze his tiny feet while outside doing his business. He came back in and was walking really funny. I asked Patty what she thought was wrong with him. I was sure he was having some sort of convulsions... but she assured me it was just that the pads of his feet were frozen. She rubbed his feet some and sure enough, he was back to his regular ornery self! I'll have to take some pictures of the little darlings one of these days. I came to Alaska loving Paco... however... Tiqa has really become my favorite... minus the garbage digging!

Here are some pictures taken from my hotel window in Anchorage.

I like Anchorage but wouldn't want to live there... just a perfect place to go shopping! (for Alaska anyway...) Thanksgiving is just flying up on us here. No major plans as of yet... Hard to believe but... one month from today we leave for Christmas break!!! I now have my room and plane reservations... extremely excited!!! ALOHA!!!!!!

Back from the city...

2006-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

I flew out to Anchorage Monday for the Alternate Assessment conference. Of course, I also was able to get in a bit of shopping. Living on an island in the middle of nowhere is pretty great, but being able to get to the "city" at times... it's wonderful! I returned to the island Wednesday night. While in Anchorage I was able to visit my favorite St. Michael 3 yr. old. Recovering from surgery, Ryan is doing fairly well.

I don't think spending Halloween in a hospital was Ryan's idea of a perfect night, but he was a real trooper. As of last night, he is out of the hospital but still in Anchorage. Hoping he is healthy enough to return soon!!!!!
Patty and I are still enjoying our Elementary basketball experience. The kids are so excited to be a part of the team and we are really loving that enthusiasm! We have about two weeks of practice with them left and then on to the high school season.
The snow is starting to fall again here in St. Michael. We have gotten a few flakes here and there but nothing is really sticking, which I am thankful for! The temps have been fairly low and I believe winter is settling in here in our little corner of the world.
To the Panther football team - great season. To Roger - thanks for all the updates!

Inservice in Unalakleet

2006-10-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

Unalakleet Inservice: oh what a week!!!
We all (15 schools) flew into UNK on Monday. Monday afternoon we have a welcome speech and a keynote speaker. Then sessions start on Tuesday. I elected to take the Solutions Team, which is related to our reading program. It was a two day session and it was wonderful! Thursday I co-presented a session with another SPEDDER, Linda.
It's a great week but tell you what, it really gets tiring!

We have to catch those zzz's whenever we can. Here is a picture of Patty sleeping on the floor in the DO SPED office. Most of the teachers spend the night on the floor at the school, however, thankfully Patty and I are friends with Rebecca and John. Which means that we are able to stay at the condo with them!
One of the interesting things that happened the first day, or should I say night... it snowed... a lot! It is beautiful but yikes... it lasts forever!

It was a good week with some great learning, and of course, socializing but great to be heading home. We got back about 6ish I think. Joe called a couple hours later to say that he was in Nome with Ryan. They were waiting to be medivated out to Anchorage. Ryan was having appendix issues. He called Friday morning to say that they had done the surgery about 2 in the morning and Ryan seemed to be doing well. Of course it will be our luck that I will be flying out Monday afternoon about the time they will be flying back in. (I am going to ANC for the Alternate Assessment Conference) Looking forward to doing a bit of shopping of course!!! Hope everyone else has had a good week!

Way to go Panthers!!! Awesome seasons to the basketball and football teams - Keep it up!!!

Trying to beat the deadline...

2006-10-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, you know how deadlines work, tons of paperwork and it HAS to be turned in by a certain date. All of our special ed paperwork had to be turned in by October 13th. I was running around trying to get all of my stuff done. I had managed to get it done, was making copies, and faxing it all to the District Office. The "problem" came up when I was making my copies. The copier managed to eat my papers. Mind you, these papers HAD to be in the office by the end of the day. The photo here was taken as I was digging my papers out. I did manage to get them out and sent them by the time the day was over!
The weekend was pretty quick and then off to our district inservice in Unalakleet.
More on that in the next segment!

Sports!!!!!!

2006-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of the kids at Elementary basketball practice. We have skills and drills practice on Mondays and games on Thursday and Saturdays. The kids are a blast and they are really picking up on the game. We are having a good time with them. We have some of the older kids coming to help.

I hear Michigan is getting all the Alaska weather. It's been pretty nice here lately. It's been in the 40's, which is a bit chilly, but no snow yet. We did get some one morning (9-29) but that was gone by daylight. This past weekend was pretty windy but it's fairly nice out there today. Our winters last long enough as it is... no use rushing it!!!

I hear the Panthers are all doing fairly well this year! Great!!! Keep it up.... go Panthers! Right now we are in volleyball and wrestling season. Both of these teams are co-ed and it's fun to watch them, but I really miss football!

Pictures from Unalakleet

2006-10-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Unalakleet with the SPED gang. It was fun meeting the new teachers and of course our devoted leader taught us all so much!

Introducing Alan...

Meet our buddy Sam

Mike will not be working Sunday, according to his magic 8 ball!

Melunie... one of the most fantastic secretaries ever!

Here's Linda

Check out these sale prices!

2006-10-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying, I am very grateful we have a grocery store here. My purpose in this post is NOT to complain, simply to inform...

Classic roast Folgers coffee - 52 oz. $9.98

Kraft salad dressing - 2/$7.00

Coke Products - 12 pk $8.88 (It is usually Coke one week and Pepsi the next.)

10 pounds of flour (not four) $8.98 and Crisco oil.- 48 oz. for $5.28
Thankfully we are able to buy just about anything we would ever need at our AC.
(By the way, when I was home this summer I did mention to Sandy that I would never complain about any of the prices at the Co-op!)

Thank goodness for great parapros!!!

2006-10-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today we had class meetings with all of our students. I am the advisor for the eighth grade... and oh, what a group they are!!! During our meeting we were scheduled to go over our new recording system, DART. Once I finally got this rowdy group settled down, I began to go over the essentials of what we were going to do. That part went well... however, once we were supposed to have the kids log into their computers and begin the online process with them.... the system will not log any of them in! UGH!!! So here I am... with 13 of the wildest bunch... and nothing to do... for an hour!!! Pauline, my shining star, decided it would be a great idea to tell them some old St. Michael ghost stories. The kids love hearing these stories! Thank God for Pauline, a great parapro, and even better friend! Of course it's now almost time for the bell to ring... and the internet is back up and running. Happy weekend!

Thursday, October 5, 2006

2006-10-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, October 1st came without a flake in the sky. I've heard the same comment over and over, "It's so nice for this time of year." Oh, now don't get me wrong, it is nice out... but it is October... it should be nice! It's been in the 40-50's daily, although more 40's than 50's as of late.
Tuesday after school Patty came rushing into my room saying, "It's minus tide... we need to go." We jumped on the Hondas and escaped. Dressed in our rubber boots, we headed down to the south beach. Minus tide is when the tide goes way out... and I mean WAY out. We had a good 10-20 feet of "extra" beach. We did some digging around and exploring. Well I explored... Patty dug for clams... Needless to say, we didn't have clams for dinner.
It's been a busy week here in SMK. We are giving the HSGQE this week. For all you Michiganders... it is similar to the MEAP test. The biggest difference is that our students have to receive proficient marks in all areas in order to graduate. It is given twice a year. In the fall the seniors and juniors take it. We add the sophomores in the spring. I am administering it to the SPED kids. The kids have all day, literally, to take the test. Once it has been given to them, they have to finish the test on that given day. We had one student that was here until 6:30 Tuesday night taking the reading portion. I give him credit for sticking with it. I know how difficult it is to sit here all day... can't imagine taking a test for that period of time.
Tomorrow Patty and I take off for Unalakleet. We have a SPED cadre there Saturday and Sunday. Bonding time with our fellow SPED folks. Looking forward to seeing everyone and chatting over pizza. Cynthany is dog sitting for us this weekend. Hope she bonds with Paco very well... maybe she'll adopt him! (just kidding)

Ryan playing tug-o-war with Tiqa. The first few times Ryan was around... Tiqa didn't know what to think. Seems like she has warmed up to him a bit.
Well... Happy weekend to everyone...
Hey Panthers... Keep up the great work! Love hearing about all the games!

Newsflash!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's September 29th and we have snow!!!!!!! (Not much but it is on the ground... probably only until the sun comes up.)

Saturday Beach bonfire

2006-09-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we hopped on the Hondas and headed to Stebbins. We met up with a bunch of the teachers over there and had a beach bonfire. Songs were sung, stories were told and we were able to do some bonding with our neighboring teachers. It was great fun. After leaving the beach, Patty and I joined the Stebbinites back to Terri and Linda's for games.

Patty and Jodi - the ornery duo

Linda, Ernie, Jeri, and Heidi (All Stebbins people)

Hanging around the bonfire.

More whale pics

2006-09-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Holy Barnables Batman
I found it quite interesting to watch the barnacles popping in and out.

Joe just had to check out the teeth of this great monster. You can see him in some of the other pictures... he is the Eskimo in the Pickford sweatshirt. ;)

This is a close-up of the baleen. I don't know what color the baleen actually is but it appears to be white. I've only seen black baleen so I'll have to check with Susie. I'll let you know what I find out.

Tonight SMK is having a dance. The Student Council is trying to raise money to attend a workshop in Valdez. They had a cupcake sale earlier in the week. They were great cupcakes - Thanks Betty! Tomorrow night the teachers from Stebbins and SMK are having a cookout. Praying the weather stays decent! We're heading over to Stebbins for a beach barbeque. Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

California Gray Whale gets lost in Alaska...

2006-09-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

You know what happens when a California gray whale gets lost in Alaska? Damian Tom catches it in his net, that is what happens!

Here the guys are working on cutting the munduk (blubber) from the whale. The kids are all watching with much interest.

Once the munduk was cut from one side, they had to flip it over to get the other side. They cut holes in the whale's skin, tied ropes to it and then heaved until they were finally able to flip the great beast over.

Once they got it flipped over, they could begin to cut on the other side. Once the munduk was off, they began to cut the meat. I've not tasted the meat from a California gray whale yet, but Beluga meat is actually pretty good!

Susie and Damian Tom... the mighty netter! Damian makes his own nets and has had much success this year. I asked Susie if she had enough room in her freezer for this one. She smiled and shyly replied, "I don't think so."

Father and son out working on the whale. This is my eskimo brother in law Tony and his son Alex.
I love the way the village pulls together to work on the whale. Each person was invited to take whatever portion of the whale they could use. It really is something to experience!

Back from the beach...

2006-09-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I am still alive and surviving in AK. I've been reminded that I haven't posted in awhile (thanks Nancy!). Well let's see what has been going on...

Mark left last Friday. It was great having him around. We did get the "garage" done and it is working pretty well. He was also able to get quite a few days of hunting in. I think he left a goose in the freezer. I have no idea what we are going to do with it but it's there.

Tuesday (12th) I left for Anchorage. I am going to be the BSSD Alternate Assessment Mentor so I needed to go get some training. Rebecca, our big boss, and I spent Tuesday - Friday in ANC. The training was great and the shopping was fantastic! I really haven't been in the bush long enough to really miss Walmart but nevertheless, it was good!

I am also taking another college class this semester, so that is going to keep me busy. I have a feeling this year is going to just fly by with the amount of activities I have going on. Here's a fine example: Today at 3:30, I am supposed to be meeting with Jeannie. I am also scheduled to be in a coach's meeting at 3:30 - AND - Patty and I have elementary basketball practice at 3:30. Not exactly sure where I am going to be... but my guess is that I will be in the gym with about 20 little tots.

My life here contines to be one adventure after another... until the next time...

Long weekend...

2006-09-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

If you ever get the opportunity to go camping by the Bering Sea... DO IT!!!!
Sunday afternoon Joe and I headed out across the tundra, packed with sleeping bags, blankets, food, and a tent. We were going to do our beach camping!

After taking our sweet time crossing the tundra, we finally reached our future camp site. Joe got a fire going and we set up the tent.

It was so completely peaceful sitting and listening to the ocean waves rolling onto the beach. The heat from the fire helped keep us fairly toasty. (I knew I was going to be glad I had that -45 degree sleeping bag with me.)
It wasn't as cold as I had thought and I managed to get a great night sleep. The next morning I got up, went out to sit on the log with my Mountain Dew. I'd been out there about 5 minutes and I could see something out playing in the water. As I watched it came closer to shore and I could tell it was a porpoise. Joe finally crawled out of his slumber and joined me on the log. There were at least two porpoises out playing in the cove. It really was a fun display.

As we were climbing back up the beach to the tundra, I was suddenly shocked by the next sighting. Somewhere between 30-50 reindeer were standing there staring at us. I was a bit nervous, we were blocking their path to their water supply. We took time for a couple of quick pictures and then headed homeward. On the way, we met two other herds heading in the same direction. (All I can say is, "Thank God I was awake when they got thirsty. I am not so sure how I would have felt to have awaken to about 150 reindeer surrounding the tent.)
Solitude... it does a body good!!!

If you have a long weekend... take advantage!!!!!

Our visitor arrives...

2006-09-05T07:02:00.001-07:00

Mark got here Friday evening and we immediately put him to work. Actually we did give him that evening off but the next day... he got right to work. Patty and I attempted (unsuccessfully) to build a garage last fall. We did have one really good wall, one the guys thought might actually be worth using. (It's the wall on the left.)

Patty, Mark, Joe, Ryan and I went out to show Mark the tundra. We went down by North beach and out to where Patty and I picked our berries.

You know, you really probably should never let a man do the driving! We were going to go fishing out by little canal, however, once we got the Honda "unstuck" we were running out of time! The video to this whole incident is much better than a still but it will have to do.

So we knew we weren't going to make it to little canal, we decided to throw in a few lines at Dredge Point. No success there either. We are going to have to find a few new spots to fish. Mark went out goose hunting with Smitty Saturday evening, again unsuccessful.

Another week gone by...

2006-09-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

It's Friday morning. Time is going by so quickly... seems like I've said that a time or two before. We now have two weeks of school completed. The first couple of weeks went fairly smoothly. Of course, we had lots of little kinks to straighten out but for the most part, it went well. The kids are still having a hard time getting into the habit of going to bed early enough not to be really crabby in the morning. (I am getting there...) It's a hard thing to settle down and go home when it is still light out. It's only a matter of weeks and we will probably start losing our daylight.

Patty and I are having our first Michigan visitor today! Mark, Patty's husband, is flying in this afternoon. I personally can NOT wait until he gets here! He has called almost every morning before 7:00 and am looking rather forward to waking up to the sound of the alarm and not the phone. I am just excited to have someone from home actually experience all that we do on a daily basis. I am sure he will adjust fine and I know he will enjoy his visit to St. Michael! Sure we will have stories to tell and pictures to follow!

Last Saturday evening Danny and Victor speared a beluga whale. They took the meat they wanted and welcomed others to take what they could use. Our friends Drew and Candy were lucky enough to be down on the beach to score some meat. They called and invited Patty and I over to try munduk (whale blubber - also called muktuk) and black meat. I was a bit apprehensive but tried it all. The munduk wasn't too bad... although I really didn't seem to taste any coconut! It is eaten raw, however; some prefer to have it fried. We tried black meat from the whale, which wasn't too bad. It was fried and seasoned. Dad, you'd like it! Patty compared it to liver. Well I hate liver and really did like the black meat. It wasn't mushy like I remember liver to be. We also tried seal oil. Many natives use seal oil as a salad dressing or dip. We dipped our dried fish in it. (Let's just say I liked the raw whale fat better than seal oil.) Drew has some photos of that memorable occasion that I will post when I get them... until then, use your imagination.

Hope you all have a splendid weekend!

Update as of 8-25

2006-08-25T07:00:00.003-07:00

Ok... now that it has been over 3 weeks since I returned to Alaska... guess I better catch up on life here in the bush!

WE HAVE RUNNING WATER AND SEWER!!!!

After spending a few days with Matt in Wascilla, I flew back into St. Michael August 6th. Since then, things are busy, busy, busy! Our entire school staff flew into Unalakleet for professional development. Many thanks to the Concilas family for allowing us to crash in their basement. Those beds are so much more comfortable than the air mattresses in the school. 8)
We were also impressed with John's introduction to DART. (thanks for the demo)
Thursday was designated to SPED, then back to SMK that evening.

Patty and I headed out on the Hondas Friday evening. We rode North Beach and collected some firewood. We have a wood stove in our house and we are planning ahead for this winter. The next time we have no power, we will still be warm!

Saturday evening we held a Fiesta at the house. It served a dual purpose, Patty's 39th b-day and welcome to the new teachers. How do you know when there is a party taking place in the bush??? There are more than 2 Hondas in the driveway!

Introducing Becky, one of Stebbins new teachers. (Becky is one of the teachers from Koyuk that transferred into Stebbins. She and Barb crashed our Fiesta and we were glad to have them.

Here's Betty, my older sister.

School officially started August 22nd. I am teaching Math 4, SFA 4, and two sessions of Social Science 3. My afternoons are devoted to SPED. We've almost made it through the first week now. It's been a bit rough but we are all making it! Looks like it is going to be another fun and exciting year for all of us here at Anthony A. Andrews school.

Ok... there... now you have been caught up on my life, at least for now.
Until next time....

Some more memories of summer

2006-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

This summer dad and I had an ice fight out on the back deck. We were very entertaining and managed to get others involved. It was all fun and games until a glass got broke and then we had to stop, according to mom. Fun while it lasted!

Here's one of mom and Shania.

Me and my brothers. It was nice spending time with all of my family.

Saturday afternoons bring the music to Pickford. There are a bunch of music lovers that gather at Momma Mazolies (spelling???). They get together and share their many talents with anyone willing to listen. I managed to avoid the hay field a few Saturdays to listen the the gang. I told Uncle Jim that I'd join them next summer, but that completely depends on my ability to learn the guitar.

Rich and Connor jamming on their guitars.

Summer pics con't.

2006-08-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

June was spend on the house... and July was spent bonding in the hay field. Here's dad and I.

This is Scooby Doo - the latest addition to 330 E. Harold

Queen of the house - Harley Davidson, now 11 years old. Miss my Har!!!

Pictures from the summer

2006-08-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Ok... I promised pictures... here are some.

This is how my house looked at Christmas.

And here is how it looks now... at least it better still look like that Randy! lol

Back in St. Michael

2006-08-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well it is now August 8th and I am back in Alaska. I flew into Anchorage on Aug. 2nd. Patty and I did some shopping, then mailed it all out. I flew into SMK on the 6th. Patty flew into UNK for training. (Hope she is enjoying it!)
Things in SMK are going fairly well. We once again have running water!!! I did lots of laundry Sunday night, trying to catch up. I've spent some time at the school but so far, most of my time has been spent here at home getting things in "order". When we left, as most of you know, we didn't have water so things weren't as clean as I would have liked them to be... however, a couple of days later... things are looking a bit brighter.
It really is amazing how fast the summer went. It was fantastic seeing everyone but you know, two months really goes by quickly, there were a lot of people I would have liked to have spent more time with... there is always next summer..
June - I spent a lot of time working on my house project. It really was fun and thanks to Corey (and Matt and of course, Randy) it looks pretty good if I don't say so myself.
July - well what else would you do when your dad owns a farm... HAYING SEASON! It was also fun... most days anyway, right Steve??? It was pretty hot but the work got done and that is all that matters, according to dad. Nothing like bonding time in the hayfield...
I talked to mom yesterday and it sounds like she is well on the mend.
I'll try to post some summer pics later.

Busy at work...

2006-06-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well... we've started our latest project! At the beginning of the summer I had decided to replace the windows in my house... well... I've now decided to do the siding as well. What a project! Actually, it is going pretty well and I am sort of enjoying it all!!! It's going fairly well and once the windows get here... sure it will go much quicker! (I'll have to post the pictures of it later... won't go right now... I'll do some before and after things.)

Last night I was able to catch up with my of the PHS staff. We were celebrating Sam and Terri's wedding! Congrats to them!!! It sure is great seeing everyone - even Clayton says he misses our "secret mutt meetings"! I have to admit, I miss my old PHS family... but also miss SMK folks right now. Seriously, I think I have the best of both worlds...

Ok... well most other things are moving right along, time is flying as I knew it would. I've been out golfing and visiting family and friends...

Later....

I'm back...

2006-06-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well I've been back in Michigan over a week now. Yes, it is good to be home and yes, I do miss Alaska! It's great catching up with everyone and look forward to a nice relaxing summer!

I left St. Michael May 25th about 3-4 pm. I landed in Kincheloe about 11pm on May 26th. I was able to make it to graduation Saturday and then to Uncle Bill's retirement party on Sunday. Monday... I think I slept most of that day. The rest of the week I spent seeing friends and family and of course, shopping! I also managed to get in a round of golf, thanks Beth! Golf league starts Monday night.. they better watch out... Beth and I are on fire! HA

Today I managed to make it out of bed in time for church, that was at 11 by the way. Then we headed out to Randy's property for some target practice. I still have it! We had a good time shooting off quite a few rounds there! (I tried putting some pictures on here but it is taking toooooo long. Will try later.)

Again, yes, it is good to be home! I'll try to update this every now and then... but no promises!
To all my Michigan readers - hope to catch up with all of you soon
To all my Alaska pals - I miss you!

It's Official....

2006-05-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Wendy, Patty, Betty, Carolyn, me, and Cynthia having a picnic.... Alaska style!!!

It's the last day of school!!!!! Yikes... this year has really just flown by, to the point it is almost scary! Today we started our day out like every other day, with SFA, our reading program. At 10:00 we had our awards assembly. (I got an award for perfect attendance!) After the assembly the entire school had a picnic. We had some bonfires going and had hot dogs! It was awesome to see our entire student body together having such a great time.

I now have my classroom packed up and ready for the summer painting to begin! It didn't take too much work, being that Pauline, my right hand woman, helped! She is quite an asset! I know I've said it a million times but wow... can't believe we are at this point!

Congrats to the class of 2006 back there at PHS!!! I'll be there Saturday and look forward to seeing you all then!

A Week Away...

2006-05-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well here it is... the end of the year. Things are crazy busy... trying to get my room at school organized and cleaned up as well as trying to pack things up to head back to Michigan. It's hard to decide what to take and what to leave. The house is ours so at least we don't have to completely clear it out. I've been making some progress on the packing situation at least. (not taking much)

Patty, Jeannie and I are taking 6 credits of Alaska History and Multicultural classes. Patty and I actually have a year to take them but Jeannie is under a bit of pressure to get them finished by June. So... we have been cranking out the assignments. I guess it is a good thing at least one of us is under pressure, it is forcing us all to finish up. Once these credits are complete, we will have our "real" Alaska teaching certifications.

Monday night was graduation here at SMK. We had 2 graduating seniors, Daniel and Tamira. Daniel is one of my students and I am very proud of all that he has done. In Alaska students have to pass the HSGQE test as well as complete the standards that the district/state as set. We had 10-12 seniors but the majority did not pass the standards so they will be returning as 5th year seniors next year. I give them all credit for not giving up and sticking it out!

Here's a picture of Joe and I at graduation. Daniel is Joe's brother and Tamira's uncle.

Ok... well lunch is over and Darla and I are doing a beading project so... off we go...

Potlatch at SMK

2006-05-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we wrapped up Yup'ik Days with a potluck and Eskimo dancing. It was a great time for the entire community.

Kristy and I. I made the kuspuk I am wearing from the material that I was given at Kristy's first dance. The kuspuk is the native "dress". If I am ever to wear it as a dress... The ruffle part is going to have to be MUCH longer! 8)
This is Patrica - my friend Priscilla's youngest. Priscilla made the head dress. It is absolutely beautiful!
The night was concluded with Eskimo dancing. A group of drummers came over from Stebbins to play for us. We held an open dance. This means that anyone can dance. At a potlatch, only people who have done their "first dance" are allowed to dance. If you don't know all about that... you haven't been faithfully reading my blog. ha ha
Sunday... I actually caught up on some much needed sleep! (Did I mention that I hate Saturday school?)

"Til next time...

Yup'ik

2006-05-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

May 5th & 6th was Yup'ik Days here at SMK. We had a variety of activities throughout the two days. These are some pictures of them.
This is John and Dougie demonstrating the stick pull. The stick is greased and the object is to pull it from your opponent's hand. You are not allowed to move your feet at all.

Here's Dougie showing how to do the one arm reach. You have to balance your entire weight on one hand then reach around and hit the bag with the other hand while balancing on the other hand.

Here's Gus doing the 2 foot kick. You have to keep your feet together the entire time.

Here is John and Camillas doing the foot pull. You each have a foot "tied" together while balancing your weight on you hands. The object it to make your opponent fall or pull the strap off his foot.

The kids in these pictures were part of our NYO team this year. The whole team did well and served us well!

SFA Gym night

2006-05-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

SFA - Our reading program is called Success For All (SFA). As a far of this program our students are required to read every night. If they have 100% with this aspect, they are able to attend SFA open gym. Last night I had the early shift in the gym, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. The kids were fantastic and so much fun. Carolyn came in early and played with us. Couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

Here's one of the er... guys I guess. Petey, Dream and Jade in the back.
Starting on the top left: Bernelle, Demi, Jade, Christine and Deidra
Christine, Deidra, and Jade make the tunnel. Bernelle is going to join them. John is in the background and an unknown crawler is passing through the tunnel. (think it might be Demi though)
Here's Olga, Jade, and Bernelle.

Gosh, I didn't realize until I was doing this blog how busy my day yesterday actually was. And to think I actually worked in addition to all of this. lol I also learned yestereday how quick I can be when I really have to be. My alarm didn't go off... for reasons I can not explain... I didn't hear Petunia at all in the morning. When I rolled over and looked at the clock... yikes... it said 7:56... Mind you, I need to be at school by 8:00. Thankfully I had showered the night before, so I was able to throw on some clothes and head out. I managed to punch in at 8:03. I do believe that is my record - 7 minutes! I was pretty impressed! (Not sure anyone else was... like Jeannie.., lol)

End of the year...

2006-05-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

This year I did the after school tutoring program. It is sponsored by NACTEC in Nome. The high school students were able to come after school and work on their standards. We had a pretty decent turnout, especially during basketball season. Yesterday marked the end of the year for tutoring. Of course, like anywhere else... you have to have a party the last day! NACTEC flew in pizzas from Nome and I bought lots of chips and pop. These pictures are just a few of the kids that were partying with me!
Congrats to them on all of their hard work!

Here's Mary.
Gen is caught by surprise.
Robert loves his pizza and pop!

Pictures from Koyuk

2006-05-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's Bobbi and I... My Eskimo sister... Gotta love her!

Here's the one and only outside picture. This is Carolyn and Bria. Notice - Koyuk has trees, real live trees!!!

Luci and Priscilla in our cozy little sleeping quarters.

Here's Tunie! Not real sure what she is apolizing for but that is what she was doing.