Merry Christmas from above the Arctic Circle
Trip Start
Unknown
1
14
23
Trip End
Ongoing
Arctic Village,
Alaska,
United States
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Marshall makes pizza
assembly complete with 2 turkeys, a ham, and a roast plus all the fixings. A wonderful mother and son team comes in each year and does a week long music program with fiddles and guitars. At the assembly all the kids play a bluegrass type concert. Bradie, Mary, and Chance got to do guitar and performed. It was really cute watching them strum. The community also does a Christmas play with the kids. They did costuming yesterday. The girls get to wear traditional skin dresses. It gives a new meaning to Tribal. 
Todd staying warm
Mary
Bradie in costume
Sisters in skins
Christmas break started today and we spent the afternoon with our friend Becky baking chocolate chip cookies, riding the snow go, and sledding. Her cabin is up on a hill in a beautiful location. We love to visit and enjoy the wood stove and scenery. Her cabin is very cozy and she always has the coolest books. She runs dogs so the kids have all the puppies at their disposal. Next week Becky is going to take Bradie out on the sled to run the dogs. Bradie is really excited.
Balto Puppy
Caroling for the Elders
We have to be so careful when we do these activities. Mary got a touch of frost bite on her wrist from her snow machine ride. The sled she was on tipped and she got snow in her glove. The snow coupled with the windy ride froze her wrist in one spot. It got white and swollen with a bit of itchiness and pain. We caught it in time but it can happen so quick when you are playing in -20 degree weather.
Walking home
Mike really enjoyed the snow machine. Lots of speed and spins. He managed to tip it several times. He is doing open gym for the men of the village. He opens the school gym each evening and they all play basketball. He has managed to start a good workout routine doing it along with all the walking.
Merry Christmas from the Arctic. More to come in the New Year!
Comments
What an Adventure
I am amazed at this adventure your on, this is so far removed from Florida. The kids will learn a completely different World. I have travel to Alaska Many times, but never to this extreme. Congratulations, what an Adventure!!!!
Happy New Year
What an amazing and interesting experience
I really enjoy reading your family blog. Your children will have an experience that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Do your family have some difficulties adjusting from the city life to the small community life and the extreme weather must take some getting use to. Thank you for sharing.
FL signing in
What a fantastic adventure; the traditions you all will learn and the experiences will be irreplacable. This is really right up your alley, rich in culture and off the beaten path. I want to know when you are going to teach belly dancing--may be incorporate some fiddle music? It would be fun for the kids also. Anyway, I loved reading thru the blog.
P.S. it is 57 degrees here and I am cold!
Greetings from Solon, OH
found your blog by accident from TravelPod...learning a lot more about geography by playing the map games located there. a lot more interesting way to enjoy a mini-break than Solitaire. we head back to school tomorrow. I'm the librarian there. planning a reading event in March with an Iditarod theme...calling it IditaREAD--an Alaskan Reading Adventure. thought I might share your blog with some of the classes for a firsthand look at life in Alaska. some of your pictures are breathtaking. your story is a true adventure about spirit and opening yourself to the beauty you find, wherever you may be. best wishes for a wonderful happy new year. mary ellen