Arctic Adventures

Oren's first Halloween was one without Trick or Treating.  In Noatak, the community gets together to celebrate "Hallelujah Night" in the school gymnasium.  The night begins with the youth group presenting skits about choosing positive influences, followed by games for kids of all ages, and finishes with candy bags for everyone.  We still had to model his adorable costume, though! PS Halloween's weather:  5*F with a foot of snow on the ground.

He LOVES bath time! Oren is 3 months old! He weighs 13 lbs 13.5 oz and is 26 in long. (We just had his 2 month check up, because a doctor was finally in the village. You just have to be a little flexible!) He is really "talking" lately and seems to be a very happy baby. He smiles and shows off his big dimples. Everyone here loves his bright blue eyes. Oren loves to play with his toys and read books. He is starting to grab at things and hold on to them. He also likes to chew on his fists! He still gets visitors pretty frequently and has visited the kids in my classroom on a few occasion. His new panda that plays music. He loves it! Sweater hand knitted by Ingrid! The shirt says it all--Dad's fishing buddy! Oren's friend, Gloria He drools everywhere!

Temperatures have been averaging in the 30's. At night it drops into the teens, and then gets close to 40 during the day. I have had to thaw out the wheel on our four wheeler every morning. The lakes are frozen over, but not thick enough to walk on yet. I sent a pair of skates up here this year, so I am looking forward to dusting those off. Out on the river ice is starting to form up. It sounds like a semi going by, just constant crashing and grinding. Everybody has their boats out of the water now. I finally got to go out fishing this weekend. Holy Mackinaw, was I glad I went! Kayla had some of the other lady teachers over for coffee and snacks, so I decided to head out fishing. I have been a little nervous about going across because the back wheel on our four wheeler has been freezing up in the morning. I knew if I crossed the front wheels were going to freeze up too. I decided to find out how it would go. They almost froze up on me while I was out fishing. That would not have be