Arctic Adventures

We've been on "Conserve Water" status for the last couple of months. The well has been low and we've heard a variety of possible reasons for it, but nothing sure. When it rises to a more acceptable level an announcement is made that we can wash a load of laundry every 2-3 days. Then when it drops too low we are on strict conservation status again, meaning no laundry and limited showers, dish washing, and flushing (hauling water for any of the above). The boys are pretty happy that they don't need to take frequent showers or put clean clothes on daily. I am just so thankful we still have the ability to drain water that I can't complain too much. There's an open hole just down from town that we can haul water from. We still have an old school top loading washer, so it has been convenient to haul water to run it. Brett has hauled all the water so far, but I finally decided that I should help share the burden. (Why did it take me so long?!? We chuckle

We made it back out to the camp spot over spring break for a couple of nights. It was super convenient having the tent already set up and we all had a great time. The Camp Site 2. 3. Brett and Oren carved the kids knives and they had so much fun with them. You can spy them in all the outdoor photos I think. 4. She's our camp baby! Having two tents was quite convenient, and we figured we were living well with a "cook tent" and "sleep tent." 5. Waiting for dinner and listening to Harry Potter. 6. Lunch/snack time in the cook tent. 7. Oren watching a camp robber (gray jay) 8. Snowshoe hike 9. The knife. again. 10. 11. 12. 13. We went out fishing on Day 2. There was a stiff north breeze and no fish, but still a good outing. 14. Most of the crew. (The tan dog is one we were dog sitting for the week.) 15. Big brothers helping Anya 16. Our dog, Kiva 17. On day 3 Brett took the kids to set a couple more traps while I st

Throughout January the temperatures were a little chilly (we had extended periods of -30s) so I kept Marjaana close to home. She does love it outside no matter the temperatures though, and relaxes the second she gets into her stroller. Brett modified her jogging stroller to have skis, so it works quite well in the snow to either push or pull. She falls asleep quickly in her stroller. All cozied in. Cold temps don't have anything on her! One mom, one kid on skis trying to get pulled by the dog, the baby to be pushed in the stroller, and another child to be pulled in the sled. We were a bit of a mess on this walk, but made it out and back home. We all have skis this year and are hoping to get out for some family skis this winter/spring. After our first go I decided we might need a way to hook Anya up to Kiva. The boys are pretty fast and Marjaana's stroller works pretty well to pull, but Anya just can't quite keep up yet. Family snowshoe h

Me and the boys have a tent set up at the end of our trapline. We set up our older wall tent so that it can stay out all season. We went and stayed out there this past Friday night. The weather had been good the whole week up to that point, but Wunderground was calling for temps to drop to -30 that night. We headed out about 6 pm. Right away things went bad. We were taking our dog Kiva with us and she was following behind loose. I made the turn to head out of town and there was no dog. Oren was leading the way and didn't see me turn around. I figured he would stop when he didn't see me behind him. Ryker and I turned around to look for Kiva. We checked toward the last house, but no dog. We turned around and went back to our house. Kiva was sitting on the porch waiting patiently. Ryker held on to her as we headed back to the trail to catch up to Oren. Back out on the trail we found Oren with his machine layed over on its side, trying to push it back upright. The trail on t