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The Girls Head to Anchorage

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The week before Easter, Anya had some appointments scheduled in Anchorage. Around that time gas went up to 15.99 in town. Yep. That's not a typo. $15.99/gallon. Gas is still $5.50/gal in Kotzebue, so we decided we could drive to Kotz and the girls would hop on the jet while the boys filled drums of gas and drove back to town. Our friend is a trooper in Kotzebue so we were able to stop in there to warm up and regroup. Brett went out to get gas and NONE of the pumps were working! It was such a bummer. He didn't even have enough gas to get home, but thankfully we have such kind generous friends that had some jerry jugs he used to fill the machines. Of course Oren ended up driving my machine back and was an absolute champ. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get down there and about that for them to get home too. The Borough was working on making an ice road from Kotz to Noatak. We heard they didn't make it past this tricky spot and stopped to check it out. (The oper

Field Trip Village Style

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The elementary classes took a field trip to the river in April. The day was a little chilly and some kids ended up going home early, but everyone had fun. It took a lot of community help as Kids were divided into sleds and the caravan of snowmachines brought them just a little ways down from town. Then a few volunteers used augers to drill enough holes for everyone who wanted to fish! It took some patience, but Ryker finally caught one and was very excited. It took teamwork to get the hook out. Marjaana helped to chaperone too. She stayed snug as a bug in a rug under my jacket the whole time.

Camping on Repeat

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I am pretty good at loading photos and letting them sit in the draft stage forever. I think this camping trip was from the end of March. Just a couple years ago winter camping was a big deal, but over time we've become more and more set up for it and now it seems that we can head out without much trouble at all. This winter most of that was attributed to leaving the tent set up. It was so convenient!! 1. Chilling in the "cook tent." With both the canvas wall tent and the arctic oven set up, we felt like we were living large with a cook tent and a sleep tent. 2. Marjaana's sleep system. How do you make sure your baby stays warm? She sleeps in her wool base layer and hat, Little Mo wearable sleeping bag, and Wiggy's baby bunting. I have her sleep on my cot with a caribou "qatchaq" underneath. (Dried caribou hide. It's amazing how much warmth sleeping on one adds!) 3. The stove is going when she falls asleep so she starts with less layers t