A little bit of everything

We went to Anchorage for Spring break on Saturday morning. We spent a few days there getting some things checked off the to-do list and just enjoying some time away. Something that we don’t mention often here is that life in the village can be rather grueling at times. We don’t mention it because we don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression; we LOVE what we do and where we live. However, there are times that not being able to get away from it all becomes overwhelming.  We’d hit one of those times where there is no escape from work because the lines between home life and work are so easily blurred here. We have both spent several hours working from home on weeknights and working extra duty hours on the weekends to supervise student activities. Since coming back from Christmas break we haven’t had any days off, teacher friends know how absolutely grueling the month of February can be! Before Christmas we had a vacation day on the calendar for February but because of the inclement weather we moved that day to help everyone get out of the village ahead of the storm(INSERT HYPERLINK). So, to say that we are ready for a break is an understatement. February has felt like the month that would never end.

We had cookies one weekend and Junie decided she must have one of her teething cookies
anytime one of us had a cookie.

On a positive note Miss Junie is growing like a weed and learning new things everyday. In the past few weeks she has discovered that food is indeed good, coats mean mama and daddy are leaving, she’s learned to wave goodbye (before the door shuts), and has been talking up a storm. Her current favorite phrase is da, da, dah, day, which of course she says when she wants to be rescued from her mean mama who is making her take a nap or go to bed or fill in the blank! J This last weekend we had to lower her crib mattress to the lowest setting because she’s finally figured out how to pull herself up and look over the edge of the rail. Her favorite position currently is standing.

Junies favorite Valentine's Day presents from Nana and Grammy--the cards!
Anytime they are within reach she is grabbing them.

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!

Cheering on 'Uncle Ben's' Boilermakers to a win!!!

Well baby visit at the clinic.

Spring Break

Spring Break always seems to come at the most perfect time during the Spring Semester. You know, that time when you're just totally burnt out and done with school? Yea-- that time! We were able to get away and head to Anchorage for a few days for break. It has been absolutely lovely. No cooking...no dishes...and Target?! What more could a girl ask for? (Simon appreciates the no cooking and dishes a little more than I do, but Target, that's all me!)

Waiting for the plane to arrive in Goodnews--Junie was so excited for Anchorage
she woke up at 6:45 and decided not to nap!

The Bush Plane--Junie's favorite place to nap!

We left Goodnews on the first flight on Saturday just to make sure we'd make it into and out of Bethel on time. Well good news for us--the plane was almost exactly on time and we made it to Bethel much earlier than we'd planned AND there were open seats on the afternoon jet to Anchorage. So, instead of sitting at the Bethel airport for 8+ hours, we were there for not even an hour and hopped on the plane to Anchorage. Getting into and out of Bethel in such a short time is a total blessing--we were SO thankful to arrive in Anchorage early in the afternoon instead of late at night. We got the first thing checked off of our to-do list, Simon's haircut!

Another perk of the early flight--an open seat for TOYS!

Trips to Anchorage are always interesting- they are equal parts fun and business. It seems like we always have things to buy and places to go when we come into Anchorage, but we always make time for some fun things too. This trip we've checked everything off of our to-do list and even had some fun swimming, eating some favorite foods and checking out the craft exhibit at Fur Rondy. Juniper was a big fan of our swimming..I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Riding in the grocery cart is so fun!!!

The Carnival at Fur Rondy. Look closely just to the right of the ferris wheel is a bush plane.

Simon sold some of his fox pelts and also traded some for a pretty sweet hat. Juniper also thought that it was a pretty cool hat--while we were driving Tuesday morning she reached over and snagged it unbeknownst to us. When we parked I walked around to the back and saw her with it up near her face looking pretty closely it. As soon as she saw me she put it down by her feet. Her face said, "Who me?! I didn't have the fox hat, Mama." The picture is hard to see because the sun was shining in our faces.

Not to worry we got out of the sun right after the picture.

The week before Spring Break, Junie decided that she does in fact LIKE food. She's been tolerating eating food for the past month or so, but now she's officially a fan. If you're eating it she probably should be too. Here's a picture of her trying to get to our dinner on Monday night. Some of her favorite time is the continental breakfast at the hotel- she's a hotel celebrity! The breakfast hostess is always waiting with a smile--Junie loves the attention! Getting out is kind of a big deal for her. On average, she sees 4 people per week and 3 of them live with her. She LOVES to watch people when we go places. As long as they don't touch her or get too close she's happy.

Breakfast at the hotel

Watching us eat dinner Monday

We met our State Mentor, Carol, for lunch at Moose's Tooth, the most famous pizza place in Alaska. Junie enjoyed it even though she could hardly see the top of the table! #shortpeopleproblems

Can we go? I'm ready to take a nap!

We head back to Goodnews in the morning on the 6:15AM flight, whew--I'm tired just thinking about getting up that early. Stay tuned we have several more posts ready to publish during Spring Break!

Back in Action

The start of every semester is a whirlwind of activity- from unpacking suitcases and coolers of food to getting our house and classrooms in order and starting new classes, it usually takes us a few weeks before we feel like we can take a breath. This weekend is finally going to be that breath for us, and with it, a chance to share some photos and memories of our time back in PA for Christmas...

We weren't sure how Junie would react to Santa Claus, but they were best buds!

Anyone who knows us isn't surprised at how many times we ended up at Chick-fil-A...

A beautiful 60+ Degree Christmas Eve

Cousins!

Our romantic 3rd anniversary dinner date in Pittsburgh. 

Of course, I couldn't stay away from trapping for very long. We trapped for beaver along Jacob's Creek near my parents house. 

Our first-day-first-set luck continued.

Junie playing with some of her dad's old toys...

Sleepless in Seattle! 

We had a fun break but we were glad to come home. Junie never really got the time change adjustment down, and she suffered from a cold most of the time we were away. 

Glad for new toys to play with...

...as well as old favorites!

We've been cheering for the Steelers!!

This is really a different semester for both of us at school. On the high school side of the building, we're busy preparing our 4 seniors to graduate. Last year, we didn't have any graduates so I missed out on that experience. But I'll be busy guiding them through this process, especially as we have two who have been accepted into degree programs in Fairbanks for the fall (think: personal essays, FAFSA, recommendations, scholarships....). My added work, though, is nothing compared to Christina's. In addition to her 11 1st graders, she now has the 6 2nd graders in her room for the two hour morning reading block. My average class size is 6, hers is 17. That's 1/3 of our school!

Christmas is Coming!

Somehow we've made it all the way to Christmas Break! Time seems to just fly by these days. We had a bit of a hectic week getting ready to travel back to Pittsburgh for break.

Monday morning began with Homer, our resident weather man and school maintenance man, warning us that the weather was going to be awful starting on Thursday late night/Friday early morning. All of the teachers leaving were planning to fly out on Friday morning/afternoon, so you can imagine this wasn't exactly the cheery news we wanted to hear. After some juggling of schedules and looks at the calendar we decided to change our school calendar to make Friday a holiday.

A large problem with living so far from Bethel is that we only have one airline that services our village, Yute Air. They are notorious for their lack of professionalism. To compensate for their inability to manage flights properly our nanny, Gloria, left 2 days early so that the flights wouldn't be too full on Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning dawns with beautiful blue skies and a bright sun! YES! Surely, we'll get out on time today. The time for the first plane comes and goes--nothing. I finally called and they told me maybe around 1pm...maybe. We get the call that the plane is 25 minutes out, pack up the school van, get all of our winter gear on and head to the airport. Sit in the airport "parking lot" for 10 minutes past the 25 minute arrival time. Hear that the plane has turned around due to fog. SIGH. (insert screaming, tired, non-napping baby here) You might recall reading about our unfortunate experience with Yute earlier in the year here.

Frustrated by Yute and determined to beat the storm out of Goodnews, we started marking phone calls to other airlines as soon as we got back to the school. Our principal was finally able to find an airline that would charter a plane to pick us up at 2pm. WHEW--now the game was just sit and wait and hope that they too don't turn around. 1:47PM confirmation call from chartered airline--they will be arriving at 2:10PM. We head to the airport for round two. Plane lands to rounds of applause at 2:11PM. We enjoy an absolutely stunning view on our way to Bethel.

We're in Bethel tonight staying at Bentley's Bed and Breakfast. Imagine Super 8 with common living spaces and you've got the closest description I can give you for Bentley's. In no way does it align with what you think of when you think B&B. But-- the people who run it are the sweetest, kindest people. We've stayed with them several times and will likely continue to stay with them for many more years. We'll hang out here tomorrow during the day and catch the evening jet into Anchorage to begin our looong flight(s) back to Pittsburgh!

Our Lexus of a bush plane arrives!

A view from our seats.

I'll never tire of looking at the beauty that is rural Alaska. It was a stunning day for flying

Fur from coats provides great in-flight entertainment.

The stunning beauty of Alaska.