100th Day of School

 What to do with 100 balloons on the 100th day of school? Well, pop them of course! On our Friday assembly the balloons were set out after a day of classroom celebrations. The FEA girls had been busy all this last week blowing up balloons and hiding them in the attic.

 Ashley setting up the rules.

 "On your mark, get set, and go!"

 Then, it was decided there were other 100 Day activities to do including 100 jumping jacks.





Ok, go!

 Eli showing off his stuff.

     Bruce showing off his stuff!

 Many of us realized how out of shape we were when we hit 27......

Recess for the third graders!

 Dorothy took her class out to tackle the mountain out in front of our home. They had a blast digging and sliding. These photos were taken from the Kindergarten classroom. I just got a message from Jim, and he remembers the year he was in Newtok and they decided to put his door on the opposite side of the building due to the drifting...
I was also told the snow was so plentiful one year the front of this building was completely covered! Hope Spring doesn't bring us much more snow....

 What a great time they had!

More snow.....

 Yup, lots more snow. Had to dig out again, and we had to build steps off to the side in order to use the roof for something to hang onto.

Here's my doll after she built a snow tunnel into the porch.

 Bruce building an igloo and learning it's harder than he thought.....

Out for an evening walk. I finally caught a pretty sunset beyond the Russian Orthodox church.

Sledding in the area.

 This is one kind of sledding, but the very hard kind! About this time of year many people are heading up river or heading north to the Yukon to cut down dead spruce and drag them home. Hard work! Usually, where the trees are is where there is a lot of snow. People have to trudge through drifts to cut, fell, then drag the wood to their sleds. These trips can be three to four hours away.

 Not many big hills out on the tundra. But, this year, we have some awfully big ones!

 This one has grown. It is in front of the police headquarters.

 This drift, out our window, kept getting larger and larger over the months.

After the storm.....

 There's a lot you can tell by just walking out on the porch. If the temp is really, really low, it's obvious by the crunch of walking on the plywood floor. If there has been a lot of wind and blowing snow, the doorknob has collected snow, on the inside.

 This was from earlier in the fall. At the time of this writing we have about six feet on the deck.

 And this is why you have kids.....

 Rarely is the snow good for snowmen as it's so dry. With the temps warming up, a snow creature was born.

 Gorgeous day to have to be out and collecting signatures.

                    Police headquarters

 Drifts forming on the back side of the village between homes.

 This little fellow didn't want me too close. Fortunately, he has a doghouse to curl up in.

 This little gal was just happy to be sitting in the sun where there was no drifting.

This pup, was just happy for the sun and room to stretch!