It's Inuvik!

Finally a Baby Bump

2009-11-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

Our baby bump arrived on November 10th. Just over 17 weeks along in our first pregnancy. I woke up, rolled over onto my back and felt the little thing for the first time. Graham was excited when I put his hand on my belly. He took these photos last night. I wasn't feeling great but there was pressure to get the bump posted!

Today, I am 17 weeks and 5 days. Still not feeling well these days. Better than a month ago though.

Nov. 13, 2009 -Jen's baby bump at 17 weeks and 4 days.

Olympic Fever...-30C with windchill

2009-11-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

The Olympic Torch Relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics went through Inuvik last evening. The hermit came out of her cave and made her appearance. I wouldn't have missed it even for throwing up. It was great. Cold, but great.

The Inuvik Drummers & Dancers performed as well as Gwich'in jiggers (dancers).

Graham froze his hand to get these photos and the video (video to come), so he gets the credit for that.

Olympic Torch Relay stage

Graham & Jen at Olympic Torch Relay

Inuvialuit Drummers & Dancers perform

Jen with Olympic Flame and frozen eyelashes

Olympic Torch Relay

We're pregnant!

2009-10-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is our baby's heartbeat at 14 weeks. First heard at 10 weeks.

Pregnant, happy and oh so sick...still. So, we found out that we were pregnant on August 20th, which was at 5 1/2 weeks. August 25th was my last day in the real world. Starting at 3:30am on the 26th I began throwing up and have not stopped yet. Hearing the heartbeat at 10 weeks was a relief. Very reassuring that everything was still okay. Finally had to officially leave my jobs at the daycare and swimming pool. I will be applying for Sick Leave now.

No belly showing yet. I've lost quite a bit of weight and have had numerous trips to emergency for IVs. With all of this, my spirits are still high. The second appointment to hear the heartbeat was again reassuring. We also heard the whooshing sounds of the baby's movement. Dr.Boronowski told us there was actually a lot of movement. he even let Graham use the doppler on my belly.

Graham has been more than perfect, as usual. Get me apple juice, hold my hair back, clean out my bucket, rub my feet, and many other phrases are often in need of translation as they usually all come out as 'mehhhhhh'...or however you would spell a whiny groan. He has become fluent in the language.

I've lost most of my muscle except for my abs - they get their daily (often many times a day) workout.

So, still happy and not going shack whacky. Time is actually going quickly.

Jen, Graham & ?

The day we found out we were 5 1/2 weeks pregnant.

12 down, 1 more to go

2009-08-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

Raining today and almost 6 degrees. Chance of flurries tomorrow…doesn’t the calendar say August?

I taught Aquafit yesterday morning and got home about 1:00. At 2 a few friends called to see if I wanted to drive to the Yukon border to try to find the migrating caribou. Of course I did you fools! They arrived in about 20 minutes and we were off.

I’d been as far as Tsiigehtchic twice, but never further. You can drive the distance to the border in about 3 ½ hours, but we took our time and stopped to see any wildlife we could find.

We did stop to help change someone’s flat tire. Well, my help involved taking photos.

Richard and Marc Andre changing tire.

Past Tsiigehtchic the scenery almost immediately gets more interesting. Small mountains come into view and you get into some tundra (easier to spot animals).

On Tsiigehtchic ferry.

No telephone poles!

Mountain scenery.

Marc Andre 'helping' the road workers.

Jen at Yukon border.

Anytime you see vehicles pulled over on the Dempster you perk up and assume they see something. It’s usually true. We did see a truck pulled over and saw a small herd of caribou. The people pulled over had walked down the rocky hillside to get a closer look. We were wondering if they realized the caribou kept moving away making them harder for them and us to see…ultra maroons, we thought! Luckily, Richard had binoculars.

Caribou.

More caribou.

Caribou.

BANG!! Oh…oh okay, so they actually wanted to get closer for better aim (not with their camera). They did get one.

Snow still around on these small mountains.

Moving on. We saw some people along the road picking berries, which we looked for on the way home but just found some cranberries not ripe yet for picking. We did see one lone caribou with his big antlers closer than the others had been.

Mr.Caribou.

Monsieur Caribou.

Herr Caribou.

BANG!! Not again. No, this time it was our tire that needed changing. So, don’t forget a spare tire or two for the Dempster. We saw a few more caribou while this was happening.

Returning to NWT.

We didn’t go too much further before turning around. Not far along there was a bear fairly close to the road. Being scared of humans, he headed off the other way in an awesome run.

Bear along Dempster Highway.

Another bear was spotted on a hillside. He had caught or was digging for something.

We saw a fox running up a hillside, a rabbit run across the road, lots of ptarmigan (birds), and ground squirrels. All in all, a good tally of wildlife for this trip.

We arrived home, after some interesting conversation, at midnight. Graham had gone out with some friends to watch UFC, but was already home when I came in. We both had fun.

Caribou Forever!

Jen

Monday, June 15, 2009

2009-07-19T18:57:00.001-07:00

Graham and I were both off Monday and Tuesday to spend the day with Mom and Dad. We started things off with a wonderful breakfast of homemade crêpes. The produce man was in town so we were able to stock up on fresh fruit. Not that it’s not in the grocery stores here, but he’s fresher and cheaper. (Graham, insert smart comment here.) Chocolate and banana crêpes, blueberry and strawberry crêpes, and kiwi on the side…my mouth is watering now.

Our homemade breakfast of champions

To work off this amazing treat, we set out to walk around the Boot Lake Trail nearby. It was overcast day, but no rain yet. The trail was pretty muddy and flooded in some parts but we made it by. A few detours were needed. Partway through, it did start to rain but, coincidentally, we walked by a makeshift tepee just off the trail. We ducked into that for the few minutes it rained.

Dad, Mom & Jen in tepee

If someone were watching us we may have sounded a little crazy, but with it being bear season we had to keep making noise. Our skills must have worked because we didn’t see any on our walk.

Birds' nest on Boot Lake Trail

They got to see the cemetery. There are very few grave markers made of stone. Simple, wooden crosses make up the majority. It’s not very big since the town hasn’t been around for too long.

Inuvik Cemetery

Cranberry bushes growing in stump

The trail can be walked in under an hour but we took almost three hours. I could embellish on the birds’ nest and ravens that we saw but, honestly, it was because bottles and cans are worth 10 cents a piece and alcohol 25 cents! We couldn’t walk by them – the guilt was too much.

Boot Lake Trail

I’m telling you, one could live off of bottles and cans up here. We’ve made 100’s off of them since February.

Dad & Mom with our loot

Jen

Saturday, June 13, 2009

2009-07-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad’s second day here was truly awful. Or so I had thought.

The thing was, I thought that by the end of the day, we had done everything there was to do in this town. It turned out, this wasn't the case.

We started off at the Visitors’ Centre, which gives information about Inuvik, but also has physical objects from the north. Leathers, beadwork, animals, etc.

We got a tour of the Community Greenhouse, which is in the old arena. Garden plots are requested and paid for yearly. The daycare that I work at has a plot so I’ve been able to get my hands dirty in that one. When you have a plot you also have a number of volunteer hours that you must fill. Giving tours is one way to do that. Everything is really grown up in there now.

Community Greenhouse

Dad, Mom & Jen at Community Greenhouse

Dad and Mom at Community Greenhouse

We walked through Aurora College. As is the case with some of the public buildings in Inuvik, you are asked to remove your shoes in the college. Mud and dust is the reason for that.

The pool and arena were next. The curling and skating rinks were being set up for the Inuvik Petroleum Show, which is the biggest ‘show’ all year. Not exactly an exciting event unless you have something to do with petroleum. The town is really clean around that time, so that’s a perk. Mom and Dad were impressed with the pool, which both Graham and I work at. You can see photos of the pool at www.inuvik.ca (it’s called the Inuvik Family Centre).

That evening, Deanna and Dave picked the four of us up to go for a drive along the Dempster Highway. A ‘highway’ that when another vehicle goes by you are left in a thick cloud of dust for half a kilometre. Our first stop was the golf course. Dave showed us the portable greens that you carry with you to each hole when no grass is available. There is a driving range on which you frequently lose the ball you hit to the ravens that swoop down and swipe them. Saves running out to get them yourself I guess.

Jen and Deanna at golf and country club

Dave with golf green

The first wildlife sighting was an owl and the lemming he caught in front of us. I could be lying since I have no photos to prove that part but we did get some of the owl himself.

Owl along Dempster Highway

We pulled over at one creek where a guy was fishing with his dog. Mom giggled nervously when I pointed out what was hooked on his belt. She wished it were a gun, but it was bear spray. It’s hard not to use it on the bugs sometimes along the Dempster.

At another creek we pulled over because Dad spotted a beaver swimming in it. He eventually started to flip up in the water and slap his tail down (the beaver, not Dad), so we took his warning and moved on.

View along Dempster Highway

After going over a few crests we reached the part of the river you need to take a ferry over to get to Tsiigehtchic. Again, it’s pronounced exactly how it’s spelled. ☺

Tsiigehtchic ferry

Another beaver was by the shore here and we got some photos. This is where we turned around as it was around midnight. Notice that no flash was needed for photos…

Beaver in Mackenzie River

Mom and the Mackenzie

Dad took a turn driving back

Now they’d even seen the Dempster. What the heck were we to do the rest of the time?

Will exaggerate more later,

Jen

Mom and Dad Come to Inuvik

2009-07-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad traveled all the way from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Mom has wanted to do just that since she was in grade five.

They spent a couple of nights in Yellowknife on their way here.

They arrived on Friday, June 12th in the afternoon. Graham picked them up at the airport. They lazed around our apartment until we were finished work at 5:30.

The excitement started that evening with a trip ‘uptown’ to the house that tipped over. Houses are built on pilings here to keep them off of the ground/permafrost. The pilings need to be checked often to make sure they’re sturdy. A few weeks after this happened, the town raised $20 000 for the woman who owns it.

Jen

Mom & Dad arrive in Inuvik.

House tipped off of pilings.

Dad, me and Mom.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

2009-05-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

-10.6˚C, cold with wind chill.

“If you go out to the dump today

You’re sure of a big surprise.

If you go out to the dump today

It’s not only swarming with flies.

For every grizzly that lives around here

Will gather there and cause lots of fear,

Yesterday was the day we saw grizzlies having a picnic.”

So, Graham and I will never go to Deanna and Dave’s without a camera again. Last time it was a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Tsiigehtchic, this time…grizzly bears! BUT, the good news is that on the way to where we saw the bears we stopped at our place to get our camera, thus we have photos.

They had us over for a barbeque on their deck. Should have been wearing sunscreen, the sun was so hot out there. I worked this morning so didn’t want to stay too late. Graham, Deanna and Dave all work at the pool, so their days off are Monday’s and Tuesdays. Mine are Saturday, Sunday. Point being, I always end up staying up too late when I work the next morning.

Around nine they drove us home, but mentioned a sheltered spot at the dump where people leave things that can be taken by anyone (one man’s trash is another man’s treasure type place). The dump is where you hear that bears hang out, so I grabbed our camera just in case. They laughed at that point; who’s laughin’ now..

We see someone we know at the ‘golf course’ on the way, so pull over to take a few shots on the ‘green’. They’re working on planting grass, but people are already golfing there.

To the dump we go. Not much to be found for treasure, so we walk toward the dump part just to stay in the sun a bit longer.

“There’s one!” a fair maiden says in a lovely voice. (It was me.) Oh yes, there he was. A great big grizz-a-ly bear. Naturally, my first reaction was to run…closer…but, Deanna and Graham growled at me (like bears). So, I walked closer instead. They’ve got all that dump food, they don’t want fresh meaty humans.

We were so happy that we had the camera. With the long lens, we certainly got closer with that than we could physically. Darn it. We did end up going closer than some of us (not me) would have liked, but he went back over the hill so we had to see if he was coming back.

This was so amazing to see this animal with nothing between us but space…not much of that either.

There are also rumours of a polar bear near town, but that’s still just a rumour, so who knows. I’ll go confirm that shortly. Just kidding, sort of.

The black birds in the photos are ravens, which are huge.

The Grizzly Tamers,

Jen

Grizzly bear at Inuvik dump.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

2009-05-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

More Olympic fever hit Inuvik this week. Canadian Olympic swimmer, Mike Brown, came to town for a couple of days. He spoke at both the elementary and high schools. He also got in the pool with the swim team for a couple of hours to work with them.

Afterward, in the community hall, there was a free supper where he spoke and showed videos and photos. Got an autograph, of course.

Jen

Mike Brown - Canadian Olympic swimmer

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2009-05-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, we did wake up to snow-covered ground this morning. A nice alternative to the mud, but it will prolong the mud afterward. Right now it's -3 and tomorrow it's calling for -9. We really were standing outside in t-shirts three weeks ago...

So we lost our furniture and dishes at the end of the month. We had taken the first month furnished and now are much emptier (the apartment, not our lives).

To take advantage of the extra space, I bought us some badminton racquets and a birdie/shuttlecock (whichever one makes you laugh). We've improved our game immensely and do not miss the chesterfield and end tables. The pots and pans though, those were fun to have. For the time being we make a variety of meals in the frying pan we still have, shh. Oatmeal, spaghetti, anything really.

Leanne tells me Graham and I could survive living in a cardboard box with nothing but each other...we're close to testing that theory sometimes.

Potless in Inuvik,

Jen

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

2009-05-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

It’s a little chilly today, but the last couple of days a lot of people were down to t-shirts. It’s pretty muddy out there now with everything melting. We had the daycare kids out at the end of the day…sorry parents, but they love the puddles and mud! The snow is still really deep in some spots but super soft. Some kids have gotten pulled out by the fire department this week. They just drop and get stuck too deep over their waist.

Graham and I got to go cross-country skiing on Monday. Janet, another lifeguard, took us into the Inuvik Ski Club and got us fixed up with the skis, boots and poles. It was so warm that day. Graham wore a t-shirt and fleece but the fleece wasn’t on for long. I got a bit of colour on my face too! The ski club is right next to the road, which was funny because there we were in skis and then people would cycle by on the road, in shorts.

Jen suiting up.

Artsy boot shot. You're welcome Rossignol.

Jen waxing skis.

We met Janet there at 6pm and were out until almost 8:15. Still need sunglasses at that point here, which is great. She taught us some things before we hit the trails (that’s hip slang that only we seasoned skiers understand). She got us to walk with the skis on up a small incline, which Graham did well on, but I almost slid back down a couple times. After we went up, of course, we had to come back down. Snowplow in those conditions, when the snow is starting to melt, is tough to do. I made it down the hill okay…and this it where it all went downhill for Graham (huge pun intended). Didn’t think I could love the man more, but this day boosted it even higher!

Jen wobbling into skis.

I want you to think back to Goofy’s sports training cartoons and if you have never seen them, please look them up now. I laughed watching those cartoons, but this nearly killed me. This first practice slope was the start of many ups and downs on the trail.

First, the stance for the hills (cross-country, but some hefty declines on these trails):
a) legs apart about 4 feet
b) knees buckled in and wobbling slightly for balance.
c) left arm pointed in front with pole dragging behind.

d) right arm stuck straight out behind you with pole in air.

e) waist bent at 90 degree angle.
f) all the while, reassuring your fellow skiers: ‘I got it, I got it.’.
g) be sure to have a 2-fall minimum on each hill.

Pure solid gold. (full permission from my love to post these)

I didn't even see this fall until we were home that night. (I love you Graham.)

Second, standing still:
a) stand next to your wife waiting to go through the tunnel.

b) gently, fall across her skis from a completely stationary position.

The smile after the fall.

But we made it through.

Graham and Janet.

Third, being a good sport:
a) laugh at yourself with fellow skiers.
b) let your wife hold the camera at the bottom of each hill to film you.
c) let her laugh herself to tears and say you’ll go again next season.

The trail we took was 2.2km. We almost took another route, but we came up over a crest and looked downward, Graham and I convinced her to take us an easier way. There aren’t supposed to be crests of hills in cross-country skiing! Maybe next year, right Graham?

There's the stance we were looking for!

I tried my first yoga class on Saturday. I’ve been doing it off and on for a few years now but just at home on my own. There were no headstands or feet behind the head, so I made it through. I think his website is www.classic-yoga.com or .ca.

Until then,

Jen

It's pronounced Tsiigehtchic...

2009-04-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

According to our CBC homepage, it stepped foot above 0 yesterday and will do the same tomorrow. Things are melting (ie; the ice and snow) and the mud is arriving. The back of my pant legs carry the evidence.

What a week. The school-aged kids that we have during lunch and after school were on their Spring Break last week, so this week we paid for their lack of sleep. Love them still, but TGIF. I’ve never actually had a TGIF job before. Just random shifts and days.

Tuesday of this week cannot be illustrated with photos since none were taken…BUT, it was a memorable one. Cousin Deanna and Dave had Graham and I over for supper, which was very good along with cake for dessert. We watched the next installment of Planet Earth (amazing), and they were to drive us home in their new vehicle. I won’t embarrass them by telling you that this is their second new vehicle within a month, but the first one they took on the ice road and decided to try a ski-doo jump and the flipped it. Written off with only some slight whiplash for Dave. All is now well and they like their pretty new one better anyway. But really, I won’t get into that ☺.

ANYway, to give us a ride in their new SUV we headed down the Dempster Highway for a ‘short drive’. Inuvik is the end of the Dempster, thus we were heading south toward Whitehorse. By the way, this story doesn’t end in a car accident. By this time it was after 11pm, but still daylight. We passed the sign that said Whitehorse 1220km.

The spindly, stunted trees all around us let us look for wildlife. I learned from experience years ago that you shouldn’t look out the side window too long because it makes you sick. However, seeing that fox with a pure white rabbit in its mouth makes the sickness go away. Planet Earth right there in front of us! Again, no camera, sorry.

We stopped to get out and look a couple of times. Also to listen to nothing, which is what we heard out there. It was an amazing feeling. No cars, no buzzing lights…no growling bears either, which was fun as well.

It did finally get dark, after the second time through the same cd. I may finally know the words to Moondance off by heart. We ‘knew’ that a place called Tsiigehtchic was in that direction, and assumed we should be there at any moment. ‘Just over that next crest’ became the theme of the drive from here on. So after a few dozen crests we saw the huge sign welcoming us to Tsiigehtchic! A village of...a few. At 1:45am, we assumed we’d just drive through and turn around. Actually, Dea thought maybe there’d be a motel…picked on her just a bit for that. We drove across the river on the ice to get there.

Driving through the streets we saw a few lights on and a larger crowd still awake at one house. We all had to use the bathroom so pulled in and sent Dave in to check it out for us. We were quickly waved in and joined the 8 or 9 others that were gathered around the guitar playing. They warmly welcomed us and explained that tomorrow was Gwich’in Day, which gave them the day off.

Dave plays guitar, so took over for a few songs. We sat and visited for a while. Told them to come to Inuvik and look us up at the pool. They were all family, including a 91 year old, the only drunk one out of the lot.

We didn’t stay too long (until about 2:30?) since I had to work at 9 in the morning. The drive back was quiet and much faster. I got into bed by 4:30. A little bug-eyed the next day, but well worth it. Spontaneous road trips are always the best ones.

It was a marvelous night for a moondance.

Jen

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

2009-04-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Super sunny and fairly warm…no internet yet at home, so no temperature to report.

We should get our internet set up within a week. Not unlimited though. What are we, in the arctic or something?!

It’s now not completely dark until midnight or after. Thus, we need curtains! I sleep with an eyemask, so it’s not as though we can’t sleep, but you’re up watching a movie and thinking it’s still suppertime when really it’s 11:30pm.

I teach aquafit tonight and guard afterward until 10:30. Oh, favourite song just came on the laptop…’Mother, We Just Can’t Get Enough’ by the New Radicals. Seriously, of all time.

Short week this week and next with the Easter holidays.

Pet peeve: not much recycling done up here as there’s a high financial cost to transport the stuff down ‘south’ to a recycling plant. Thank goodness they get us our Bratz merchandise though; that’s worth the trip. They do apparently do pop cans and bottles. We pick up the little gems everywhere on the streets.
Say it with me now – RE-CYC-LING.

Jen cleaning tub in new place - not after committing a crime, just didn't want to inhale Comet fumes...I swear. (March 31, 2009)

Until soon,
Jen

Monday, April 6, 2009

2009-04-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Very sunny with high of -12, but pretty bad wind chill.

Graham is off Mondays and Tuesdays since the swimming pool is closed. I was at the daycare until noon, but the town deemed this afternoon a civic holiday so that people could take part in the Muskrat Jamboree festivities.

At about 1:30pm we headed down to the river to see the bush skills event in which partners have to make a fire, boil water and make tea, and make bannock from scratch to bake on the fire. It was fun to watch…and eat the bannock afterward.

An annual event.

The only sign we could see.

A tradition in Quebec - sugar snow.

Jen and the tent were what we were aiming for here.

Bush skills event - make fire, boil tea, make bannock.

Bannock making contest.

Graham...freezing and oh so cute.

Crowd watching the bush skills event.

Bush skills event.

Pair in bush skills event.

Still freezing, still cute-trying some bannock.

It was, in fact, flippin’ freezing down there on the river (frozen one of course). We were fine for the first hour or so, but then your fingers start to lose feeling. Luckily, we stopped at the post office on the way home, only to find an Easter package with hot chocolate and tons of other goodies from my mom and dad. Thank you Mom and Dad! Funniest part of the package? A block of cheese and cheese slices…it’s $18.00 for a regular 520g block of the stuff here – hence the mail cheese.

Our Easter package from Mom and Dad Veinot.

Soy milk here is $8 something for two litres. So, we’ve had to switch back to Milk Milk (only Leanne will get the joke). Learning a trick from cousin Deanna and Dave, we buy homogenized milk 4L, which is between $8 and $10 and water it down by half, turning it into skim’ish milk. You folks can also try this handy trick at home, wherever home may be.

Until soon,
Jen

Saturday, April 4, 2009

2009-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

A few flakes coming down today. Sun poking through.

Last evening was the kick-off to the 52nd Annual Muskrat Jamboree here in Inuvik. It marks the end of Winter and is the 6th to the 9th this year. Last night, at the Rec Centre, they had a free feast for all, Inuvialuit drum dancers from Inuvik and Aklavik (a-KLAV-ik), a jigging (Gwich’in dancing) contest and little games like musical chairs for the adults, blindfolded pudding feeding, etc.

We conveniently didn’t take our camera. I lifeguarded right after the daycare until 8:30pm, so hadn’t thought of it beforehand.

This morning at 9, Graham and I went to a pancake breakfast at Ingamo Hall (ING-gah-mo) down the road. I broke the news to Graham late last night that the breakfast was $10 each…it was worth it though! Big pancakes, sausages, bacon, two hardboiled eggs and any kind of juice you’d want. We were fortunate to sit by Mike, who races dogsleds and has offered to drop by the pool sometime to see if we’d like to go for a ride. Yup, yup we would.

Graham works 12:30 to 8:30pm Wednesday to Sunday now. I’m going to head down to the river to see if I can find the dogsled race. May be too late.

Jen

PS: If you’ve ever seen Office Space – ‘No Tears’ just came on the laptop. Michael sings it in the car stuck in traffic…

Dogs back from the sled races. (Alaskan team)

Dogs back from sled races. (Alaskan team)

Thursday, April 2, 2009 (cont’d)

2009-04-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic volunteers were here today to do a treaty signing. The Olympic mascots showed up too! Can you tell which one is Deanna’s fiancé, Dave? Seriously, I’m not just making a crack at him.

Sumi, Miga, Deanna, Quatchi (or is it?)

They had some Inuvialuit drum dancing, Northern games demos, the mascots were there for photos, and there was some free food too!

Inuvialuit Drummers.

Inuvialuit Dancers.

Inuvialuit Dancers' mukluks.

Northern games demonstration. They have to jump to touch the target with their feet. The target gets moved up each turn.

Now they have to try to touch it with both feet together!

There's always lots of stuff going on in this town.

Jen

Backtracking

2009-04-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

Jen after the 20-minute walk from the pool to Dea and Dave's.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

So we’re in our new place. It’s a small place, but it’s fun. It’s a studio one bedroom, which means there is a half-wall between the bedroom and the rest of the place. There is no bathroom, but there’s a double sink in the kitchen so I’m sure we’ll be fine. Kidding…it’s a single sink. But really, the bathroom does have a door but everything else is open. $1100.00 a month, which is low for up here. Don’t feel bad for us, we’re rakin’ it in. Sort of. We took the place furnished for $1200 this month but have already been offered some things for free so are switching to non in May.

No phone yet or internet but that will come.

The place is newly renovated, which we aren’t used to. We’re used to the 70’s brown cabinets and olive or ivory stove. I know, I know – it’s ‘hip’ to have the olive green stove now.
Tu-ra-la-hey,
Jen

Friday, April 3, 2009

Clear, sunny skies today. There was no school today so the daycare had the school kids for the day. There were only eight of them there so it was pretty relaxed.
Yesterday and Wednesday we took the Inukshuks and Ravens snowshoeing near the school. The Ravens (3 & 4 year olds) were on Wednesday and it was a bit of a bust. Rita, Peter and I spent the whole time re-tying the shoes that came undone and then blowing on our hands to warm them up again. At least the kids got to see the snowshoes and put them on (for a few seconds).

Chloe doesn't get to see much when we're outside, but she never complains.

Brennen was a pro at getting back up by the time we were done. Peter freezing his fingers to tie another pair.

Jade probably had the most luck out of the group.

The Inukshuks (2 & 3 year olds) had a little more luck as I added some twine to the ends of the ties to give more length. It worked for most. We also took them over to the cross-country ski trail, so it felt a little more authentic than the playground field the day before. The snowshoes worked, which Miriam demonstrated when she stepped in the deep snow without the shoes and sunk to her thighs. Where was my camera?!

We made smoothies with the school kids for snacks. They got to add the ingredients, which makes them forget that they’re healthy. Yay for deceit!

Got a microwave from the folks at the daycare today. Joyce has a bed we can have. Tons of underwear gets left at the pool. We’re set.

Yours,
Jen

Getting Here - a summary

2009-04-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Graham and I flew out of Halifax on February 10, 2009 at 8:35pm. Our parents and Leanne took us to the airport. It was nice to have the day to make sure we’d packed everything and to say goodbye to Jane and Mary. We went early enough to the airport to have supper together.

We flew Air Canada to Toronto with only an hour and a half stopover. Air Canada to Edmonton for about a six hour wait. These flights were our first experience with personal TV screens in each seat…excitement!
We set up camp upstairs in the airport with the two-dozen others there. One of our carry-on pieces was my yoga mat so that made for a nicer bed than the floor.

Our flight with Canadian North was at 7:40am with a short stop in Norman Wells and then on to Inuvik.

Mountains and Arctic tundra from plane.

Dave picked us up at the airport at 11:30am on the 11th. Yeah, it was pretty cold. When you cough as you inhale because it takes your breath away. Your nose sticks together on the inside. Your fingers start to stick to the plane’s stair railing and the door handles.

The Inuvik airport from the plane.

Graham and Jen at Inuvik airport.

After picking us up we headed straight to the Inuvik Family Centre, which is where the pool is. Deanna was there working so Dave gave us a quick tour until she was finished. We left from there and they drove us on the Mackenzie River ice road. Pretty cool first day.

Jen and Graham on the Mackenzie River (ice road).

We're LIVE in Inuvik...

2009-03-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, we've been here for over a month now and this is the first installment that I have...installed. We don't have the internet aside from the occasional piggyback from neighbours (shhh). Thus, this will be a short one just to get us started on the whole 'keeping in touch' thing.

Summing up life up here so far: jobs are going well, drove on the ice road, walk 20 minutes to work everyday, frickin' freezing up here, ate some muskox, still light out at 10pm, will fill in all of the gaps shortly.

Love, Jen & Graham