Loving the Long Days

So, we've been seriously blessed with some beautiful weather to accompany our longer days. I've taken advantage of the sunshine for the past 3 weeks by getting out and trying to earn new freckles... Sometimes that's been by going for a run, sometimes for a ride, or sometimes to sit on the steps in the sunshine and read for my spelling class. At any rate, I'm happy for the 20-30s temps, the sunshine, and the long days.

The most exciting of all the things that happened this week was that I FINALLY was able to double my mileage from the beginning of this year... Last riding season I ended with 897.5 miles on my new ski doo... Yesterday, I rolled over to 1795 miles... Then I hit another milestone--1800. :) Thats the first video and picture.

Yesterday afternoon we took off for Emmonak to get a few groceries... Mostly I wanted to go for the sun on my face. :) On the way back, I stopped because I hadn't noticed for a year an a half but there is a cool old wooden boat toward the end of our slough. I saw it last weekend, maybe, but didn't take the time to check it out. We got back to AUK from EMO around 530 or 6 last night, so I figured I had plenty of time to go check it out... Jana, Culea, and Nathaniel all joined me in the exploration. Here are a few fun pictures and a video of Nathaniel jumping off one of the logs sticking out of the bank.

Rackin' 'em up!

 What a fabulously ridiculous coworker. Ha! Nathaniel jumping off the log.

Even in Bush Alaska, they know to go with Caterpillar. 

My shadow... ALWAYS following me everywhere... Ha.

Some random stuff by the boiler.

An old boiler.

I'm not sure what this is, I didn't wander that direction... Best guess is another boat??

The rudder. Is that what they're called??

"What is that?"-Culea
"Its a caterpillar."-Sammy
"What?! Where?"-Jana
"Not a bug kind, Jana, the diesel kind."-Sammy
"Oh, I was gonna be real surprised if you saw a bug..."-Jana
(She was inside the boat checking it out, she didn't actually see this yet, I don't think.)

I was trying to see if I could find a year on it... I can barely make out the model number...

Reminds me of the boat in Forrest Gump... Or maybe from
The Little Mermaid. Ha!

How could you resist that sunshine on your face?! 

Pretty sure we should be an advertisement for ski doo...  Or at least Alaska Mining and Diving...

How did I miss this fun last year?!

I'm obviously a Carlon... Super excited about the old Caterpillar parts. :)

Jana needed a boost, so I pushed on her butt... I needed a boost, so she pulled me up.
Such good friends. :)

Preparing for takeoff!

If you look closely, you can see my left arm through Culea's finger... Ha.

Thats where I landed... Felt my back compress on impact then  upper back slightly go out (??) as  I fell forward... Ha.

Best friend in the Bush... Carhartts.

Classroom clean-out!

Holy crap. That is all I can say to explain the amount of work I have ahead of me in the next 5 weeks in going through my cabinets/packing materials/deciding what is worth keeping and what is junk... I've spent the past 3 hours doing just that and I think I've created a bigger mess than making any forward progress.

I have filled an entire big garbage can with empty paint and glue bottles (no, they haven't been used since I came here)... It makes me really mad at myself that I haven't taken time over the past year and a half to clean some stuff up... Seriously, I have spent probably 10 hours already going through stuff in preparation for moving to the new school, and I've got another 40 or more ahead of me.

Why are teachers such packrats?! Seriously!!! I already mentioned on facebook about the ditto papers I found in my file cabinets... Thats 30 years ago, folks, that those were made! Sheesh! And in the cabinets today I found stuff that was mailed to the teacher who was here in 2001... I was an 8th grader then; why has nobody thrown stuff away since then? Oh, right. Because they didn't HAVE to... And yes, you're right. If I didn't HAVE to, I wouldn't be spending my sunny Sunday afternoon doing this either...

Sure makes me wish I had my niece and other little friends up here for some cheap (ice cream cones) labor... There are lots of things I need done like sorting crayons and markers into different containers, putting leveled readers back in the right spot, testing expo markers to see if they work or need to be thrown away.... Ashley, Cody and Marni, Danny and Susan--feel free to put your kids on a plane! I'll meet them in Anchorage. :)

Maybe my next blog post will have some before and after shots of stuff getting packed and organized... Maybe. :)

On another note... Only 5 school weeks left!! Holy moly. This year has gone sooooooooo fast. I honestly hope my kids have made progress this year, but I know we haven't made as much as I'd have liked... Is that a complaint of teachers everywhere, or just me?

Cinderella comes for some Spring Cleaning

So... I cleaned my house today. Its been quite the busy term... Basically since Christmas break its been tough for me to find the time to do more than simply wipe things down... Today, I was fed up with the disgustingness of my house, so I set a goal to get it done in 4 hours, and I'm pleased to say my house is clean! :)

I mean, I still have laundry to do, and my floor to vacuum, and I would LIKE to shampoo my carpets (the school has a carpet cleaner, but I don't know where it is/if its working), but aside from that... Clutter is put away or thrown away. Dishes done. Kitchen bleached, floors included. Bathroom scrubbed. Living room cleaned up, floors vacuumed, window sill scrubbed. Windows washed, laundry room/pantry/entry way all swept and mopped... Sheets are in the dryer, soon there will be freshly made beds. :) Oven is self-cleaning, should be done soon.

While cleaning my room today I realized a few things:

I STILL haven't mailed my Christmas cards... Ha, I'll get that done this week...

I have more toy cars in my bedroom that we EVER had growing up... I guess they started adding up faster than I'd thought--they get taken away when they're played with in my class...

I have enough underwear and socks to make it through more than 3 weeks of not having time to do laundry... Thats pretty good. (That also apparently  means I have enough shirts and jeans to get through 3 weeks too, although I wear my jeans 2 or 3 days before washing. :))

And most important thing I realized today... Cleaning is MUCH easier to do when you've got windows open (even if its 20 out and you have to put a sweatshirt on to clean), sun shining through, and prime country playing on the TV. :)

Happy weekend folks! :)

The letter S...

Have you ever noticed, that all the greatest things in life begin with the letter S?

Think about it... Sammy-wait, I didn't MEAN to start the list with that, but since its there... ;) Okay, so seriously... Ski doo, Stihl chainsaws, steak, salad, sassiness, sports, silliness, school, SUNSHINE, sunrises and sunsets....

Its been a great week in the life of Sammy. We had SBA's (not one of the greatest things in life, just a coincidence that it begins with S...) I lost a lot of sleep (which IS a fabulous thing when you have it...)

Wednesday we had a visit from some super awesome friends Sam and Josh. (Notice the letter S in both their names, coincidence? I think not, they're pretty great guys.) They were here for some techy stuff at the new school and their tech guy from Anchorage brought out some steak and salad and potatoes... After work, I borrowed Jim's stihl chainsaw to go get some firewood to build a fire in order to cook dinner... It was a fun adventure with Jana and Josh getting some wood for the fire. Reminded me of all those fun days of cutting firewood in the dead trees on the Fremont National Forest... Missing my job of fighting fire... Anyway, I took the oven rack out of my oven, we built a fire, grilled up our steaks and some of the potatoes, had some salad and lots of laughter. Its always a special treat to get to hang out with friends from other villages. :) Sad that its our last time together as a big group since a few of the folks pictured below are leaving my district. But thats okay, they're off to do great things on their new adventures and some of us are sticking around to continue being a positive influence around LYSD.

Here are a few pictures from the week. Thanks Sam, Josh, Jeremy, Essie, and Brittnay for visiting and brightening the middle of the week. :) Thanks Sarah and Jana for living in AUK with me and brightening my weeks all the time, lol.

Beautiful sunshine afternoons all week... Got some good runs in. :)

Leaving AUK for EMO... Warm out, no coats needed!

So warm out, had to strip off the sweatshirts! Haha. Only for a picture--I didn't ride into town like that...

Had a helicopter show up... They were moving stuff from
our old Army Guard building back to Bethel.

Taking our firewood home to cook supper.

Ski doo and sawdust... Perfect combination.

Jana picked up a diaper when we drove through the dump... Ha!

The awesome dinner party.... :)

Bringing a little Lake County redneck to Bush Alaska. :)

I love how the heat created those lines in the
snow pit Sam, Josh, and (a tiny bit) I dug. 

LOVE the spring time sunsets... Its about 9:30 at this point...

Such a fun group of friends... Sad that some are leaving,
but happy to have their friendship.

LOVE looking at the sunsets through my polarized glasses...

Its probably around 9:45 at this point... Sun was setting to the left of me... 

Sunrise Friday morning going to school...

Been working out every day this week!! Proud of me!

The last one here is the video of the blackhawk (at least thats what I THINK it was) taking off... Thrown in is a bit of snowball fighting action with one of my kiddos. :) It was so cool to see the excitement on the faces of the kids and adults alike. I was excited!!---- KIDDING!!! I just looked again and it a video of Sam and Josh digging our fire pit... Oopsie. I'll try to post the video of the helicopter this evening! :)

A Carlon/Banister Invasion!

Last week was a week of excitement and fun. No wait, its been 2 weeks since my class and I were so excited about having family come visit. :) My, oh my, how time flies when you're having fun! Ha.

Mom, Granny Norma, Papa Bob, Aunt Candy and Uncle Ron all braved the arctic temperatures and small planes to come visit my new home. They arrived in Alakanuk on Thursday. The girls got here safely with Father Rod around 2 and the boys came with Frankie Joe around 4. I was concerned what they would think of the tiny Cessna 207 airplane, but everyone got off with a smile on their face.

They had a short visit to my village, but we were able to squeeze in a trip to the Yukon Cafe, some fun time in the classroom, and even a short ski doo ride to the airport and back. It was pretty cold, so we didn't do much outside, but I think the family enjoyed working with my kiddos and the short tour of town.

Here are a few fun pictures. :)

Off the balcony at Snow Goose. Best dinner all around
in quite a while... Good company, funny waitress,  good food.

Granny and Papa

Aunt Candy and Uncle Ron

Only 7 kids came to school on the Friday the family was in town...
Bring on buddy reading and fun Friday activities!

Papa always finds the cool stuff. :)

Once an educator, always an educator.

The kids loved the individual attention they got.

Max, our maintenance man, was telling the family all about the Yupik culture and some history of our village.

Lots of fun for Mema and Granny Goose!

Scrumptious dinner at the Yukon Cafe! :)

We left Alakanuk on Saturday morning and headed into Anchorage for a night. Met up with my friend Sam for dinner at Snow Goose. Sunday we headed to Juneau to visit some friends and see another part of the state. We spent a little time at Mendenhall glacier and had dinner at the Red Dog Saloon in downtown Juneau. It was fun to visit with Timmy and Kathy and have one last night of relaxation.

Monday morning I was up EARLY to catch the early flight back to Anchorage so I could make it to Pilot Station (another village in the Bush) in order for some training that I'm super excited about. I made it, had 2 fabulous days of training then finally made it back to Alakanuk to sleep in my own bed. 

It was so awesome having mom and the family here to visit. I look forward to getting the siblings up here soon, I hope! :) The wonderful people I work with keep talking about wanting them to come... Started the piggy bank already.

The whole crew at Mendenhall Glacier.

Cheers with good friends!

So beautiful! Looking forward to going back sometime to hike over to the glacier.

Hahahaha. The Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. So fun.

End of 3rd Quarter.

It has been a crazy busy year!! It seems as if school has just started. There has been TONS of progress made in first grade and I am SO SO SO proud of my students. :)

Third quarter was busy with birthday celebrations, 100th day of school, Dr. Seuss week, a visit from my mom, grandparents, and aunt and uncle, plus longer days with warmer temperatures and more sunlight. :)

I've also started packing a little here and there to move to the new school. Its going to be a BIG job, but I am very excited for the new school. I am also hoping for a tour soon to see the progress made since December when I visited it last. :)

Here we are in the second or third week of 4th quarter. Spring is here--temperatures have been in the 20s the past few days. Its time to go manaqing (ice fishing), rabbit hunting, goose hunting, and time to get brown! :) I'm excited for more sunshine. Yesterday I went for a run because it was so warm out, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. :)

We've got LOTS to do between now and May 18th when school is out for the year. This week we're doing statewide testing. May 1st marks the last 3 weeks of school, and quite possibly the busiest. We'll have our elementary basketball games (k-6), cultural days, end of the year fun activities, field day, fire safety assemblies, etc.

I also have the opportunity to go to Mountain Village to be part of a small team that will do some curriculum mapping for reading and writing for next school year. Our district is transitioning back from the level system we've been using for maybe 10 years to the traditional system. This means that with our high number of students who transfer back and forth between sites, our district is going to set some fairly straight-forward guidelines of what is taught each quarter so that when students transfer back and forth between villages, they aren't missing out on one chunk and getting a double dose of something else.

It will be interesting to have so many new things next year. I am very excited to see how it all goes! :)

I am still working on my Master's degree... Seems as if Winter term wasn't the best time to start-between teaching, coaching, moose hunting, and ski doo riding I didn't have much time for homework... Oopsie! But I'm back to just being a teacher and an Alaskan now, so I hope to have more time to dedicate to my Master's classes.

I hope you are all doing well, enjoying the warmer spring weather and looking forward to summer! Can't wait to see many of you when I'm down to visit in June and July. :)

Coaching the Baby Braves

Last year, I coached high school girls basketball. It was a fun experience getting to work with kids that I don't otherwise see throughout the day, travelling to new villages, and being where I love-on the basketball court. However, this year I decided not to coach high school for various reasons I won't go into here. However, when my principal mentioned the need for a 4-6th grade basketball coach, I jumped at that opportunity.

My early years of basketball are still some of my favorites. I had many coaches between 4th and 8th grade, all of whom molded me into the aggressive, competitive, crazy player I was for 9-12th grade. This experience helped me to decide that elementary coaching really is where I want to be right now.

We started the season with 33 players. Here they play co-ed basketball in elementary and I was at first SUPER overwhelmed by the number of kids. However, I fell back on the drills we used to run when I was a player and practices ran pretty smoothly. Shortly after practices started, I got a list of those students who were eligible to play this season. In high school, eligibility is determined by academic progress, attendance, and behavior. In elementary, eligibility is determined by if the kids get their physicals, attendance, and behavior. About the 3rd week of practice my team was cut down to about 18 players, all based on whether they'd gotten a physical this year.

This size group was much more manageable. We worked a ton on the fundamentals of defense, both zone and man-to-man. We didn't get much ball handling or shooting instruction because we had 3 or 4 basketballs depending on whether they were returned after P.E. classes.

My team got to travel 3 times to 2 different villages. We first went to Kotlik--which I already blogged about. Next, the first of March we traveled to Sheldon's Point or Nunam Iqua. The kids had a great time and made big improvements from the first game played Friday afternoon the last one Saturday just before lunch.

Our downriver tournament was the 3rd weekend of March and we went back to Nunam. We were in a double elimination tournament, and we lost both games. However, we came home with what I believe the be the best award--Sportsmanship.

All three times we traveled, the hosting staff and parents had very nice things to say about Alakanuk students' behavior and respectful attitudes. My team was very polite and respectful and people noticed. I am so extremely proud of them for their awesome behavior!! :)

I am excited for another year of coaching these little kids who are so eager to play, so happy to learn, and so stinking energetic! :)

Not all the kids, but those who traveled for Downriver tournament to Nunam.

Listening hard, or hardly listening?? You decide. :)