The Adventures Begin!

Let me begin by telling you that we haven't really done much in the first week here, other than eat, sleep, and arrange our new home for comfort.



In the past few days though, we have been out on the ATV's and hiked up the second largest mountain that's a 30 minute walk from our house. :-D Here is a picture of our hike, minus the stops along the way!

Before I go into detail of our adventures the past few days, I will give you a preview of the sunset on the ocean in Unalakleet.


I was not here for these, but Aaron was gracious enough to go out at 1:30 AM to catch these beauties!

Each day we attempt to bring the pups on an hour long walk, which ends up being about a mile and a half a day. They do enjoy going on walks each day and enjoy lounging in the sun when it comes through the window!

When we bring two dogs on a long hike, this is what we come home to! 

And, they occassionally like to wiggle accross the floor!

AND NOW....

Adventure #1 - ATV's through the Tundra!
The first time out, we went through the Tundra to a place called Sunset. Nothing special here, just a drive a long the beach to the Tundra. I say that it was nothing special, but it was beautiful.

We were able to witness Salmon doing their yearly travel up river to spawn. The video is sideways, my apologies, but I will remember in the future to leave the camera right side up!

Of course, all of us being the children we are at heart; attempted to catch them. I should mention that we tried to catch them by hand, and a few of us were successful in this, me being one of them!

Don't believe me? Check out this video!

After catching a few Salmon, we ventured through the Tundra to visit an old Mining Cabin.

While here, we found a hard core safe located just inside of the front door!
We assume that the reason for this cabin, which was fortified very securely, was for the purpose of locating and mining gold! Based on the size of that safe, we are also thinking it might have been a pretty good location to find some gold!

Adventure #2 - Hiking the 1,351 Ft High Mountain (on the left of the picture)!

So, this was a rewarding adventure, but very very difficult! These mountains here in Alaska are nothing like the ones back home! Let me explain!
1) The mountains back home are usually uphill, then have a decent amount of either flats or downhill again.
2. There is shade to take a break from the sun!
VS.
1) Nothing but uphill, uphill, uphill, then more uphill. For the most part, this mountain was hilly!
2) NO trees in sight! Which equals no shade, other than when you move to a point that the clouds block the sun!

Despite these little differences, the hike up was difficult, but we did it and I was able to get a picture of Brevig, a panorama of the ocean, and mountains, so it was worth the effort!

Of course, this is round two of Husky on a Mountain!
For anyone who may not know what I'm talking about; last summer we went to the Adirondacks and explored Whiteface Mountain with our Husky, Zver.





We also brought a long Eve, who hiked up the mountain with Aaron's Dad, Tony, who hiked the mountain like it was nothing! In the picture on the left, he is the little speck of a human leading the way!













The day after this hike means for SORE, VERY SORE legs!

I am blessed to be here in this beautiful village, with mountains and the ocean within walking distance. We have heard stories of other villages around us that do not have running water, have children who break into homes and the school, and have a different atmosphere than here in Brevig.

At this point, I go back to my social work roots to mention how much one realizes the importance of CONSISTENCY!! Here, there is a continuous change every few years in their teachers and support systems. There is not a continual pattern that these kids are used to, it's no wonder that some other towns have far more extreme problems. There is no CONSISTENCY!

Regardless, I am still loving the weather here, and the ability to explore the area! The last few days have been beautiful, with a high of 65 degrees. Yes, yes, I know, it may seem cold to all of you Lower 48 humans, but it's the highest it will get here! Which to us, is downright toasty!


Well, that's all for now!

*Winter IS Coming!*

Final Stop....

Brevig Mission!

Before I begin to tell you all about Brevig, I will begin from the departure of St. Louis, which brought up observations and many realizations.

The morning of July 28th, 2016, well to be exact, 3 AM that morning, we prepare to leave for our trip through Seattle, WA, Anchorage, AK, and Nome, AK. With walking the dogs, preparing crates, and ourselves of course, we get to the airport an hour and half before departure. As we checked in and waited for TSA to escort us to the location to check the dog crates, we had 30 minutes at this point to check the dogs, get ourselves through TSA, and board the plane.
Well, I should clarify, at that point, the plane was already boarding. I make my way to TSA, where the line they put me in was moving the slowest, where they had to swab one of our computers. As I was waiting for the test to come back, Aaron had already passed through TSA and we were waiting on our two additional bags.
Oblivous to the fact that I left one of our Xbox's in the bag as it was run through, they had to check that too. Now here is the crazy part, they also flagged our bag to be checked because of the dog food we had. Yes, you read that right, dog food!
Anyway, as I waited for them to unload the xbox that was carefully packed with clothes surrounding it, and run it through the scanner again, there was 10 minutes before the plane was supposed to depart. From what the counter attendants were telling Aaron, as he arrived with 5 minutes left, they normally DO NOT keep the doors open with 10 minutes left before departing. Needless to say, I sprinted over to our gate and we boarded the plane as we were supposed to be lifting off the ground.

2 things were learned with this process:
1) When flying dogs, be there with 2 1/2 possibly 3 hours before departure!
2) Don't leave your xbox or dog food in your carry on bags!

AFTER that crazy experience I also realized an important thing.

This was God's plan for us this year. I say this because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here right now. We wouldn't have boarded that plane in St. Louis, we would have been left in St. Louis with our dogs flying on that plane to Anchorage. God worked miracles for us that day.
Additionally, I would like to play a game with you... It's called Miracle or Coincidence?

Everyone knows our Husky, Zver, is an absolute terror regarding his crate. We get him to the airport with his anti anxiety meds, and he was calm. CALM! Second flight, we allowed for the anti anxiety medication to wear off completely and give him his dosage again. Little did we know, the medicine wouldn't take full effect like the first flight, because his body was already used to the side effects. The ONLY thing that this Husky did was bite at his cage, scratching his gums slightly, but nothing else. Is this a miracle, or coincidence?


Anywho,

We visited Aaron's brother, Joel, while we were in Seattle. In this picture you see the City of Seattle. It was actually a beautiful place and very relaxed. Not saying the traffic is relaxed, but overall, a very great place!

After a short few hours, which was not even close enough time to visit with Joel, we then boarded up again to fly to Anchorage.

Now let me tell you this, in all my years living in New York, I have not met sooo many people that were kind and helpful. We signed up for the Welcome Wagon, which was designed for new teachers coming into the School District, and it was the best decision that we made on this journey. It was nice to have someone there to give us advice, help us with shipping via the Bush Order at Wal-Mart, and generally being there to make everything smooth and as relaxing as possible. Additionally, we found an AMAZING dog sitter who was fabulous with the dogs, and even took last minute requests like walking them prior to us picking them up before flying. This, on top of the Welcome Wagon, was God making it a little easier on us to get here!

We arrived in Nome, and then headed to Brevig after a few hours. Here you can see the pups passed out to the world!





Now, let me tell you something, I have been in small planes before, but this one was much much different than previous times. The little dips, make you think you are about to crash. Oh and let's not forget about how as we flew, there was a point of complete whiteout where the clouds made it so you couldn't see a trace of anything around us!
Either way, we arrived safely and the pilot knows exactly what he is doing and has been doing it for years. :)



And now....Welcome to Brevig!

Upon our arrival to Brevig, we were greeted by the principal and another teacher. As we were unloading our luggage and getting ready to head to our new home, a few villagers came to ask about who we were. We were then invited for dinner at another teacher's home, which was amazing and super kind! We again, were invited last night as well, and again tonight. On top of this, we were given meat from a teacher who had extra and knew that we may have needed it.

The kindness and pure selflessness of the villagers and teachers have been amazing, and honestly the best thing to see and experience when everything is completely new! On top of that, coming from the Lower 48 and the constant hate and negativity, it's been great to come to a village where everyone is welcoming and helpful!
To add to this, the previous occupants of our home also left little items like blankets, pillows, a few dishes, and other things that we hadn't even thought of bringing. Things that if they didn't leave, we wouldn't have until we were able to purchase. It has been truly amazing so far!



It's not super cold yet, but it does get a little chilly when there is no sun! The dogs are in heaven, well except for Tink, who is being stubborn and doesn't want to use the bathroom. But we are working on it! They are all settling in nicely and starting to become their normal crazy selves!

Here is Eve, enjoying the sun that comes in the window during the day. Tink also likes to sunbathe, as she is Mexican!

Zver, who thinks it's his perogative to sleep in the bed with us!

Note to self: DO NOT wait 40 minutes wearing shorts at 7am in the morning for a dog to urinate, you will not get warm for three hours after!!

Despite these little things, this village has been welcoming!

Hope you like the pictures and the video!

Tata for Now!

*Winter IS Coming!*