Snowed In

We are stuck in the middle of a snowstorm that's been going on for a few days now. Luckily it's warmer temps, today is in the 30s, above zero!! Unfortunately the wind and snow make it near impossible to do anything in this near tropical weather. Here is the view of the storm from my (dirty) window-

and my porch...

Being inside doesn't bother the baby. She's busy discovering the world around her. She recently started to show interest in a few toys, especially her dolls.

In other news... I already booked a trip to the big city of Anchorage for next month. I went to the store a couple weeks ago and almost had a heart attack over the grocery prices. Only in Kotzebue does a bowl of cocoa puffs cost as much as a lobster dinner. Gallon of milk- 9.98  Cocoa Puffs- 7.95. Are you kidding me? So as I carried my 2 overpriced bags of groceries totaling almost a hundred bucks, I decided a trip to Anchorage was in order, and soon! I plan to take back to Kotzebue 3 suitcases full of oreos and apple juice, you know the neccessities. Plus it will give me a chance to catch up with some friends and show Chantal off :)

Here's a pic of what a 12 pack of coke goes for in Kotz-

Well Baby Check-Up

Chantal got her first set of shots today! She weighs 12 lb 3.6 ounces and is now 25 inches long!

Just 10 weeks ago she was 7 lbs 2.3 ounces and 19 inches- she's growing so fast! Here's a couple newborn shots-

Fox Calling? Sure, why not?!

So I retract my earlier statement of not freezing my butt off yesterday. Last night Chantal spent some time with our neighbor and I joined my husband for a night out, in minus 40 degree, minus 52 with wind chill, weather. Okay, so our night out wasn't exactly a dinner and movie kind of date. We spent 20 minutes gettng bundled up,drove out of town on our only road (which literally crosses the airport runway), walked out to a bluff on the tundra in complete darkness, sat in the snow bank, and blew into a highpitched call. All this in the hopes we would see a fox and be able to take a shot at it. It was so cold my eyelashes were freezing and I looked like Rip Van Winkle with my frozen hair...

 Last week Kev said he had seen three red fox, but we were not as lucky last night; we got skunked. Oh well, at least I got out of the house for a couple hours. And the cold was nothing a hot bath couldn't fix.

 ...Meanwhile Chantal stayed nice and toasty.

Hello from Kotzebue!

So I'm starting this blog so I won't have to clutter my facebook page with the routine daily going ons of my life as a new stay at home mom in Kotzebue, Alaska- a place where there are no roads connecting us to civilization, and the nearest city is 600 miles away on a jet. . Friends and family seem, crazy as it is, interested in this unique "bush" lifestyle we have become accustomed to, so here's what my afternoon was like...

Today I am not freezing my butt off, despite the -40 degree temps. Chantal and stayed inside the 70 degree house and worked hard on learning to crawl. She's now flipping over, so no more placing her on my kitchen counter!

 

She was doing great, for about 45 seconds and then it turned into this...Course she's too cute for me to take seriously, so I had to snap a pic before quieting her down- where's my mom of the year award?