My Baby Experience

One of the awesome perks of living on a spit of land surrounded by fresh and salt waters is the great fishing. The last few weeks have been prime ice fishing conditions for Sheefish. The whole town can be seen fishing just off the north side of town when the Sheefish are biting. Sheefish are a white fish and taste like a cross between Salmon and Halibut. I was very surprised by the size of the Sheefish, they are on average 30lb and can get to be much bigger. Some of the fish we caught were the size of Anneliese and weighed what felt like a ton carrying them into the house for cleaning.

Continue reading “Ice Fishing in the Arctic” »

Cliff overlooking Kotzebue Sound in the winter- it was a beautiful view.

Although we live in a small town with no roads going out, we still have government offices, businesses, schools, and churches. Everything is a little different up here, so I thought it would be fun to give everyone a tour of the town.

This is the first place I went to when we first arrived in Kotzebue. The AC (Alaska Commercial Center) is the Alaskan bush version of a Wal-Mart store.

Now that the temperature has warmed up slightly, we are able to enjoy the snowy outdoors. Anneliese has always been an outdoorsy girl and, although it took some adjustment, she loves playing outside even in the arctic winter. Whenever we go out, she runs and plops down in the snow making snow angels.She also has had tons of fun sledding with mommy and daddy.
Continue reading “Playing in a Winter Wonderland the Inupiat Way” »

Life with a toddler is so crazy. I am amazed by all that she is learning and stressed by her temperamental outbursts. It is both scary and sweet when she starts copying everything that I do. Life is getting more complicated as we decide about preschool and playdates, while trying to break our own bad habits so she doesn’t pick them up. At the same time, we have to take her toddler tantrums and extreme energy one day at a time. It is exhausting but this time is precious.
Continue reading “Toddlerhood: Surviving with a 2 Year Old” »

Winter time means cold weather and with that brings cabin fever. So far, we have been blessed with a very mild winter up here in the Alaskan arctic. One day we even had the temperature go above freezing! Whenever I chat with one of the local Inupiat natives, they say the weather feels like springtime.

Our apartment is on the right side, top two stories in this photo.