The Top of the World

Eli is, quite literally, at the top of the world.

Until the end of the month, Eli is in Alert, Nunavut, which is the northernmost permanently inhabited place on Earth by humans (and not elves). 

Alert is on Ellesmere Island, which is a little hard to imagine as an island because the ice around it is a polar ice cap.

The permanent population is 0, however, it is a military and scientific base, and so there is always some personnel up there. 

All of the Canadian territories boast of being North of latitude 60. 

Yellowknife is precisely 62°30' North, and we are about 400 kilometres from the arctic circle, that invisible line where the sun is up for exactly up for 24 hours on the summer solstice and down for exactly 24 hours on winter solstice.

Right now, Eli is above latitude 80 (and just so you know, 90 is as far as the scale goes). 

Alert is at latitude 82°30'05" north, and is 817 kilometres from the geographic North Pole and Santa Claus, although Alert is actually North of the geomagnetic North Pole, meaning that compasses would behave oddly there.

The girls are beside themselves because Eli is SO close to the North Pole!

Now, THAT'S cold!

It's been about 10 to 12 degrees BELOW normal temperatures for this time of year for weeks now, and you can imagine my excitement over breaking so many cold temperature records.

Apparently, last winter WAS abnormally "warm."

So, the lakes are frozen, the snow behaves oddly in the cold temperature: 

snow below -20 behaves like cold sand, it squeaks, and it doesn't get removed from the roads, so snow tires really are a necessity.

On Saturday, it was cold, and both Eli and his buddy, Barry, were off and eager to go on a long snowmobile ride... the first of the season.  The girls and I went shopping.

They left around 10:00 am and planned to be back around 3:00 pm, not-so-coincidentally coinciding with the only daylight hours we have right now.

 

Eli was back home by 3:00 pm, and had a warm-up shower before I got back from shopping.

Once I brought my shopping bags inside, Eli casually said,

"So, Barry fell through the ice today."

Miss A's Rabbit Camp

Miss A went on her Rabbit Camp this week.

Last year, you might remember Miss G going on her Rabbit Camp in November.

It was so memorable for her; she still talks about it all the time.

This year, I also went on a Rabbit Camp with my own Kindergarten class.

We went last Thursday.

Eli went with Miss A on Tuesday, and he took some great pictures of her and her classmates learning about the snowshoe hare.

Daddy arrived at school before the bus arrived, and got to see all the Kinders getting their snow gear on.

It was COLD.  Below -30.  COLD. 

Springing into Happiness

Spring is a happy time. 

The sun is up.

The days are looong.

The snow is melting.

Melt, baby!

On the very last day in April, Eli used the snow blower to move the last bit of snow blocking the Mistress of the Lake from it's winter hibernation location. 

Meanwhile, the girlies made friends with a sweet little girl who lives on our court, and they used sidewalk chalk.

With t-shirts on!

And on the dry, clear pavement, since the snow has melted.

Melt, baby! 

And, I am happy about the sun, and the resulting looong shadows from the Northern sky.

The coldness in the winter was fine... I had my parka.  Parka, parka.

But the darkness?  Not so much fun.

And the length?  More than half a year is just long. 

The first snowfall was October 2nd.  

The snow stayed on October 10th, Thanksgiving. 

We're in May and there is only some snow left, but according to my calendar that's more than 7 months.

But, back to Eli.

Eli was oh so happy to pull the boat out.

He didn't want to let the ground unfreeze, lest the boat sink in the mud.

But, of course! 

Please note Miss G's fishing pole standing in the snow... the girls are as anxious for the boat as Eli!

Happiness. 

Miss A, was pretty pumped to pick up where we left off last summer and have shadow and people tracings all of the court pavement. 

Once Daddy's boat was moved out, though, the girls dropped the sidewalk chalk to visit the boat! 

Happy Spring, boat. 

Here, Eli is giving the motor a friendly pat and pep-talk. 

For the record, Eli is weeks away from launching the boat as the lakes are still frozen.

Although, yesterday afternoon Eli excitedly told me that some open water can be seen from the boat launch downtown.

If you remember, Eli had to put the boat away at the end of October after trying to squeeze one last trip on the water.

But, the lake was frozen.

Well, at least he'll squeeze every possible day of open water season into this summer.

Eli's a happy guy.

Big Puddles!

THE SNOW IS MELTING!!!

Now, it freezes each night, and earlier this week, morning temperatures were around -20 degrees Celsius, but, with the long sunny days, the snow IS definitely MELTING!

Lots and lots of snow melting means lots and lots of big puddles.

Of course, in the mornings, it also means lots and lots of slippery ice, so this week we've mostly been driving the short distance to school because the sidewalks are so slippy.

Today was a Professional Development Day, which means that I went to school, but the girls had no classes. 

So, they stayed with my wonderful neighbour at her day home for a Friday full of fun and playing. 

I was pretty excited to see the girls NOT WEARING SNOWSUITS!!!

Enjoying puddles. 

Look, mom! 

No coat! 

Yes, it is the first official day that it was warm enough to be outside with only t-shirts on.  

It was so much fun to see them outside without all the puffy snow gear and mittens. 

Marianne, do you recognize the hat you made me? 

Action shot.  

What can be more fun... 

...than running through giant puddles?

Well, maybe the glorious sun casting giant shadows!

Hello, Sun!

Keep on melting that snow!!

We're Melting...

It's true.

The snow here is finally beginning to melt!

We are getting long sunny days (rising at about 6:00 am and setting at 9:00 pm).

And, even though it's about -15 degrees Celsius in the mornings, by the end of the school days, there are very big (and very cold) puddles of water from all the snow and ice melting.

Splish, splash, splosh.

In fact...

Look what we saw on our court on our walk home one day this week.

That's grass, baby!!

The girls yelled, "Grass!!  Mommy!  It's grass!!"

And, I said, "Yes! It's grass!!"

We haven't really seen the grass since early October.

Miss G asked, "Can you take a picture of us with the grass?"

I'd never been asked that before...

"Sure."

And, I did.

Then, Miss A asked, "Mommy, when is Spring going to be here?"

"Soon."

Miss G sighed and said, "I sure wish the snow would just go now."

"It is!!"  I insisted.

"Oh, yeah!!!" she agreed.

"But, it's going to take more weeks."

"Oh."

I hope you are appreciating any Spring you are getting now, too!  I know we are.

Pterrific Ptarmigan

Miss G and Daddy share a special bond around Daddy's snowmobile.

She LOVES it.

She loves his boat, too, but there's something special about getting bundled up and spending some one-on-one time with her Daddy and that snowmobile.

So, one day last week, Daddy took Miss G out for a ride in some deep snow.

There was a steep (but short...) drop where they parked, and Miss G got in for a closer look. 

I asked Eli, "Did she go sliding down the bank?"

He said, "No." 

I said, "Really?"

He said, "Really."

(He have very exciting conversations like this all the time... I can tell that you are enthralled.) 

This is photographic evidence that she backed away, after some contemplative meditation. 

Then, they saw a ptarmigan. 

These partridge-like Northern birds are all over the place.

Not too bright, but cute.

And, they have really furry feet!!

I love that. 

This ptarmigan says, "Have a pterrific day!"

"Ptotally."

"Ptremendous."

"Pthat's all folks."

Spring Schmring

The calendar says it's the first day of Spring.

Apparently, Yellowknife did NOT get the memo.

Yes, I know the Maritimes is all warm and sunny and barbecuing everything in sight.

Nanny and Papa arrived back home this morning and looked very out of place in their winter coats.  And, they were barbecuing in t-shirts in 23 degree weather.

Am I ever going to appreciate the Maritime seasons when I move back!

I walked the girls to school this morning.  It was about -23 degrees Celsius with the windchill, but we're so well-dressed, we hardly notice it.

We also have about 12 hours of daylight right now around the Spring Equinox (which is the half-way point between the two solstices).

Eli stayed home today and yesterday with a nasty stomach bug. 

Miss G asked her class to pray that Daddy gets better soon during their prayer time in the morning.

She's cute.

Daddy... not so much.

You should hear the moaning and complaining...

Oh, woe is me.

At lunch today, Miss A's preschool teacher found me to tell me that Miss A was having some tummy trouble, too, so Daddy came to get her. 

(A freakin' blessing teaching in the same school as my Lovely Little Ladies.) 

So, after school, Miss G got to hang out with some of her friends in a teacher-friend's classroom while I taught after school Drama to the middle school Drama Club. 

Then, we got to enjoy a Mommy and Miss G walk home in this lovely spring weather.

It warmed up enough to snow, isn't that nice?

Not only did it snow, but the wind whipped the fine powdery snow around to make it look and feel incredibly blustery and stormy.

I love my parka.

It does not smell like fish.

(The "Idle Free Zone" is not observed when it gets below -30 or so... just thought you ought to know...)

Do me a favour, and think of me before you make any complaints about your weather, will ya?

I'll let you know when Spring arrives... in a few months...

Ice and Snow Fun

Sometimes, when I get ready to write a blog post, I'm not sure where to start.

So, I'm going to start at the beginning and go to the end, if that's alright with you.

now and ice to play with.

We finally got Nanny on the snowmobile with Eli. 

The snowmobile did not frighten her, but the idea of ELI on the snowmobile, did. 

It was the shortest trip I've seen Eli go out on. 

Nanny says it was lots long.

And, oh, so fast. 

On the morning of March 7th, this was the sight from our front deck. 

Note the snowmobile.

I don't think it's encroaching on the sheer volume of pictures of Eli's boat, but it's getting up there!

Overnight, the snow on the road in the court was scraped up and piled up for shipping out. 

I do like how it's all piled up all the way down the hill. 

Eli climbed up the hill to take a few pictures. 

Hi house!

On Saturday afternoon, the weather was fine. 

Only -14 or so with no wind and lots of sun.

Yeah, I know... I wrote ONLY in front of a negative degree temperature.

We went to Parker Park to go sliding on the hill.

Nanny and Papa got into it! 

Miss A helped to push Papa down the hill. 

Heeere he goes. 

Yee haa! 

Sometimes, they rolled down the hill. 

And, then walked back up. 

It was so bright with all that sun bouncing off the snow! 

No parka.

Just sayin'. 

Nanny made herself feel a little bit sick after all of the enthusiastic rolling down the hill with the girls. 

Papa helped to turn me into a Mommy sled to take both girls down the hill at once. 

We did it. 

Nanny and Papa had fun.

(Yes, Papa is wearing a survival suit to slide in... it was toasty!) 

The girls had a blast with Papa and Nanny. 

And, we all got some fresh Northern air. 

I got a bit of a workout pushing Papa down the hill.

Lunge! 

And, we had a few fun collisions. 

Eli took the camera for a bit so I could slide. 

When dressed in the right gear, we were very comfortable. 

I'm pretty sure Nanny is pretending the snow is sand, and that she came to visit us in Hawaii instead. 

A few last trips... 

... and soon it was time to head back home... but how? 

Well, believe it or not, we all went to the hill with Eli's snowmobile. 

One girl would sit up front with Daddy (that's Miss A). 

And the rest of us fit (?) in the sled behind the snowmobile.  

Today, it was much windier (read: colder), and we went to the Snowking's Snow Castle built on Great Slave Lake. 

Click on the link to see the Snowking's website.

There was a dog there named Buttercup who would catch snowballs in his mouth.

He lives in one of the house boats (currently frozen in the lake), so he was able to walk right over and socialize.

For the girls, he totally stole the show and was almost more entertaining than the giant Snow Castle. 

The inside of the Snowking's Snow Castle is

a-ma-zing,

with some extra zing.

So, it was amazingzing.

Nanny and Papa thought that it was pretty cool that there were actually (very cold) bathrooms in the Snow Castle. 

There's a little bistro area, with log chairs and ice tops for drinking tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

The ice used for the table tops and in the windows of the Snow Castle are from Great Slave Lake. 

Papa and Nanny even got to meet and chat with the Snowking himself.

True Northern royalty. 

Look at the snow carvings! 

Artwork was hung up all over the inside of the castle, which I think it really cool. 

Papa liked the doors. 

Outside, I had the wrong setting on the camera, so I got these bleached out pictures, which I actually think are pretty awesome.

Maybe I'll start telling people I did this on purpose.

Okay.

I did this on purpose, people. 

Here is a series starring Miss G:

And, now, a series starring Miss A:

The girls had fun careening down the hill at top speed. 

But... 

Buttercup the Dog stole attention again. 

When you can't beat the cold, join it.