Details will come much later but we arrived in Iqaluit safe and sound. Kids are handling it great. I am still getting used to a faster pace than Arviat. I shed a little tear leaving Arviat..strange but I do miss it, miss it being quiet and all that but so far I am enjoying it here. I should be changing the layout of the blog as soon as we have our internet back up. I love our new place, no more heat wastage with the high ceiling houses in Arviat. I love that everything is on one floor and its not too big and not too small. I might be getting a sewing room, right now we are seeing how the kidswill react sharing a room and so far its what we expect. We are still waiting for our 107 boxes to arrive and i hope it will get to us in a couple of weeks.

Other than that, so far so good..

And it was nice today! +16C and the kids were enjoying the weather outside. I was very surprised to see that I’ve packed EVERYTHING and we have about 10 more days to go before we move. Amazing! I did have some meltdown primarily because the moving date was brought forward and Frank is still away and had to extend his trip so it was either do or die situation. The kids were GREAT, it was only yesterday, they start to really be bothered with the packing stuff especially Ava who noticed there are no toys and she cant get toys from her toy bin. Its nice to be able to smell clean fresh laundry drying in the sun, yes it was that warm but still nice. I think today marked the longest day of the year and the sun is not setting, it sorts of just straddles the horizon. This were taken today.

Arviat at 10pm

Arviat at midnight

The packing is tiring, even more so on my own. I swear everytime I pack one box, another pile needing to be packed seems to appear. I am starting to feel a little aches and pain from all the work and it sure sucks but oh well. Today I walk around the house with a power drill, and I find it satisfying playing with power tools. I’ve also spend a considerable amount in the shed..weird really but for most part, I will just try to arrange stuff or put up more boxes while the kids play. I really will miss Arviat as weird as that sounds. If it wasnt for the fact its retardly difficult to get out of here unless we are willing to pay, I like it here. But Frank not so much but I guess it does make a difference if one is working. But here is to new adventures!But I managed to get tons done today, it was again great weather so its hard to stay inside so the kids and I had to go outside for a bit. Other than that, they are probably the bestest kids ever when it comes to packing. They dont unpack anything which is great. And they are usually fine with playing with whatever as I pack. Like this, playing with a suitcase.

and its not happy times all the time. Here is Ava trying to ride on Ben and Ben was just not feeling it at all!

We went to a birthday party last weekend and the kids had fun!, Ava wont go near the face painting stuff but Ben was sitting so still that our friend who did the face painting part was soo impressed!

On another note, I’ve been watching “So You think you can dance”. I’ve never watched this show before but the kids love the dancing and I think apart from being in awe at the capability of some of the dancers, I find myself going to itunes and purchasing some of the songs, this could be dangerous!

I am still here, just been busy. Frank is away again so even more busy because..We are MOVING!. In just a couple of weeks, we will be calling Iqaluit home. Not terribly exotic by Nunavut standard but for the sake of the kids, I think we are better off in a bigger place with lots of opportunities. My mom says I am crazy, moving further north but its really not that far off. And the best trade off, Frank dont have to travel as much anymore. Right now he is gone every 2nd week and its driving me crazy, the kids are starting to take notice.

So I am packing, I am surprisingly calm and still sewing though I have to pack on my own with 2 kids. I’ve learned to just let them help instead of fighting them and so far its working. Plus my kids are easy to please, give them a box, they will happily play house for hours as I’ve known.

Its amazing how much crap one acquires in 3 years and I’ve gotten rid of 1/4 of it, mostly kids stuff. I am debating if I should sell my sewing machine and upgrade. I would have to go at least 2.5 months without sewing and I am not sure if I can handle it though I think I will be busy with unpacking and just getting situated.

On another note, another piece of happiness came in the mail..31 yards of fabric..nice! I have packed away some of my stash and I counted, I have 175 meters (191 yards) and adding this 31 yards, it will be 222 yards and counting, I have a couple of US FRB and then I am done so I think inventory wise, I have about 250 yards..not too shabby, not too big either.

and the goods…I am in love!

Back to packing, so if I am sparse, its because I am packing!

When it was still winter here, the kids and I got for a very short walk, usually a post office or the store run. I love my mail, I admit I am a mail-o-holic. Fabric mail are obviously the best and 2nd has to be those parcels that comes from friends because its always filled with goodies. I dont mind bills so much since if they come means someone is doing their job and we dont get hit with a few months of something to pay.But with the warmer weather, we’ve been going out for longer walks and now even with days of playing outside. It helps that the days are longer. The kids love it. I was telling a friend that its 5C and its heaven with the sun shining. But she is living in according to her “too darn hot” Malaysia. Truthfully, I dont want to be in Malaysia right now, except maybe I am missing the food and my old friends.

I managed to get Frank to let me try pulling the kids in the chariot with my bike. I didnt find it particularly hard. I can definitely feel I was pulling some weight, they are 50lbs combined weight. I thought I was going to feel the chariot bumping up and down since I am cycling on mostly gravel, with patches of mud and some sand. But didnt feel those, I had to peer every minute to make sure the chariot was still attached to the bike because it feels I was just cycling with some weight. But the kids were noisy, pointing to every single thing and singing to themselves so I knew they were still there. I am LIKING this. I still think the chariot is the best kiddie investment we’ve ever gotten. I was wary about the kids sitting side by side with no barrier and that they will fight but they dont. they are good together, but I think its because they are soo used to it right now. But even when Ben was younger, Ava left him alone, I dont ever remember them fighting in the chariot.

Days not spent on the bike or walking are spent on the deck which is why I love my deck space. Its not big but big enough for activities and also for me to hang my clothes. So the kids do a lot of colouring with those crayola chalks while I soak up the sun.

And when I am doing some things in the shed, they are happy to play around the house and also playing with the puddles of water. Ben got his first taste of muddy water today because he was too excited and fell in the puddle. He wasnt hurt but he was very wet after and covered with icky, slimy green stuff.

Because I have silly kids, Ava found out Ben is able to fit in her doll stroller. Ava dont try to carry Ben so I put Ben here and she is happy to push him around.

Tomorrow will yet be another fun day. I think I might get 2 paintbrushes and get them to “paint” the deck with water. I need to find more outdoorsy activities..

Ava told me a few days ago she dont want to wear anymore pants. She wants dresses. So I am on a quest to sew her more dresses. I cleaned the kids cupboards and drawers, removing all the winter stuff and saw she is in need of a few more tops and bottoms and maybe a couple more dresses and she will be set for the summer..that is including if we are planning to travel..fingers crossed anyways

this was based on a pattern with a ton of alterations, I am pretty happy with the end result, not terribly estatic but happy. Its easy and especially with her potty trained now, it will be easier for her to use the bathroom instead of peeling a million layers. The weather has been nice, not really dress weather unless she has a pair of  leggings on but nice that they can just put a sweater on and still play outside.

a wrap kimono style dress with faux obi belt. she is covering her face because she is done with me taking pictures.

a horrible pic, but the jeans is 3/4 pants for Ben from my $1 jeans. And the tshirt is recon from Gymboree blankets, love them!

and i tried sewing for myself, pattern from ottobre women 2/2007. i love this, its easy (well for me anyways), i see myself sewing for me even more..i am inspired.

I have a to-do list now, right now I have 2 pairs of leggings for Ava ready to be sewn tomorrow, she insist on wearing her half sewn leggings to bed. A couple more dresses for Ava, tops, skirts and dresses for me though dresses seems a little ambitious for me, not so much the construction of it but I am not sure if I am patience enough to sew a dress for me…But we will see…

I’ve been wanting to try to make homemade playdough for ages just never get the chance too plus I wanted to make sure I am able to use stuff that is already in my pantry and make it as cheaply as possible. I am amazed at the choices, some peanut butter dough (too expensive), some potato dough (even more expensive) and some with alum (cant get it here). So I had to improvise. I personally dont like the store bought playdoh, except plasticine (sp?) I use that a ton in school but cant never find them in Canada, maybe I should try craft store. So what’s a mama gotta to do?? whip something up of course. The weather has been nice and we’ve been out more than usual but for times that I dont want to go out and content with sewing, I must find something so they dont cling to my leg as I sew. So far playdough is doing the job well, they’ve been playing for a good 30 minutes now and the best part, its safe, i know the ingredients in it. Recipe is pretty simple, I had a few internet based recipe and tweak it and very happy with how these turned out. I made one in blue and one in red.

recipe

• one cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• one tablespoons of oil
• One cup warm water (+/-)
• Food coloring (optional)

• Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl, and then mix all wet ingredients in a separate one. Next mix the two. Stir the mixture until the dough forms a ball (note depending on the season, altitude you may have to add more flour if the mixture is too sticky or add more water if the mixture is too dry) Finally, Knead on a lightly floured surface until the dough is pliable. Store in refrigerator in airtight container.

I use whole wheat flour because that is what I have. The northern were getting rid of tons of them last year so I got them for very cheap. I do use it in our food but I find for making cookies and stuff, they dont yield the same “ooommpph” factor as the sinful white flour. But I am glad I have good use of the whole wheat flour.

I think I might have to pry them away from it when its time for our daily walk, so far they are still playing together with it..I am very impressed!

I am loving this age the kids are in, yeah some rough days but for most part in the past few weeks, I find they are able to communicate more. Ava is fine but its great that Ben can use his words or sign to get his point across. I’m also finding myself just a little stuck with craft ideas when we are in the house. I do bring them out for a “nature walk”  daily but I find them clingy if they lack stimulation inside the house. So I thought I’d brave this…finger painting with 2 toddlers..and they had TONS of fun. A friend suggested I do it in the bathroom and I am so glad we did. I wanted to let them do it outside but the weather was shitty when they were doing this a few days ago.

And this is the reason I dont let Ben walk when we go out for a walk, he wants to splash in EVERY single mud puddle and we’ve ever came home and he is soaked and he has water in his shoes. Ava dont really do it unless she sees Ben doing it and plus she sticks to the smaller puddles, but not Ben, he goes for the motherlode, more like it will come to his knees kind which will come just above my ankles.

I think this time, the kids are really enjoying themselves here. Last year, we were still in Newfoundland on vacation so we didnt really get to see the transformation in the town now. Not that its anything spectacular really. I am in awe of myself that I’ve not been out of the community in almost 6 months..I cringe even typing that. I am starting to feel the itch to fly out for a bit but I am not feeling THAT desperate just yet.We went for a bike ride today, it was just a tad cold but nothing too crazy. Its amazing in the course of 12 hours, we had 3 weather changes.  When we got up this morning, it was cloudy, then the sun came out before lunchtime and just around after 4pm, the fog starts rolling it and as of now its still foggy.

I cant imagine when this mountain of snow finally thaws how flooded the place will be, this “mountain of snow” is about 50 meters long on both sides.

the other view

saw some geese

this is the most amazing thing ever, this is one side of town, more like edge of town, lots of snow and ice.

and about 1km away is this!

kids and i went for a walk, it was a little rocky and the klutzy kids kept tripping but they got the hang out of it pretty fast. i had to hold their hands because they will run and stomp on every single puddle of water they can find!

Frank build this inukshuk with a grand plan to have the kids stand on each side long enough for him to take a picture. I think he failed to know that his kids are 2.5 and 17 months, they cant sit still! especially when there is WIDE open spaces for them to walk around. But he managed to get 10 continuous shot to capture this one and by far the best he got. They werent happy!

As we ride back to town, we were greeted with this…sooo mysterious..haha

and we past this house, i dont want to be the person living here, the water is probably not as high but hard to judge when its murky muddy water.

I hope its going to be another great weather tomorrow. The kids are dying to get on the slide at the playground.

Yeah, try pronouncing that though its just call IQ day. I think must be the time of the year for most GN (Govt of Nunavut) employees since M & M of Cape Dorset is having their IQ day as well.  Its basically a day for the Inuit to show the Qablunnaq (southerners, I say southerners because not all are white people), the Inuit way of living. Now most of the Inuit are pretty modernized, some of the younger generations are pretty clueless with the stuff their elders have to do in the olden days. But this goes with any race and generations, its all about the willingness to teach and wanting to learn for sure.It was a pretty windy and cold day to begin with and that in Arviat means its REALLY WINDY and COLD because its so flat. Last year the IQ day was early July and we were out in a speedboat, the Hudson Bay is all thawed out and it was nice. Well June 1st and still tons of snow and the guys were still able to ride their skidoos and kamotik on the Hudson Bay so this will be a very LOOONNGGG thawing process indeed. The kids and I went last year and this year we went again.

First, it was a 30 minutes skidoo ride and the kids and I and an elder got to ride in a “posh” kamotik (sled), it was covered so it was nice, but the not so nice part was it was a bumpy ride nonetheless and pair that with Ava who was a little claustrophobic though I dont blame her, it was a hard ride for me. I would have prefered to ride on the skidoo itself. But here’s the ride.

Of course we had a caribou feast, this was shot 2 days ago and they buried it in the snow, what a good use of nature’s refrigerator! It was surprisingly not frozen, just a tiny tiny hint of rigor and that was it. But the coolest thing in my eyes, well because it wont agree with others is how when the guys were gutting the caribou, the elder pointed the caribou was carrying a fetus. I’ve never seen it before, heck I’ve never seen an animal fetus right in front of my eyes. According to the elder, it would have been 2 weeks from now.

After the gutting/skinning. Nature is awesome, before we left, most of the snow is gone, some melted, some blown away, so it didnt look like this when we left.

I’ve always been curious why its illegal to shoot a seagull in Canada. well one google search confirms it, they are scavenger aka cleaning up bio mess. And they certainly werent afraid, they were at the leftovers when they see no one in sight. They even manage to move away a huge chunk of meat from the gutting/skinning area.

We were at someone’s cabin but they pitch a tent outside and what a difference! It was soo windy but the tent was warm and cosy

cooking caribou stew, in a distance is the Hudson Bay, still frozen solid.

Frank trying his hand at building a shelter which really is half of an igloo. He got the thumbs up from the elder for a very good job well done and an assurance he wont freeze if he ever gets stuck on the land..lol

Supper time!

An elder making one of my favourite local food ever…bannock, they should be consumed in small amounts though or they will straight to my hips. Its essentially fried bread, i was pretty happy with bannock and hot tea.

There were suppose to be fishing too but someone forgot the auger but then again it was far too windy to really do anything else. The kids enjoyed it a lot! A guy tried to shoot a goose but didnt have much luck. I did see an arctic hare but it was too far to catch.

The funniest thing of all, we managed to get sunburn on our faces. I have ring marks around my eyes and the rest of my face is a little red, same thing with Frank. The kids are fine since their faces are covered with their massive fur hoods. It was a fun day!