Monday, April 16, 2007

Can We Visit?

Almost every day we get a knock at our door, and hear the now famous phrase, "Can we visit?" These next few pictures are of a few visits we've had lately.

Our little buddah boys, Markusie and Pitsula.

Snotty, but cute!

Pitsula taking pictures of Sayard in the kitchen.

And of Neil playing Play Station.

Markusie giving Neil a run for his money.

Little Pitsula is quite the character....so cute, we want to take him home with us forever!

The Famous DDR!
Sayard bought herself Dance Dance Revolution, and it has been a huge hit with the kids. Here Leo, Putulik and Mary dance the afternoon away.

The girls all take turns dancing, and taking pictures. Here Mary snaps one of Sayard eating her lunch.

Putulik takes a shot of Mary dancing, and Aupaluk making silly faces.

Aupaluk's turn to dance.

As you can see from their smiling faces, the kids really love their visits!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

March Break

Although it was not particularly warm we did have some very sunny days on our march break. Friends like Jimmy and Aurora took us out on the land where we did some sliding, snowboarding and tea drinking.

Neil happy to be back on a snowboard.

Enjoying the warmth of the tent, tea and bannik.

Here we are climbing a mountain in order to slide down it. Oh what fun :)

This is Aurora, a fellow teacher who is on maternity leave. The jacket she is wearing is called an Amautik, it is made to carry babies. Her baby, Elsie, is snug as a bug on her mama's back.

Jimmy, Aurora's husband, is attempting to make an igloo.
Although the igloo didn't come to fruition, Jimmy still had fun showing off on his ski-doo.



Neil also wanted to show off, but not being an expert ski-dooer, he took to his snowboard. (Note: Neil is the tiny black dot at the top of the mountain)
This slope was particularly steep and the snow had begun to soften from its usual concrete like consistancy which is really just a case the severe wind we receive in the arctic packing the snow down. I still had to be cautious about where I dropped in because I did not want to hit a patch where the edges of my snowboard had nothing to grip onto.

We also headed out towards the Hudson Straight, with Taqa and Isabelle. Neil got to drive a ski-doo the whole way, and seeing that we made it to our destination unscathed, I'd say he did an excellent job!

As you can see, we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Poor Sayard looking cold as usual.


This was a summer camp that we came upon. There was something slightly spooky about this place.


Another day out with Jimmy and Aurora. Here Jimmy is pulling a Qamutik, a sled used for pulling people and stuff.

The edge of the bay.

This is a traditional Inuit summer tent.

Aurora and Elsie inside the tent, warm and happy.
Taqa and Neil taking a break from playing outside.

We definatly enjoyed the great company, fun activities and amazing sights on our first March Break in the North.