December

December is here and we are counting down the days until we fly South.
This year it has been even harder waiting for the holidays to arrive. Niamh has grown and changed so much and we can't wait to get home to our families and show her off. I know everyone back home can hardly wait to see this little princess and hold her in their arms.

Here are a few photos to hold you off until our arrival :)




Dressed up like Michael Jackson for one of our dinner parties.

Daddy teaching Niamh how to vacuum.

She picked it up very quickly. She loves helping us around the house and we definitely encourage her.




Riding off into the sunset......



Such a big girl.....reading all by herself.

While wearing underwear! Mommy wow I'm a big girl now.

Enjoying a ride in a box with all her friends.

I guess things got too crowded in the box because before we knew it all her friends were thrown overboard.

All dressed up for mommy's birthday party at Ben's.

The gingerbread house I made with the guidance of fellow teacher Ben.

Niamh playing with her good friend Noah.

So cute in her sparkly party dress....love the pom poms.

Great family photo.........with the addition of Noah who wanted to show off the cake he made for me. His mom Sophie made the big birthday cake. It was very yummy!!

Cutting the cake......check out super baby in the back ground.

See you at Christmas :)

November

The month of November is almost over and what a busy one it was.
Niamh is growing like mad and getting into everything. She is always on the go and is really keeping her mom and dad on the move after her. She is a funny, happy little girl who loves to learn new things. She claps her hands and attempts to jump up and down when she does something new. She is a big helper and loves helping us with the groceries, laundry and clean up. We are loving every minute of it and are trying to capture as many special moments as possible to share with you.

Brushing her teeth

Giving daddy a hug and kiss. She is definitely a daddy's girl!!!

Heading outdoors for a walk in the sun. She loves going for walks, and will often try to put on her suit herself.

Wearing a baby amuatik....so cute!!!

Playing with mom. She is just so much fun!

Finally at the end of the day she gets all tuckered out from her hard day at play.
I could just stare at her all night :)

We are anxious to get home for Christmas and see all our loved ones, who I am sure are counting down the days just as eagerly.

A'mas Visit

Well October arrived and along with it came a very special visitor. My mom came up to stay with us from October 6th until the 19th. We had one very happy little girl, who was happily spoiled with love and cuddles for two whole weeks by her A'ma. And we were very happy to have her here to break up our long stay away from home. Even though we couldn't go home she was able to bring home to us.

Here are a few photos from her time here with us.

Cuddles with Niamh..........

....... and outdoor adventures.




We miss you A'ma!!! See you in a month :)

The North so far.....

We have returned and settled back in to the groove of things. Time has passed and before we knew Christmas is only 1 month away. I guess it is high time we posted an update on what we have been up to these past months.

August/September

Our trip back North was an adventure to say the least. It started out like any other day of travel, and we made it in one piece to Kuujjuaq. However once there we received word that it was foggy in Wakeham. After spending 5 hours at the airport we were told that there would be no planes today and that we had to spend the night here. We made our way to the Kuujjuaq Inn where we rented a room and got some food. Luckily James and Sophie were with us, so it made the long day much more bearable. We were all exhausted though and we soon found ourselves fast asleep.

My weary travellers

Weather improved the next day and we were able to get on the plane. This time however we got delayed in the village of Quataq as the plane had a broken piece. We had to wait 2 hours for another plane. By the time we landed in Kangiqsujuaq, made our way down to the village, found our house keys it was 11pm. Another exhausting day.....but we finally made it.

The next couple of days we made ourselves at home. With the sun shining we took advantage of the long days to go off exploring and show Niamh her new home. She was welcomed with many open arms, cheek squeezes and Inuit kisses.



Niamh in her stroller enjoying the fresh Northern air.


She made herself at home fairly quickly and we found ourselves falling back into the rhythm of living in the North. It often felt so normal that we would forget a year had gone past that we had no been here.

Playing at home with mommy and daddy is one of Niamh's favourite things to do.

And it's ours too!!

We love getting together for suppers or potlucks with old and new friends, and we find the time really does pass more quickly when you are having fun.

Here is Niamh in her Sunday best on our way to a potluck brunch at a fellow teachers house.


We started back to school and Niamh went to daycare. I think this was harder on us than on her as she loved her new found friends and all the playing that she was able to do during the day.

Neil found himself teaching grade 4-5 English again, and this may be his most challenging year yet. I am back teaching Social Studies to all the Secondary levels as well as English to the Grade 7-Sec 1 group.

On one of the first day back I took the grade 7/sec 1 class on a bike trip.












The biking was harder than we thought as we had to pedal our way around a mountain, but the day was so beautiful that there were no complaints.


Of course these sunny days are going to be a thing of the past very soon as the cold weather starts to creep in. So for a test run we got Niamh into her new winter outfit.....not a success. But she has learned to love it!!

The final countdown

It is officially one week until we fly North. The boxes are sent and now it is just the final packing and cleaning left to do.

Summer is coming to an end...where did the time go? It seems as if it were just yesterday that we were coming down South excited for our year off and the adventure ahead. I was 9 months pregnant, we just bought a house and were eager to get our life settled in our new home.

Fast forward 9 months to March 2010. Niamh (our daughter) is a healthy smiling 9 month old baby, our house has been gutted and slowly rebuilt and we finally moved out of my parents basement.

We unpacked our boxes and settled in to enjoy our new home.... for 5 months. Then we realized it was time to pack up all over again. Reluctantly we found all the boxes, collected all the things we would need and slowly started to prepare for another year away.

We are looking forward to it. A slower pace of life, just us and our daughter, working again, seeing all our Northern friends. But......it's harder this time. So much more to leave behind. A new house, grandparents and aunties, a life we were just starting to get used to.

I have a feeling this will probably be our last adventure North.

Our family at home....but not for much longer.

The Return North

We have been m.i.a for more than 2 years now and seeing that we are returning North for another year and bringing our 1 year old daughter Niamh with us we decided to get the blog back up and running for all those left behind. Grandparents, aunts and uncles and all extended family will be happy to know we will attempt to post regular updates on our lives in the great white.
Will post soon......

Kangiqsujuaq Hockey Tournament

In February Kangiqsujuaq held a mens hockey tournament. It was a friendly tournament, involving three teams from here and one team from neighboring village Salluit.

Neil and his team played hard for three days straight.
Go #17!!

Neil dancing around the opposition.

Lydia Kristensen cheering on her father, who was on Neil's team. I teach her older brother and sister.

Two of my students, Qipitaq and Alasie. Best friends.

Alasie and I. She has really taken a liking to me, and always wants to talk and learn more about Neil and I.

Two little girls wanted to have their picture taken too!

Neil was the tallest guy on the team, so I never had a hard time spotting him on the ice.


Neil's team won gold!

Northern Living: Fall 2007

I have been lazy as of late about posting on the blog and now it seems I have a whole 5 months to catch up with. So to update everyone here are the highlights of fall 2007 in Kangiqsujuaq.


When we arrived back in town we were welcomed with open arms, or should I say paws.


Puppies, puppies everywhere. So cute, you wish you could take them all home with you....

On a very beautiful late August day we decided to go for a walk and take in the beautiful vegetation growing in the Tundra.

You would be surprised how many beautiful plants and flowers there are up here.




Taqa and his gift to us, a whole caribou leg. We consider ourselves very lucky, as it's not everyday someone gives away this much of a good thing. As the locals would say "Mamatuk" (yummy)!


Halloween

A couple of Neil's students were lucky enough to get to carve our pumpkin. I think they did a great job carving out a likeness of Neil.


Neil went all out this year and dressed up as a grandma. He was quite the hit at school.


To make my students happy, I went with their suggestion and dressed up as my alter-ego thethe wicked witch of the North.

The cutest monkey ever!


A Beautiful Winter Day

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out for a long walk.

James, Sophie, Baby Noah, Neil and I headed out around the lake.

Having to work at the student residence every 2 weeks, we haven't had many week-ends off to hike. We really enjoyed this day out.

Igak, James' dog joined us for our walk.

It's days like these that make us really appreciate where we live.

The view from our front door of our first snowstorm of the year.


The Premiere of Quebec, Jean Charest, came up to Kangiqsujuaq to officially open Nunavik's first Provincial park, Pingualuit. Pingualuit is the site of a very large crater which was left by the crash of a meteor some thousands of years ago. This was a very important day for our small village, as it was the first, and probably last time a Premiere will visit.
Our little friend Putalik taking in all the excitment, with Charest in the background.

In honour of the premiere's visit the town held a feast at the gym. Here Neil's former pupil Suzanne holds Noah (James and Sophie's baby).

Fellow teacher Christina and her family dig into some raw meat. There was tons of traditional food, such as raw caribou, whale blubber, seal meat and my favourite bannock.

Here is a close up of the raw caribou. Neil got an opportunity to taste this Northern delicacy of raw caribou dipped in whale blubber. He said it was very interesting. I got to taste seal for the first time, and to be honest it will probably be my last :)

The day did not end with food, as there were also several performances.


Beatrice Deer, a popular Inuit singer.

Local students doing some Traditional Inuit Dance

The throat singing was amazing. Everyone should have the opportunity to see this live.

Local Tradition


This was one of the weirdest things we have witnessed here. On December 1st, people get in their vehicles , Christmas music is played over the FM radio and everyone drives around the village in a parade procession. We took part this year with the students from the residence. This picture does not do justice to the sight of the traffic rolling through town.