Harold Had an Adventure

Harold returned yesterday from six fun filled days with his grandparents. They traveled to Elim (150 miles southeast of here) to visit my brother John. Harold's time in Elim was packed with some pretty awesome life experiences and many memories.



When we first saw Harold waiting for us at the airstrip, he was proudly holding this box. He wrote the content's description "Harold's Madolin" on the outside himself.



Inside the box was this amazing gift from his musician uncle.



Harold is very, very proud of his new instrument. He was running around the house getting ready for bed last night, as he ran past his mandolin he stopped mid-stride, pointed at it and laughed a wild, crazed laugh.



Elim is a great place to catch crab. My brother and his friend keep an active crab pot for a good part of the winter. It's because of them that we've feasted on a great many crab the past few years.

During one of our daily phone calls Harold told me excitedly that he had "axed" the ice to help get the crab pots free.



He also told me there were "18 crab inside!!!!"



Oh the crabby memories they made.



To add to all the excitement, the Iditarod mushers were coming through Elim during Harold's stay. Harold saw Dallas Seavey (this year's winner), Aliy Zirkle (second place finisher), John Baker (last year's champion) and a few other mushers pass through town.

Harold apparently became a Dallas Seavey fan and was hoping he would win. I asked if he was cheering for Aliy but he said, "Nah, I'm for the boy's team."


When John Baker was taking care of his dogs at the Elim check point, my dad asked him if Harold could have his dog's booties. Baker being the nice guy he is, said of course. We had to wash them to get rid of the sled dog poo (a souvenir I'm not as interested in having) then Harold's dog Bandit modeled how the booties are to be worn.



Now Harold and Bandit like to play dog mushers when ever they get the chance.

Harold returned from his trip a more worldly and knowledgeable person. I often look at him and marvel, "what a kid, what a kid."

~AnnMarie

Harold is Going on an Adventure

Harold packed his bags last night preparing for his next big adventure. He will be spending the next six days without his parents as he travels 150 miles to Elim.



He is traveling on two different airplane rides with grandma and grandpa to the stay with his Uncle John. (My parents were here for a visit this past week, I will be sharing about that soon.)



On his agenda for the week: attend the little dribblers basketball tournament, check crab pots and see the Iditarod mushers and dog teams as they pass through Elim on their way to Nome.

I'm sure he'll be coming home with a few stories and a box full of crab to share with his parents.

~AnnMarie

Amongst the Trees

 

This Thanksgiving was spent in Elim, Alaska with my brother John.  We were thankful to have made the two flights from Brevig to Nome and Nome to Elim in time for Thanksgiving festivities and some quality time with Johnny.  

Thanksgiving morning, we took some time to hike around town in search of some good sledding hills.  We found a couple good spots and had some pretty exciting rides.  Sledding: the perfect pre-dinner activity.

As in Brevig, Elim hosts a village-wide feast in the school gymnasium.  It reminded me a lot of Brevig feasts minus the reindeer stew, personally one of my favorites.  However, Elim amazingly had huge containers of watermelon, a perfect treat for ending the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I'm not a huge fan of pie as desert, pie is better left for breakfast in my opinion.  Watermelon however, was very light and refreshing.  The feast experience was very nice and we were able to chat with a few folks from around town that we have met over the years. 

Friday, shortly after sunrise (around noon), we went for a snow machine ride through the woods.  As you can see, the major difference between Brevig and Elim is TREES!  How exciting to be in the forest, if only for a little while.  Part of our ride was actually on the official Iditarod trail.  C.O. and I have a dream of one day taking our children on a snowmobile trip from Nome to Anchorage along this very trail.  That's a long way off however as it is probably best if we wait until their teenage years for such a journey.

 The main goal of our outing was to find a Christmas tree for our home this holiday season.  What a treat it will be, to have a real pine tree to decorate (and smell)!  We will be taking our Christmas tree wrapped up in a tarp as luggage tomorrow on the plane.  That will be a first for me.

Harold convinced us that he needed a smaller tree of his own.

 We obliged.

 

There's about 40 rings there.
Though the woods are reminiscent of Minnesota,
the trees here have to work a lot harder at survival.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

~AnnMarie

Elim's Basketball Team 2010

How could I pass up this photo opportunity? These boys look so sharp in their men's kuspuks. Some of the ladies in Elim got together to make the boys matching kuspuks for the 1A Regional Basketball Tournament being held this weekend in Brevig Mission. It's no coincidence that my parents' visit coincided with the tournament. Notice the only ginger in the picture? Ya, that's my brother John, the coach for these handsome and talented young men.

Almost the entire Lindula clan has gathered in Brevig to cheer on the teams (we wish you were here Brian!) We will be spending a ridiculous amount of time over at the school this weekend but it should be a lot of fun. Good luck to all the teams!

--AnnMarie

Trip to Elim

C.O. had some work to do in the village of Elim so we decided that Harold would enjoy an outing and a chance to see his Uncle John. Here's a few photo highlights from their two day trip.

John bought the two of them matching t-shirts.
Harold loved it so much he insisted on sleeping with it as well.

There was some serious mandolin playing going on.

Harold was invited to go to a cake walk on Friday night.

He came home with TWO! Geesh.

When I ask Harold if he missed me, he simply doesn't respond.

--AnnMarie