We'll frolic and play....the Eskimo way!

Hi Friends,

I'm back to give a little update on our life here in Barrow.  I've noticed just from being here over a week that the days are getting shorter (by at least 20 minutes every day!) and the temps are dropping.  One day last week it was 37 degrees and ice melting everywhere, and today it is 25 and snowing! 

10am sunrise

Afternoon sun peaking out from the clouds

Jose and I both try to get out and walk as much as we can before it gets too cold.  We went all out on high quality winter gear before we left, and I'm sure glad we did!  I've been able to walk to the library and grocery store (a 20 minute stroller walk) and have been quite comfortable.  If I take Amaury in the stroller, I make sure I dress him in a onesie with feet, a bear suit from old navy (with feet, hands and head coverage.  Then I put him in a cozy car seat sleeping bag thing.  I'd say he stays pretty warm, as I've caught him asleep many times during our treks out.  Our jogging stroller is awesome here too.  I lock the front tire and can scale big mounds of snow! 

Little bunny all suited up

The Tuzzy library

Here is a video of some kids as I walked by......

We celebrated Jose's birthday last night by opening up our pumpkin stout we bought in Anchorage.  Yummmmm!  Then we headed out to Arctic Pizza.  They serve pretty much any kind of food you can think of.  I wasn't expecting much, but to our surprise....the pizza was tasty! 

The cake I made for him was not....

An update on Amaury is that he LOVES eating like a big boy.  He sees Jose and I eat, and he can't help but grab everything!  A few of his favorites are butternut squash, sweet potato and pears.  He didn't like carrots too much, but he managed to eat a few (before making a gagging face.)  

We are also enjoying his ever-emerging mullet:

  Love to you all from Alaska!

Greetings from the Top of the World!

We made it to Barrow, Alaska!  It's very surreal for us to be here, but we are settling in nicely.

We left Las Vegas on a 7am flight to Seattle, then continued on to Anchorage.  Once we were in Anchorage, we had a 4 hour layover.  We killed time by trying out a few local Alaskan beers at the airport brewery.  Delish!

Our plane to Barrow was a little different than other planes.  You walk outside to board the back of the plane, because the front of the plane is used for cargo.  Since Barrow is a fly-in only town, people take advantage of 3 free bags (when traveling solely in Alaska) and stock up on food and other goods.

The flight was relatively smooth, considering we flew over some of the tallest peaks - the Brooks Range.  However, our sweet Amaury was over flying....and let the whole plane know!  Poor pumpkin, he only slept about 20 minutes the whole day!  Ugh!!

We landed safely in Barrow, deboarded the plane and walked on ground covered in 2 inches of ice towards the terminal.  (For those who remember, I broke my leg when I slipped on ice in NYC a few years back....this terrified me.)

A driver met us in the 1 room airport, loaded up our 10 bags, and drove us to our home for the next 3 months.

We are staying in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house.  What I love about it are a few things -

1. It has a dedicated mud room.  I've always thought houses should have a dedicated room for you to take off your coat/boots and change into your house shoes.  It's warm and spacious - and I love that none of the melted ice gets into your house!
2. It's super warm inside
3. Gas range - very happy about this
4. Amaury gets his own room.  He also has a pack n play provided by the hospital.  We brought up a foam mattress to give him some extra cushion, and he sleeps much more soundly!
5. There is a dog sled parked right next to our house.  I love this for so many reasons!!!

#5 - Dog sled.

On our first full day here, we suited up and walked to the supermarket.  It's only about 3/4 of a mile walk.  I'm glad we brought our SUV jogging stroller, as it worked great in the snow.  I'm also pumped we bought cleats for our boots - a MUST HAVE so we don't fall on the ice.

It seems every place has seating and storage for you to take off your boots when you walk in.  Again, I love this!

The prices are ridiculous as expected.  We loved walking around and justifying items we checked in our luggage like our 2 jars of peanut butter or all of our spices.  Yay!! 

One item we needed was a bath tub for Amaury.  $40 for a baby bath tub.....holy cow!  We couldn't justify that purchase, so I looked around the store again for any sort of wash tub we could make shift into a tub for our baby.  What did we end up with????

A kitty litter pan.  $8.99 folks.  (don't judge....it's never been used!)

Here we are loaded up, ready for our walk home:

I'm not sure who that guy is in the back ground.  Ha!

Jose cooked up some yummy chicken and rice last night, and I made a salad.  I think we'll be eating just fine here :)

Today, Dr. Valerio started orientation for his new job.  The new hospital just opened under a month ago, and it's 2 streets away behind our house.  It's a beautiful facility.  Amaury and I were invited over there for lunch to celebrate the retiring physician.  Everyone we met was really nice and eager to help us get to know how everyone lives up here.

The new hospital!

Starting my walk home

One of the houses has whale parts in their yard.

someone snored all the way home in his Moby wrap.

Many of you have asked about our cell phone reception.  Well, it's not great.  In fact, I've yet to hear my phone ring but see later that someone has called.  I also can't hear my voicemail for some reason.  Weird.  I can text, but it does take a while for the texts to go through.  We can't access the internet without wireless...and we don't have a router anyway.  All this will take a bit to get used to, but honestly, I don't mind.  We were able to get our cable and internet hooked up yesterday (like 1 hour after we called!)  So, at least I can check email/facebook and update the blog pretty regularly!

Today is a pretty warm day for Barrow.  It's currently 36 degrees and everything is melting.  I'm sure all of it will refreeze soon enough.

On another note...we gave Amaury his first taste of food today.  He's been grabbing at our food for about 2-3 weeks now.  I guess this little piggy is ready for the real thing!!  Here he is eating a bite of banana.

I think that's all for now! xoxo Pam

Packed and Ready!!

So my wife has asked me to update our blog.  I must confess this is the first time that I have done such a thing.  Where to begin...

We have been reading more about Barrow, AK and what kinds of things we can do around town.  We were excited to hear that we will be able to see the Northern Lights as well as go mushing (dog sledding).  Pams' mother says that we shouldn't get that excited about the dog sledding thing.  Upon further persistent questioning she adds, "the dogs pee and poop while they run, and you could very well catch the brunt of it!". My excitement level dropped, but I might still give it a go as Pamela had a great time mushing in Canada.

In between updating my ACLS and PALS and Dave Ramseys'- get out of debt podcast, I was able to help pack our 7 checked bags.  One of them weighs a hefty 86 lbs.  "7 bags!"  you shriek? Well would you rather pay $40 for a 6 count of double roll toilet paper,  or check a 50 lb bag for half that?  Well we figure that we probably saved about what we spent on winter gear and will get a free workout tomorrow morning when I get to load the van.  

Amaury has been growing and developing so fast!  We think he may have waved goodbye (or hello) a couple of times, but he hasn't done it frequent enough to make us think that it's intentional (yet!).  He has however gained substantial strength in his legs.  We have witnessed him dig his little feet into the ground and push himself short distances.

I'm ready to get back to work, as I hope I haven't forgotten all I learned in fellowship. Pam is excited to meet new friends and connect with other moms. We are both excited to learn about the Inupiat culture.

Ok, it's time to get ready to bundle up for some of the coldest temps in the world. Stay tuned....we are off tomorrow to the top of the world!

Jose (Pam and Amaury too)