Baker Lake
Temp: -29
Wind chill: -42
Sunrise: 10:23 a.m.
Sunset: 2:26 p.m.

Las Vegas
Temp: +6
Sunrise/sunset: much longer!

Well, we made it safe and sound to Las Vegas baby! The temperatures have been really great compared to the north but today was surprisingly chilly. We headed out today on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, went to a dude ranch (too funny!), and saw the Hoover dam. It was a fun trip and we got some neat pics but on the way back we got stuck in a line-up to cross back over the dam with literally hundreds of cars ahead of us. For two and a half hours we sat in the line-up just inching along so, needless to say, I'm getting a bit travelled out. Tomorrow we'll head out for some shopping and then Friday night do a late Christmas with the fam. Should be fun

After we finish up here I have to get back to Winnipeg and pick up Oliver who, as it turns out, had a serious liver fungus and had to be treated on IV antibiotics for 4 days. Good times....

Anyhow, here are some pics...


Happy holidays!


My sister Ashlyn, my brother-in-law Chris and I drinking something called The Borg Sphere at the Star Trek restaurant in the Hilton. We all also took in the Borg show and it was a hoot!


Off we go on a trail ride at the 'ranch' on a horse named Peddle that was on auto-pilot and refused to do anything I wanted her to do. Nice... And, to top it off we had to wear helmets which left us feeling a bit like someone there for therapy and not pleasure ;-)


Our wagon and driver (who had about as much energy as Peddle did) :-)


The Hoover Dam


My folks wandering around the Joshua Tree forest (but they aren't actually trees I found out - just plants)






The view at night (obviously) from the Mirage where we stayed - holy lights!!




The volcano/water show featured nightly at the Mirage - corny but cool to see


When in Vegas baby!!!


Freemont Street and the popular overhead show put on every hour - pretty cool


Some quiet time just enjoying the tree we bought and decorated

Temp: -21
Sunrise: 10:15 a.m.
Sunset: 2:24 p.m.

Well, it's Saturday today and it's felt like a very long two weeks. We've been sooo busy at school preparing for the Christmas concert, which was on this past Thursday night, and was a HUGE success! Our class decided to do a version of Stomp for our part of the concert; for a while it seemed like it might not work out because our attendance was pretty low due to illnesses going around, but in the end it worked out great.


Stomping our way through the Christmas concert - the kids did everyone proud!


Kristen, our teacher, and Pam the Dental Therapist working on crafts for our class

This past week has been fairly stressful as Oliver came down quite sick and I had to fly him out to a vet early this morning; hopefully, everything works out there. And as well, a member of my family is waiting for results from some tests that could be quite serious. This is when it is very difficult to be living in such a remote community, so far away from one's family. But, the holidays are coming and it will be good to get home for a while. I fly out of Baker on Tuesday afternoon and then on Saturday my family is flying out to Vegas for Christmas so that should be a good refresher. Viva Las Vegas Baby!!


Prepping the kennel for air travel in the North

Here are a couple pics of the kids playing Inuit games. The goal of the first one is to balance the stick (with a pin on the end of it) on each finger and spin it off to jab it into the mat upright. Looks easy, but not so easy as I found out. I had the band-aid to prove it!




Muscox wrestling


Cool frost on the classroom window

Temp: -21
Wind chill: -36
Blowing snow
Sunrise: 10:01 a.m.
Sunset: 2:31 p.m.

Well, this week felt like a really long one but in fact, school-wise, it was quite short. We ended up having blizzard days on Tuesday and Wednesday so we were off and it gave me time to get caught up with writing Christmas cards, doing some baking and getting parcels done up to send down south for Christmas. It was great to have the time off but when we went back to school on Thursday the kids and staff were all dragging like we needed a break from the break we'd just had!

And so with the holidays coming, I thought it would be nice to have a half decent Christmas photo of me and Oliver so I took it upon myself to try and take it myself. Well, seemed like a good idea at the time...










Friday night the gang got together to for a bit of Christmas cheer at Ivan and Edna's which was really nice. We played Rumolie, had a great supper and ate some cookies. And, if that wasn't enough, Santa payed us an early visit! Very good times....

And yesterday I ventured down to the hockey arena and volunteered to take some pictures for the hockey association. It was Hockey Night in Baker Lake and it was such a fantastic turnout! It was wonderful to see all the kids out, playing hockey in front of the whole town, and them having their family and friends cheering them on. They were so proud; what a great night! And, Santa and Blizzy (the Baker lake mascot) made a surprise visit, which made the kids night for sure.