Biggest Grocery Bill Ever!

Last Sunday Mark flew to Anchorage for a week long seminar on asbestos.  While he was getting off early, eating at nice restaurants, drinking beer from a tap and shooting pool, I worked through lunch everyday just to get out by 5:00 so I wouldn't be late to pick up the kids.  The first two days were the worst by far.  Luke pushed every single button he could and ignored every punishment I could dish out.  My reward at the end of the week was to fly by myself with both kids right at their bedtime to meet Mark for the weekend.  What the hell was I thinking when I booked those tickets!  Amazingly Luke was great the whole flight and Gianna played peek-a-boo with someone sitting behind us almost the whole time.  
We managed to get a massive grocery shopping trip in the short time we were there.  First to Costco, $850 later we were on our way to Walmart.  Luke did get to enjoy the hotel swimming pool; it was by far the highlight of his trip.  Our last morning there we made a very quick trip back to Costco and spent another $350 on 100 pounds of meat.  One of the great things about flying within the state of Alaska is that every ticketed person can check three 50 pound bags each free of charge.  So between Mark, Luke and I we packed back 9 totes.  Alaska Air will even refrigerate totes containing items needing to be kept cold.
It may seem like a lot that we spent $1200 on groceries, but in the long run it will save us a lot of money.
Anchorage had its first snow while we were there.  When we woke that first morning we found several inches of snow on the ground.  Bethel too got its first snow earlier last week.  Nothing stuck to the ground but it won't be long before that's all we see on the ground.  The sun sets these days around 8:15 and rises close to 9:00.  Everything looks more brown, all but the cranberries are dried up.  Winter is on its way!   

Mom's visit

 
We have had such a great week.  Last Friday Nana flew in from Atlanta to help celebrate Gianna's first birthday.  It was an ordeal getting here for her.  She left Atlanta around 4:00 in the afternoon on Thursday.  After a short lay over in Denver she was on her way to Anchorage.  Landing in Anchorage around 1:00am her flight to Bethel didn't leave till 7:00.  After checking that the flight was on schedule I loaded the kids into the car and headed the mile and a half down the road to the airport.  We watched excitedly as the jet came in for landing only to begin ascending again at the last minute.  Back to Anchorage she went!  Apparently the pilot felt like the fog was too thick for a safe landing.  The next jet to Bethel wasn't until noon, however it was already full so she didn't get bumped till the evening jet that comes in around 8:00pm.  Thanks to some friends in Anchorage she did get to leave the airport for a few hours.  Finally, nearly 27 hours after leaving Atlanta she made it to Bethel, greeted by the squeals of a very excited 2 year old.  

The next day we celebrated Gianna's first birthday.  Mom made a Little Mermaid birthday cake and we had several friends over for a little party.  The next day we made Gianna's picture cake.  For Luke's first birthday someone had given me the idea of taking his picture while smashing into a cake with blue frosting.  

I loved 

the photos I got so I wanted to

do the same thing for Gianna's first birthday, but with pink frosting of course.  Gianna didn't quite tear into her cake like her brother did his first birthday, but she seemed to enjoy it in her own prissy way.

In addition to helping out with Gianna's birthday, Nana also set the stage for Luke to be fully potty trained.  He is now almost completely in big boy underwear!  Sure we still have a few accidents every now and then, and he still wants a diaper to do #2, but he is doing really well.

At least lots of rain makes for some beautiful rainbows

The weather was pretty typical Bethel most of her stay.  It rained 80% of her time here, but that was actually impressive that 20% of the time was nice enough to go out.          




We went berry picking out
on the tundra and collected enough blueberries, blackberries and cranberries to make a very tasty jam.
Saturday was definitely a tear filled day.  We were all sad to see Mom go.  It figures that on the day of her departure all the flights would be on time, no cancellations.  She is already planning her next trip back, but April won't come quickly enough.   

Maqii

Little did I know what I was about to do

       
















 As promised in my last post, this post is dedicated entirely to my first maqii experience which is Yu'pik for steaming.  As I said last time, while we were in Kipnuk we were invited to go steam.  The closest comparison I can give in our American culture is the sauna. 
The physical building the steam takes place in is just a little wooden hut.  It is divided into two rooms.  Like the houses, it isn't hooked up to any plumbing so all the water used has to be hauled in.  There is a wood burning stove in the center of the steam room which is topped with stones, and a water basin is attached to its front.  A tin can attached to a long pole is used to spoon water from the basin over the stones thus creating the steam.   
Steaming serves a couple of different purposes.  It is not only a social gathering, but a means for washing both your hair and body.  Different herbs can even be placed on the stones to help treat certain infections.  Because water is a most precious commodity and limited plumbing exists for most houses, steaming offers a water sparing way to bathe.
So we got to the steam on our second evening after a long day of seeing patients.  When we first walked in, the room we entered was like a small mud room.  There were shoes on the floor and clothes hanging on hooks up on the wall.  Two small, completely naked, little girls ran out of the steam room.  Anne looked at me, obviously excited, and I watched her for what to do next.  Then she started taking off her clothes.  I hesitated for a second then figured "what the hell?  When in Rome..."  

Cooling off

We ducked through this small door and entered into the steam room.  There were three other women, also naked, sitting on the wood floor which is raised a few feet off the ground, the stove sitting on the dirt floor ahead of us.  We brought in with us a water basin each filled with cool water so we could soak our wash cloths to cool ourselves off.  Alaskans like to steam very, very hot.  We found ourselves having to run outside to get a break from the heat.    

In my birthday suit on my birthday!!

After a refreshing run outside it was time to wash up. (No wonder Anne told me not to bother washing my hair that morning).  We filled our water basins with cool water, grabbed our shampoo and condition and body wash and ducked back into the steam room.  We added a few scoops of the hot water from the stove to our basins to warm up our cold water just enough to make it refreshing but not breath taking.  Following Anne's lead I began splashing water from my basin over my head to wet my hair.  Since my hair is so long and thick I had to dunk my hair into the basin to fully wet it.  Then shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse, body wash and final rinse.  We had to refill our basins once or twice, but all in all used considerably less water than a typical shower.  My first maqii was a great experience.  So relaxing!  Your skin just tingles after sitting in the hot steam for so long then going out into the crisp Alaskan air.  I've had a lot of people ask me if I would do it again, and the answer is "absolutely, yes!"  Really, what better way to bond with your patients and co-workers than getting naked and steaming?