I didn't have a whole lot of pictures to choose from this week. On Thursday we had a beautiful, sunny evening with a beautiful rainbow. Tim and I were admiring it out our living room window. I decided to go outside and take a picture; however, by the time I got outside the rainbow was gone. You can still enjoy the picture of the rainbowless, beautiful, sunny, Togiak evening.
This week has been busy, but good. I only made it to cross country practice one day this week. The coach, Mike, was a bit sneaky. He called my room after school to ask me if I was coming. I told him yes and then he hung up, not telling me the plan. When I got there, he started explaining the route. It was then I realized why he got a commitment from me before telling me where we were going. We ran to the dump, up 2-hill, and back. It is 2.5 miles to the dump. 2-hill is very steep and rocky. It was also windy and rainy. All that being said, our 5+ mile run wasn't too bad. I was so proud of all the middle school runners. The first time I went to practice with them none of them even made it half way through our 3-mile route without stopping to walk and they all suddenly had twisted ankles and sore knees. Monday, however, all of them made it the 2.5 miles to the dump without stopping. They were scared out of their wits to go up 2-hill, but they went anyway, and they didn't do too bad on their way back either. Phrases like "I can't do this and this is too hard," that I heard two weeks ago had turned into "I can't do this . . . wait, yes I can. It is hard, but I can do it." I couldn't believe my ears.
We finally got word that our 4-wheeler was shipped from Anchorage to Dillingham. We were so excited to get a phone call later that day, assuming that they were telling us they were shipping it from Dillingham to Togiak. Unfortunately, the call was to tell us that our 4-wheeler didn't fit on the plane. No wonder nobody out here has a 4-wheeler as big as the one we just bought. We have tried going all sorts of different routes to get it here. You can't drive it across the tundra. Even in the winter, I don't think I would trust a 4-wheeler between Togiak and Dillingham. Bringing it on a boat could work, if we had a boat or a friend that hadn't already winterized their boat. The barge doesn't have enough stuff on it to make a trip. There is one man in Dillingham who has a plane big enough to bring it, but the price tag is also big: $1600! We're hoping that we can find some other people in need of a large plane that can split the cost with us. We've heard rumors that there might be some fencing coming out to Twin Hills (our neighboring village), maybe we can jump in on that. I guess the good news is that Tim and I are confident that when the day comes that we want to turn around an sell this 4-wheeler that it will be a hot item that goes for a good price.
I don't feel like I've told much about our week, but I don't feel like there's much to tell. We're finally getting into a bit of a routine. We love our new principal and the staff this year. We are so grateful to be getting along better with our classes and our students. We are just happy to be here and happy for the changes from last year. We just had to turn in midquarter grades, which means the school year is already 1/8th over. I can't believe how fast things are going.
This week has been busy, but good. I only made it to cross country practice one day this week. The coach, Mike, was a bit sneaky. He called my room after school to ask me if I was coming. I told him yes and then he hung up, not telling me the plan. When I got there, he started explaining the route. It was then I realized why he got a commitment from me before telling me where we were going. We ran to the dump, up 2-hill, and back. It is 2.5 miles to the dump. 2-hill is very steep and rocky. It was also windy and rainy. All that being said, our 5+ mile run wasn't too bad. I was so proud of all the middle school runners. The first time I went to practice with them none of them even made it half way through our 3-mile route without stopping to walk and they all suddenly had twisted ankles and sore knees. Monday, however, all of them made it the 2.5 miles to the dump without stopping. They were scared out of their wits to go up 2-hill, but they went anyway, and they didn't do too bad on their way back either. Phrases like "I can't do this and this is too hard," that I heard two weeks ago had turned into "I can't do this . . . wait, yes I can. It is hard, but I can do it." I couldn't believe my ears.
We finally got word that our 4-wheeler was shipped from Anchorage to Dillingham. We were so excited to get a phone call later that day, assuming that they were telling us they were shipping it from Dillingham to Togiak. Unfortunately, the call was to tell us that our 4-wheeler didn't fit on the plane. No wonder nobody out here has a 4-wheeler as big as the one we just bought. We have tried going all sorts of different routes to get it here. You can't drive it across the tundra. Even in the winter, I don't think I would trust a 4-wheeler between Togiak and Dillingham. Bringing it on a boat could work, if we had a boat or a friend that hadn't already winterized their boat. The barge doesn't have enough stuff on it to make a trip. There is one man in Dillingham who has a plane big enough to bring it, but the price tag is also big: $1600! We're hoping that we can find some other people in need of a large plane that can split the cost with us. We've heard rumors that there might be some fencing coming out to Twin Hills (our neighboring village), maybe we can jump in on that. I guess the good news is that Tim and I are confident that when the day comes that we want to turn around an sell this 4-wheeler that it will be a hot item that goes for a good price.
I don't feel like I've told much about our week, but I don't feel like there's much to tell. We're finally getting into a bit of a routine. We love our new principal and the staff this year. We are so grateful to be getting along better with our classes and our students. We are just happy to be here and happy for the changes from last year. We just had to turn in midquarter grades, which means the school year is already 1/8th over. I can't believe how fast things are going.
