Family in Kotz!!

For Thanksgiving, my Mom, Dad, Lauren, Anna, Nana and Papa all made the trek to Kotzebue. Of course, I could hardly contain myself before they arrived on Wednesday. Nana and Papa came in first on the afternoon flight, and they made their way to the Bed and Breakfast. The rest of the crew came in on the evening flight, and they got the priveledge of taking the ride home on the back of 4-wheelers. After getting settled into their apartment, we took them on a 4-wheeler ride to show them around Kotz and then took up to the top of the hill that overlooks that town so that they could see the sights and sounds of Kotzebue. Here are some of pictures of the first few night:











For the big Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, my family pretty much brought most of the spread with them. They came with suitcases full of of cans and rubbermaid tubs full of food. Michael and I did provide one thing though: the caribou roast. For the first Thanksgiving that I can remember, we did not have turkey; we went Alaska style instead and had caribou, cut from the caribou that Michael and another teacher shot earlier in the year. Here is our fabulous meal:






On Friday, Michael and I wanted to get out and show the family what it is like outside of Kotzebue. So, we decided the best thing to do would be to take the family snow-mobiling. Another teacher (the same one Michael went hunting with) offered to take the family across the ocean to his cabin up the river. We borrowed 3 snow-goes from friends around town, and we were able to take an amazing trip across the ice and through the snowy tundra. Unfortunately, Michael woke up Friday morning with the stomach flu, so he couldn't come with us on the trip. Luckily, the weather warmed up quite a bit from earlier during the week, which made it much more enjoyable for my family who is not used to the cold. On Tuesday morning the temperature was 5 below and when we went out snow-going it was 33 degrees! We even got to see a few of the Iditarod dog sled teams that live in Kotzebue. Here are pictures from the trip:







It was such an amazing weekend. It was so special to be able to show my family a little of our life. It was definitely the best Thanksgiving that I could have asked for! Here are a few more random pictures from the weekend: