Wrestling almost done!

As you can read by the title of this post my wrestling season is almost done! Last weekend we had the elementary and middle school championships in Noatak. I took 8 wrestlers, 5 elementary/middle school and 3 high schoolers. Teams that had open seats on their plane brought high school wrestlers to get them some much needed extra mat time. When the closest school is a 25 min flight away you pick up matches whernever you can. Out of my five wrestlers that were competing I had three make the podium and one finish 4th. I had a first place, a second place and a third place. I am extremely proud of theses wrestlers they have worked hard all season and this was pay off time. I am glad some were able to have success and bring some pride and hardware back to Kiana. The funny part of this tournament is that they decided to award team championships for elementary and middle school, while all other teams brought 8 wrestler max, (one plane load) Kotezebue brought 36 wrestlers....gee I wonder who won the team championships?? Even if every one of my kids took first we still would not have won the team championships.....ohhhh bush Alaska! My season will finish with the high school championships in Kotzebue on Dec 1st. Practice will probably not happen this week because basketball is starting and the gym is being painted. Basketball is king in bush Alaska, everyone plays, everyone should coach (in their minds), and "if coach would have played them more they would have won state" . Those places you here about where parents and communities get in fights and brawls over high school sports, that happens over basketball in the bush. I'm really looking forward to basketball season because i'm not coaching!







We had a short week in school due to thanksgiving. It is amazing how the short weeks often feel like the longest weeks! The kids were rowdy and not wanting to be in school. All the kids could think about is where they were going or what they were going to do on their days off. Finally the week ended and it was time for thanksgiving! This was my first major holiday away from my family! It took me 29 years to have a holiday without my family. Obviously we are a tight knit family, I am sure this holiday was harder on my mother than me. As for my part I had great thanksgiving! The staff at school all pitched in and we had thanksgiving dinner together. On my part I brought some bread and layered jello. It was my first time making the jello and with the guidance from my mother I was a able to make a decent dessert. We had a great dinner with all the trimmings. The people I was sharing the day were with great! They're amazing people who are my adopted family here and they really made it a great day. Of course I ate too much and was stuffed but I have started my workouts for the week trying to get 6 days in this week so I can work all this pumpkin pie off!



Saturday night all the teachers got together again and we had a nice bonfire in the middle of our housing complex. It was a great bonding time for us and it was pretty warm out! It was about -9, standing close to the fire I had to take my coat off so I wouldn't get too hot! We roasted hotdogs and made smores. We had some kids there as well and it is always fun to see them at a bonfire. It was a great ending to the week. Today is Sunday, I have been watching my neighbors dogs for 4 days. I don't mind because they have a tv and satellite, so I am sitting here with two german shepherds watching the Seahawks game! What a great Sunday! Thank you so much for reading my blog and being interested in what is happening in my life.