Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The Last Post

Now the we have left Nunavut we have decided to start a new blog! We are going to leave this blog up since we have had so many people tell us how good the information was on here about Kugluktuk. So if you are on the blog to look at information on town, please go through the posts and hopefully you find some good stuff!

When I started this blog I think I was number six on Clare's list. Now there are dozens of blogs in Nunavut. I loved blogging and sharing our stories, especially once the baby arrived.

Our time in Nunavut was definitely an experience! Most of it was good, however we both had front line jobs which led to high levels of burnout. Had we had other types of jobs, I am sure we would have stayed up there longer. We made many great friends that we will miss greatly. My husband especially loved the elders up there and will miss them and their stories. Kugluktuk was where we bought our first house and had our first child. It will always hold a lot of memories.

So if you want to follow along with us and our new adventures over in the Yukon, you can find us at: http://wenttofaro.blogspot.com

Thanks to everyone in Kugluktuk! We enjoyed being part of the community! And thank you to the other northern bloggers for all of your entertaining comments and your own blog entries that entertained us on those long dark days!

If any of you are ever in the Yukon, please come to Faro for a visit. We have a huge house with many spare rooms just waiting for visitors!

Kara, Matt and baby Hunter

Friday, February 29, 2008

Made it!

We finally made it to Faro after all of those delays! We arrived here on Wednesday and thought we would have two weeks before Matt had to go back to work.... but no! He is headed back to work again on Monday. So we asked around town and found some people to help us unpack, assemble, and clean. That way when Matt heads out to work I can relax- well sort of! There will still be lots to do.

Our new town is very nice. The people here are quite friendly and helpful. There is not much here for services, but that doesn't bother us at all. The view out my window is spectacular- mountains, snow and trees!!

Baby Hunter is adjusting well. A young girl from the next street over came to babysit him today so I could get some work done. He loved her and spent the whole time talking away to her. Hunter is enjoying baths in our two person soaker tub. I am looking forward to putting him to bed one night and relaxing in there with a bottle of wine! Speaking of wine... so we have a little liquor store here in town, but not much of grocery store!

I am falling way behind on blog reading and emailing! But I will get there soon, so I haven't forgot about you all!

And a big thank you to Deiss!! We have no tv yet, but I found the cd's you made for me and we are enjoying the tunes.

Hope everyone is doing well! And you are all welcome to come and visit us anytime.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

February Pictures

Three more sleeps and Matt will be home! Hurray! He is flying into Fort St. John on Sunday and we will run down and get him. Monday we will drive to Watson Lake, Tuesday to Whitehorse, and Wednesday to Faro. The end is finally in sight.

We have been having a great visit here in Fort Nelson. Hunter is getting to know his cousin and they are pretty cute together. I am working away on my editing and just loving it. I think I am really going to enjoy this new job. I was worried that it would be hard with the kid at home, but whenever he naps I get to work. He is still
having two long naps each day and as those end, I will probably do more work at night after he goes to bed.

So as I promised! Pictures of the growing rodent:


Playing with cousin Damon:


He loves his cheerios and even gets the odd one to his mouth!


Hi mom!


Grandma's kitten, "Weaver", just loved Hunter!


Mom, go get the phone book so I can reach the wheel!


Sled time at Grandma and Grandpa's


Riding with Uncle Travis on the quad. Hunter grinned the whole time!


His grandpa is happy that he is a John Deere kind of kid:

Monday, February 18, 2008

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

No! Now sit down and shut your trap before I turn this vehicle around!!

Yep, its true. We are not there yet!!

Matt has been extended at work for another week. He should be back to us this coming weekend (keep your fingers crossed!). I am now in Fort Nelson visiting my brother and his family. They also have high speed internet so I can get some work done! I will try and get some new pictures loaded up on here soon to give you all your baby Hunter fix! It has now been over a month since we left Kugluktuk. That is a long time to live out of a suitcase. But I guess the house isn't going anywhere, so I need to sit back and relax!

My email is working again, so I will try and get caught up on all of the emails everyone has sent our way. Hope everyone is doing great!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

On the road again soon!

Hello Everyone!

Matt will be back on Thursday from his first work stint. Friday morning we will start our drive up to our new home. We will go to Fort Nelson for the weekend to visit with my brother and his family. Monday we will go to Watson Lake for the night, Tuesday we will go to Whitehorse for the night, and then hopefully (fingers crossed) we will be in Faro on Wednesday. The keys for my new house arrived last week and have been taunting me ever since!

Hunter sure has grown in the few weeks since we left Kugluktuk. He now has 5 teeth and number 6 should be through soon. He can wiggle himself around on the floor pretty good, but no signs of crawling yet. Yesterday he figured out how to flip himself backwards over a breastfeeding pillow. It was similar to a backwards summersault with a half twist! I gave him a 8.5 out of 10 for it! I will post pictures when I get real internet in the new house.

We hope everyone is doing well out there! I will keep in better contact when I get settled up in Faro. Have a great week!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

One week down!

Matt has been gone for one week today. It has gone pretty quickly! I have been here taking care of the circus at my folks place- 5 cats, 2 dogs, the boy and my dad. My mom has been down on Vancouver Island visiting her folks and will be back on Friday. I am looking forward to the company!

It is really peaceful out here. My parents live on 320 acres 50km from Dawson Creek. It is nice to look out my windows and just see trees and snow instead of my neighbours and their skidoo graveyard. It is feeling a bit like Nunavut though! The temperature has been around -40 for the few days. Inside with the wood furnace and wood cookstove I am nice and toasty!

Hunter is wonderful company and keeps me pretty entertained. He is finally loving bath time and has learned to splash instead of scream. So we are having baths every night. My moms new kittens play with him... well I guess they use him more like a wiggly piece of furniture. Hunter loves to pet.. errr grab them! But they don't attack him too bad for it.

Hunter has been saying dadadadada all week long. And when he gets really pissy he screams it. I think he is hoping that dad will come and rescue him soon! He is also doing something so cute it makes me giggle everytime he does it. Whenever I burp him on my shoulder, he reaches out and whacks at me with an open hand too. I guess he is trying to burp me!

I have volunteered to go into the elementary school that I attended as a kid to do a presentation on Nunavut next Tuesday. I think it is going to be a riot!! People that I went there with now have their own kids in the school. It is still just as small as when I went there. 45 kids in kindergarden through to grade 7.

I wish I could attach some pictures here, but that will have to wait until I get myself to town. I hope to go in next week and do some emailing and upload some pictures. And yes, my email for some reason won't work. I can read your emails, so please keep them coming!! But when I reply, all people can read is the subject line.

And congratulations to Jen and Jackie on the Nunies!! I am looking foward to reading your acceptance speeches.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Damn email!

My folks have dial up internet! Arggg!! It is slooooww. And for some reason when I send an email in Hotmail the subject line comes through, but no email! I was just trying to let everyone know that I am waiting here at my folks place for the next month. Matt is going to work earlier than expected and there wasn't enough time to get moved into the new house. He is now working three weeks on and three weeks off. He should get back here around the 16th of February and we will haul everything to Faro then.

So with this super duper slow internet I will disapear off the face of the planet for quite a while!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

You want him to start work when??

We arrived safe and sounds at my folks place after leaving Kugluktuk on Monday. We shopped for two days to find all of the stuff I hadn't ordered on boxing day. We had the trailer all packed and we were ready to drive up north to take ownership of our new home on the 22nd. And then Matt asks me to check his email to see if his new employer had sent any information. Well they did. They want him to start work on the 23rd. Well that just isn't enough time to get into our new house, unload everything we bought, and then drive him into Whitehorse to catch the plane over to the NWT for work. Solution? Hunter and I are going to live at my folks place for the next month!! I haven't lived at home in 10 years! So this should be pretty interesting! Matt's new employer is going to fly him out of Grande Prairie and he is headed to an oil site north of Norman Wells for three weeks. I am sure Hunter is going to enjoy his extended vacation with his Grandparents, but I think I am going to go nuts waiting that extra month to get into my new house!

Now I have lots of time to visit with my Dawson Creek Buddies (hi Curries!!)

So if anyone wants to visit, please do! I am at my folks place until the middle of February!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Well it is 2:30am.

We were just woken by an unbelievably drunk retard who nearly banged our door in. That literally scared the shit out of me.

All of the sadness that I had about leaving is seriously gone. Replaced with excitement for my new town with nil crime rate.

I love our RCMP.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Our Last Night

This is it! We are leaving Nunavut tomorrow and headed to the Yukon. Exciting times ahead I tell you.

We have had a great last couple of days. Our house has been full of friends visiting and we have made the rounds around town to say our goodbyes. Last night we had a great party up here; the house was pretty busy until after midnight. It has been hard to say goodbye to the amazing friends we have made here. Tomorrow out at the airport is going to be tough. I think I will probably just bawl my eyes out.

Kugluktuk was good to us. We will always have fond memories of our time here. It is where we bought our first house, had our first child, shot our first caribou.... so many firsts! Everyone we pass on the street says it is too soon for us to leave, but we are ready for the new jobs, house and life ahead of us. We are leaving with memories and stories galore.

Thank you to all of the friends we made while we lived here in Nunavut. We felt blessed to have you all in our lives.

Updates will follow as soon as we get settled. We should arrive in Faro on the 22nd. And don't worry- we will keep blogging!


love Kara, Matthew and baby Hunter

Friday, January 11, 2008

Best Friday Ever

So now you are wondering- why is this the Best Friday Ever?

Well first, the boy slept most of the night. Second, we went for bannock at the Health Centre. Third, all of the jars of jam I made last night all sealed (pictures to follow soon). Fourth, one of my favorite elders in town came running out of her house as we walked by and gave Hunter a cute pair of slippers. Fifth, we are going out for supper tonight with a great RCMP family. Sixth, we got word from the lawyers that all of our ducks are in a row for the house selling/buying. And now for the big number 7.....

Today is our last mortgage payment!! But Kara, you ask... aren't you buying a new home? Well yes, but guess what! We are paying cash for it! That is right! No more mortgage payments! We will own this new house outright and I am so proud. We have worked hard since getting out of University to pay off our huge (seriously huge, as in 6 digits) student loans. So my husband has been out of school since 2001, and myself since 2003 and we have done it. Paid off our students loans, paid off our first house and bought our second house.

Now let me tell you more about our new house. It is huge. 2300 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, attached garage, huge yard, wood fireplace, laminate flooring, ceramic tile.... Oh my it just has everything! Can you tell I am just a wee bit excited?

Living room:


Kitchen: (I am looking forward to renovating this one day!)


Downstairs:


My walk in closet in master bedroom:


Master Bedroom:


Main entrance:


Two person soaker tub in the upstairs bathroom (this sold me on the house!)


Downstairs bathroom:


Cute husband!


Our backyard. There is a playground down there!


Road our house is on:


The house!!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Faro

Here is a great picture of our new town!

Now you see why I am so excited to get there?

Sleep

Hunter is sleeping great. Me? Well not so much! I think I am just too excited for the move, which is only in 5 days. I have been up since 2am and it is just past 6 now. But at least I was productive. I did some editing for my new job and returned some emails.

Yesterday was Matt's last day of work and he was pretty happy about it. They had a cake for him and I went down too. He is really looking forward to the move and new employment. I think we have everything in place for the big day. It looks like both house deals are going through without a hitch (knock on wood)! Everything that we ordered for the new house on boxing day is showing up down south, just waiting for us to pick it up. I have insured the new truck and the quad trailer, lined up utilities, canceled the utilities up here, arranged hotels, signed lawyers papers.... and a million other things. I still have a long to-do list though!

The next five days are full of visiting. We have been invited out for a few suppers between now and when we leave. We are also having a big shin-dig at our place on Saturday night to say good-bye to everyone. I am sure that will be a hoot. I am going to miss so many people from Kugluktuk. Hopefully a few of them will make it to the Yukon sometime for a visit.

It is hard to believe how fast the 2 and a half years went up here. And the two years before that in the NWT. So we are off to the last Territory!

Anyone have any good advice for travelling with kitties? We drugged them to fly up here and it was horrible. The one cat got so cold I thought she was going to die, and the other one couldn't move, but meowed the entire trip. I don't think we are going to drug them this time, but if you have advice to pass along, please do! You know, I am wondering if these are the first kitties to live in all three territories!

And for your cute baby picture of the day, here is Hunter in his Roughriders outfit he got from our friends Ian and Angie down in Saskatoon.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday to fellow blogger Tina!

We hope you have a great day today!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Family Pictures

It finally warmed up enough today to go out and get some nice family pictures. It was only -17C with a windchill of -26C. That is the warmest it has been I think since early November!

Our friend, Amanda, walked up the hill with us to get some pictures with this inukshuk. Thanks Amanda! Now I have been playing with iphoto to tweak all of the pictures. Here are the best ones:






This one is my favorite!


Daddy's Little Boy:


The boy wasn't too happy to come out of his nice warm little home!

Arctic Sushi!

Well actually, it was just my attempt at a California roll. It turned out pretty good for my first try! I saw a post from Open Head Space last year and decided that I needed to give it a try. There wasn't much in town for filling so I only had cucumber. But the best part was the smoked char that I put in it! We smoked and froze a bunch of fish this summer and that was the last of our char. I definitely need to get a better knife for cutting though!


Are we bad parents....

For doing this?

Monday, December 31, 2007

Two Weeks and Counting

Two weeks from today we will be leaving Nunavut! Plane tickets are booked, truck is bought, house deals are going through.... my gosh, this is actually happening!

I spent all of boxing day shopping online for everything for our new house. Between The Brick, London Drugs, Costco and Sears I have found almost everything we need. I got some great deals on our furniture and electronics. Then from London Drugs I got all of the small stuff like cleaning and baking supplies. One quick stop to Ikea in Edmonton for some shelving and a quick run into a Walmart and we are done! I am so glad I was able to shop online. Now our time can be spent with family! We have a week between the closing of this house and the closing of our new house so we will hang out in Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson with family. This is so exciting!

Here is Hunter with our Nunavut license plate for our new truck! We had to register it up here since we bought it all before we moved. I am sure there aren't many Nunavut license plates going around down south!

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Nunies Are Here!

Oh this is fun!! Clare up in Arctic Bay is having a contest about Nunavut Bloggers! Here are the details:

In celebration of Blogging in Nunavut I'm introducing the Nunies in conjunction with Nunavut Blogs!. The Nunies are a simple recognition of the best that blogging in Nunavut has to offer. Here is how it works...

From now until January 21st, 2008 there will be the opportunity to nominate blogs in two categories:
1) Best Nunavut Blog
2) Best New Nunavut Blog (the blog must have started in 2007)

and a third category for...
3) Best post of 2007

To nominate blogs for the first two categories send an email to the Nunavut Blogs! email address nunavutblogs AT yahoo DOT ca. You can nominate up to five blogs but you can only make one submission. Oh yeah, The House and other Arctic musings, is ineligible to be nominated... my award, my rules.

To nominate the best post of 2007 send a link to the post to the same email address. To be eligible for the two blog categories the blog must be primarily about Nunavut, written by someone living in Nunavut, or written by an expatriot Nunavumiut now living elsewhere. The post can have the additional criteria of being a post about Nunavut, not necessarily by a blog falling into one of those other categories.

After January 21st the top five nominees will be posted and voting will open for a week, with the Winners being announced in the beginning of February. What do the winners get??? Not much really, a nifty badge to post on their blog (that I've yet to design), a little promotion of their blog, and dinner for two at the House, should they ever make it up this way. If anyone else wants to donate a prize you can let me know.

Please spread the word, so as many people as possible take part in the nominations/voting.




I am addicted to northern blogs. I check them nearly everyday. Sometimes twice a day. Good thing some people post often to keep me entertained! I just have to share my nominations. It was a tough decision cause I love you all so much! :)

Okay for #1- Best Nunavut Blog- I nominate Larry (aka. Bob for telling it like it is!), Footprints (neat to see a view on Nunavut that isn't your traditional "kablunak" experience), WayWayUp (I feel like I learn a bit of culture from Darcy- I grew up redneck so know little about classical music and history!), and Jen of Nunavut (her pictures are outstanding and I love her cat, Norman).
#2- Best New Nunavut Blog- Nunavut Uncensored. Nice for people to have an anonymous place to vent without fear of losing their job. Thanks ArcticAgent.

And for #3- well I have to nominate myself for the entry on the birth of our son. Of course I think that was the best post of the whole year!
http://wenttokugluktuk.blogspot.com/2007/06/introducing-hunter-gillis-went.html


Now I would like everyone out there to email in your nominations! And make sure you vote for the birth of our baby boy for the third category!

Happy Voting Everyone!
ps. Tina- since you aren't in Nunavut I cannot vote for you- but I love your blog! Your boys are adorable!

pps. Jen of Nunavut has a contest going on too, but I want to win it, so you cannot enter ;p

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

What A Great Day!

It really was a great day!! We were up at 6am when Hunter got up to eat. We opened up presents and were all back down for a nap at 8am! Hunter was pretty cute trying to open up presents and eat the paper.

After the nap I got everything ready for Christmas Supper. We had 12 other people over and it was such a wonderful evening. I cooked a monstrous 27lb turkey and it was delicious. So we all ate, drank and were merry. I am really going to miss our friends here in Kugluktuk when we leave!


Our first family Christmas:


Me and my boy:


Dressed up with dad! Thanks for the present Nannie Gillis!


Our friend Lori gave him this cute Santa hat today:


Hey mom! Look at all of my presents!


Screw the present Ma, give me the paper!!


The kid could not get enough of the paper!


Adorable in Christmas pj's


Kitties love Christmas too!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Santa Claus is comin' to town!

I love parades in town! I heard the sirens as they went around the lower part of town, so I got my camera ready. Once the siren seemed loud enough I ran outside and got some pictures of Santa!!


Here he comes!!



Santa has to use the fire truck to give the reindeer a rest before the big day!



A parade isn't a parade unless the cops are involved! heheheh



And there are always trucks full of people shouting well wishes!



And my favorite- the line of skidoos that grows longer and longer as the parade moves through town!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Lobster Night in Kugluktuk

Matthew calls me from work on Wednesday afternoon and asked what was for supper. I said I had a nice moose roast in the crockpot. He replies with "well I really want frozen pizza!" Okay, this is weird, he never wants pizza, but ah well! So I tell him I will just use the roast for lunches and he can bring home whatever he wants for supper. Well my wonderful husband brought me home lobster!! His supervisors husband was in Nova Scotia that week and brought back a heap of live lobster and we bought a bunch of them. What a treat!


What is this thing mom??


Oh Pinchy, I love you!


I don't want to die!!! This lobster poo'ed on my floor before hitting the pot!


I didn't lose my sock mom... the lobster ate it!