"Walking In A Winter Wonderland!" (Our first big snow walks)

This post will mostly be pictures. We got two decently sized snow falls in a row so these are pictures of us walking around during and after the two.

As we start off you will notice that we have the usual gaggle of students following us with their cute faces. Usually it's younger children who follow us, in the elementary, but every now and then some of Mike's high schoolers are thrown into the mix as well.

It always starts with one or maybe two little ones, and then they slowly accumulate until we have a whole group!

 

It also often surprises us that really anyone plays with anyone. When they knock on our door to visit they are sometimes the most unlikely group of kids together.

Mike walking ahead in the snow. You can't really tell but it is snowing.

Me with the cuties.

This little girl just grabbed Mike's hand to walk with.

The little boy in this picture is one of my student's younger brothers. I didn't even know he had a little brother and he was just so darn cute!

Snow Angel in the snow! Notice the boat in the background. They pull the boats off the lagoon so they don't freeze in the water.

My first Shishmaref Snow Angel!

Now you can tell it's snowing.

It's not really that cold!

If you'll notice, we picked up two more children by this point haha.

Mike's turn!

The kids love Mike. He probably the third tallest man on this island and definitely the hairiest!

These next pictures are during the day after the next biggish snow. Eric joined us as we explored the lagoon side of the island again.

Erick and Mike in the setting sun. This is the same boat we were at the night before.

Looking back at the village. The second to last building, the tall white one, is the church.

Erick and Mike.

Snow machine, or snow go, tracks.

Mike with a boat!

"HUGE (in Shish)"

Usually I'm the one taking the pictures so I don't get to be in them.

Walking towards the ice. You can see clearly where the water begins.

I'm standing on the ice! Barely.. but it still counts.

On the ice together. We knew we were safe because we saw a snow machine drive out onto the ice just before we stepped on it. We could go out further but in honor of our parents, this is all the farther we went : )

They call piggy back riding, "amucking" here. I don't know if that's how you spell it but that is how it sounds.  The kids always ask Mike, "will you amuck me?" You have to be careful though when you say it though because "anuck" means poop.

Now this is actually on the ocean, or technically sea, side of the island. I just thought it was so stunning to see the snow and the ocean.

Here we go. Finally a picture of one of Mike's student's who joined us while we were looking out. It's nice when people join us because they always tell us stories about hunting, or myths, or warnings.

You can see the ice cicles.

This is standing in the same spot, just looking in the opposite direction.

If we walk backwards about 10 feet we would be standing on this road. The yellow building on the right is the Native Store and they greyish building next to it is part of the old school where some of the teachers live now.

Standing in the same place just turned around you can see the new playground.

Same view just zoomed out.

We handed the camera off to Erick so he could take a picture of us in the setting sun!

This one is my favorite!

I hope you now have your fill of snowy Shishmaref. It really hasn't snowed much since these snows but nothing has melted either! We will continue to post beautiful snowy pictures I am sure as they surface!