Spring Carnival

This past weekend Galena held the Spring Carnival. This is a festival that most people get out and go down to the frozen river and watch Sled dog races, snow shoe races, cross country skiing, Kids money toss and some other fun activities. Keith and I got to help out with the check stations for the dog sled races so that was a lot of fun! During the races, we all hang out on the side of the river and enjoy the warmer weather and the sun shine. It was around 15 degrees and the sun felt so nice. We had a good time cheering on the teams.

Keith heading out to the Check station

Dog sled teams heading out

Kaden playing in the snow(he looks like it is cold but he just likes to wear his face mask)

Cheering on Jacob as he races by

Kaitlyn, Kaden and I hanging out in the snow

Kaitlyn and Kaden digging in the Ice in the river.

Keith and Sable playing in the snow. Sable said "It would take a 100 years to bury Keith in the snow" Keith is her buddy.

Spring has Sprung..... Sort of!

Well I am told Spring is here, and if the weather is any way of telling I believe it is coming! The weather is warming up to above 0 degrees and it is Sunny outside so that means we all go out to enjoy the warm sun and play in the snow! Since playing in the snow with the temperature at -20 results in you eyelids freezing shut you or I should say I do not go out to play in the snow that much. But since the weather is warming up Kaden and I venture out with Keith every afternoon when he gets home from work. Here are some different times we have gone sledding and snow-machining enjoying the warmer weather.

Sledding down our drive way

Making a Snow Angel

Kaden's Angel

Walking to a hill to go sledding

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Daisy enjoying the sun and the fun!

Me taking the Snow-machine for a ride!

Heading out on a real ride

Anybody here Irish?

Though none of us were Irish we figured we really didn't need a good reason to have a St. Patrick's Day party. Melanie, a coworker of Keith through a fun party with yummy food and fun company. We ate some awesome Corn beef and Cabbage and of course we had some delicious desserts. I made a Chocolate cake and decorated it with M&M's. It was delicious and I guess everyone liked it because none came home with us.

My Lucky Cake

Eating some great food!

Melanie decorated so cute and festive

Africa in Galena

Thursday night we had Sign Language class at the Huntington's home. Tammy is the Doctor in Galena and her husband Andrew is deaf. She started having classes at her house to teach people how to sign and Andrew helps a lot. Keith and I have both taken Sign Language classes in High School so we both decided we would attend the class. I have been once before when Keith was out of town but this week we went together.

The night was fun and even made me laugh when in the middle of my signing I pause because on the radio upstairs where the kids are playing I start hearing "Jambo Jambo Bwana, Habari gani? Nzuri Sana. Wagani Wakalibishwa Kenya yetu Hakuna Matata." Yeah Swahilli songs were playing on the radio!!! I WAS VERY SHOCKED! So was everybody else since I actually knew what was being sung.

Swahili is in Galena and so are a bunch of people that are African and have lived in Africa. There is a lady named Isabella who is an Afrikaaner, well actually she became a U.S. citizen a few weeks ago so she is technically a Amerikann now. There is a Brother at the Catholic church and he was a Missionary in Zaire for 10 years and he traveled a lot to Zambia so it was fun talking to him. There is a lady that was a MK(Missionary Kid) to West Africa. Then there is Barry the preacher that actually started the Bible Church that we attend, He is now a Pastor in Oregon now but he comes out to preach every once in a while. Anyways he has gone to Kenya and Tanzania a few times on mission trips and actually worked with the Arensens that I actually went to school with their kids. SMALL WORLD!!!! Who would have thought that many people in Galena Alaska have been to places in Africa where I have been!

Hamburger Hazzards

The best way to question your ability to cook is to invite 8 people over for dinner and the food not turn out! After last week of the Pizza dough not rising and being able to use my tortillas for Frisbees, I should have attempted to make Hamburger buns before I try them out on someone else.

On Tuesday afternoon, Karin and Tim Bodony(our neighbors) and her mom and Dad came over to watch the end of the Iditarod on TV. It was great to have others there to Cheer on Lance Mackey for his 4th consecutive win. I felt privileged to get to meet him. Anyways, Everybody was over here and I had already planned Hamburgers for dinner and I had enough for everyone I just had not made the Hamburger buns. So we invited them to stay for dinner.

Well I guess I should have used my mom's recipe but I figured it was twice as big as I really needed. So I used a DIFFERENT recipe and it flopped. It did not rise at all, if possible it actually shrank!!! WHAT DO I DO NOW! I have 8 people coming for dinner and all I have ready are the Hamburger patties and those were actually pre-bought and pre-frozen so how bad could I mess those up? I guess after my dough didn't rise Keith didn't trust me to cook the burgers because he ended up cooking those patties himself.hahahaha Now I am really feeling good about my ability to cook! Well thankfully Keith was still at work before he started to cook the burgers and I called him and asked him to go to our grocery store to find ANY kind of bread. Our local Grocery store is similar to a Family Dollar just 4X more expensive and you are not guaranteed to have fresh products there. Thankfully they did have hamburger buns though I bet that if my Aunt Robin would have sent me some Fudruckers buns they would have made it here and still be soft.(Oh to have a Fudruckers here in Galena!) Anyways back to my story...Keith used to be a expiration date person but choosing bread here you have to ignore the dates and choose between hard, harder and hardest. Then when you get home you toast the buns so you think that the buns are hard because of the toasting and not because they are actually hard as hockey pucks.
Karin was so sweet saying we could have had flat bread burgers but after 2 months without a burger I WANTED MY BURGER TO LOOK AND TASTE LIKE A BURGER!!!!!! Let me tell you those burgers were the best burgers I have had in a long time! We had a great dinner of Burgers and Fries and a wonderful Berry Crisp that Karin made and wonderful fellowship with friends.

Since my dough didn't rise I figures I could at least make biscuits from the dough so not to waste it. Who would have thought that Hamburger buns that flop would actually make delicious biscuits. Keith even said "They were the best biscuits he has ever had" I am not sure he really meant that and I didn't really believe him but I must say they were gone before I even realized it so there must have been some truth behind his statement.

So my lesson learned this week was to try out recipes BEFORE you invite people over for dinner!

Iditarod Comes to Town

Well I am still pumped up after an AWESOME weekend of the Great Iditarod race coming through Galena. For those of you who don't know much about the Iditarod I have researched it to give you a bit of Information about it.

The Iditarod started out as a route from Seward to Nome during the Gold Rush of 1920's. Settlers, Miners and people getting rich from the miners were all traveling by sled dogs. They used the dogs to carry all their supplies and all the mail to the remote mining camps in Alaska. In 1925 an epidemic of Diphtheria broke out and the trail was used as a lifesaving trail to get the serum to all the people that were suffering from Diphtheria. Well the route by dog sled was eventually replaced by the use of Planes and Snow machines (snowmobiles for you southerners.=))Anyways in 1967 Dorothy G. Page came up with the idea of a race to celebrate the Centennial of Alaska. The first run of the Iditarod began in 1973. From then till now they have continued the race to remember the history of Alaska. This year there were 72 teams each with 12-16 dogs. Each team has a bunch of rules to follow during the trail but by the end of the trip they must have at least 5 dogs. These Mushers face the hardship of the Alaska wild for 10-17 days while they trek across country in a 1,150 mile trip. If you were driving straight it is actually only a 650 miles but the twist and turns they take make it out to be 1,150 miles.

Some of the great racers that are racing this year are Jeff King who has 4 wins and a fastest record holder in 1998. Lance Mackey has won the last 3 years in a row and has a fastest record holder in 2007. And Hugh Neff holds the Rookie of the Year award for 2004.

Galena Community Center~Iditarod Check Point

Me and Kaden watching the Teams come across the Yukon River

Jeff King crossing the River being the first Team to arrive in Galena

Jeff King arriving

Bedding down his dogs

Jeff King

Lance Mackey arriving in Galena

Lance Mackey bedding down his dogs
Lance Mackey
Hugh Neff arriving in Galena

Hugh Neff Feeding his dogs

So now that you know the basic history of the Iditarod we can get back to my story. On Friday afternoon, Keith, Kaden, and I went up to our Community Center where the Check point for all the teams was. Each team must check in at each check point and then have the option of continuing on to the next point or they can take a rest and feed their dogs. Along the way there are certain amounts of lay over’s that each team must do, but each musher can choose when they make those stops. Jeff King was the first musher to arrive at Galena check point. He was an 1.5 hours ahead of Lance Mackey and Mackey was 20 minutes in front of Hugh Neff. While at the community center, Keith and I volunteered to help. I got to write in the times on the big charts. It made me feel important.

Me writing in the Times of Mackey and Neff

When the first three Mushers got in to the community center for a few hours of break, we all got to meet them and even eat with them! Yes I was SOOOOOO excited to actually say i ate dinner with Hugh Neff and Lance Mackey. Hugh Neff even asked me to become a Facebook friend. Jeff King was not as friendly and did not sit and chat with the people around, but Mackey and Neff were really nice and even took a picture with me a totally tourist. I guess the rest of the Galena never thought to get pictures with these guys because many people were asking me for copies of pictures of me with these two guys. Made me laugh and made me stand out as a total tourist, but Hey I was having a BLAST!

The guys checking out their times

Me and Mackey and Neff

We even got to eat dinner with a man that was WALKING let me say that again... WALKING the 1,150 miles! Not only that but he was walking it at NIGHT in the dark, with wolves and all by himself. There were actually two guys walking and even a few people riding Bicycles on the trail. Yeah I have not figured that one out since there is snow everywhere. Riding a bike seems like a hard task to do in a few feet of snow.

This man is the one walking!

Saturday, Keith went up early to help shovel hay and lead dogs to their rest area. He was busy keeping the dogs happy. Kaden and I went to join him around 11:00am and I made some cornbread to go with some of the soups that other ladies in the town made.

Another team arriving

Dogs getting a rest and bedding down

Kaden watching the Dogs sleeping

Checking out the dogs

Kaden trying on some Seal Mittens from Mr. Jason

Making a scary face.