Day 2-1/2 of the Running Club Trip

So, another busy day has come and is winding down. We started off walking down to the West Broadway Youth Centre on Furby Street to collect our running kits and t-shirts. The girls are very excited and keep swearing that they will kick my proverbial behind in the run. ha ha, we shall see!

From the run centre, we took a taxi to the Polo Place shopping mall, and had a good day of shopping and browsing. The girls were able to get most of what they wanted, so that was good. And best, there was a Black's camera shop and they charged my camera battery for a small fee. It felt good to be able to capture our trip on film once again! It had begun to rain as we left but we hoped it would clear for the ball game, We ordered in KFC for dinner...yummy but so not good for the diet, LOL!

We walked in sunshine (yay!) to Shaw Park for the game.

The girls wanted their photo with the mascot of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, Goldie himself. He was very happy to oblige us with some shots. And I had them announce a welcome to the Paatsaali Running Club from Nunavut during the game.

I gave the girls a little bit of spending splurge money so they could get a souvenir. I had "helping hands" to spare, LOL! My sillies, pictured below! :-D 

They were the happiest at the end of the game because (a) we won!, and (b) they got autographs and photos from almost all of the players, who were great sports and very patiently signed everything from tickets to iPods to foam hands as mementos for the girls. 

They were certainly happy! 

A walk home, cheering back to the cars full of fans that passed us. I know I'll be in bed early tonight, LOL! 

All in all, a great second full day. The Assiniboine Zoo tomorrow and our run on Sunday!

TTFN!

Terri and the gang.

Our Running Club Trip...Day 1-1/2

Well, first off let me explain the 1-12...we left about 3:00 pm on Wednesday and arrived in the Peg around 6:00 pm Winnipeg time after having to land in La Grande to refuel, and then were too busy to post. Long story about the fuel, the short form is Sanikiluaq and Kuujjuarapik are short on jet fuel so have to divert to La Grande for a couple of weeks until the Hercules arrives with more. Now THAT will be a big town event! Anyhow, here's a shot of us gathering prior to departure...

...and all ready for take-off! Woohoo, our first official Sports Club Trip!!!!

And our refuel wait in La Grande...

It was beautiful in Winnipeg, just like summer. I looked awfully funny getting off the plane in my parka...

Anyhow, we got to the hotel without any major incidents and went out in search of dinner. Well, for a big area like the downtown core, you'd have thought we would see restaurants everywhere...

Nope.

We did finally find a Subway after walking about 20 blocks, so we got in some 

good exercise after the long trip. Then we went to see "The Hunger Games" at 10:30 pm. Late night!

This morning, we donned our runners at 8:30, after breakfast, and went walking in search of Mulvey School to see where the run will take place. Never found the school, but we found the corner we needed to turn down. I called it on account of us already being well past the time allotted. I had guesstimated a mile, it was closer to two, so we walked almost 4 miles. Then we were off to the Manitoba Museum of Man with a planetarium and a science centre as well. Cool! 

We got to see the show, "To the Moon" in the planetarium and it was fun to reminisce about the landings and watching the moon walk at Auntie June's cottage. Then a bite of lunch and a trip through the Science exhibits...here the girls are in the pulley chairs, showing how the double and triple pulleys reduce the load and can lift a large load with ease. Yep, I tried it, too!

We followed that with a trip to the Inuit Centre and a visit with some of the people from Sanikiluaq who are in Winnipeg on medical trips. What a wonderful surprise...one of the nurses has a Nunavut flag and gave it to us to carry on our run! I will need to get MANY photos (see subsequent post on shopping trip reschedule). Dinner and back to the hotel to refresh and a run up to the Dollorama store, which I bought out. I may not fit all of my junk into a suitcase, LOL! I have an eye to expanding the canteen at recess and bought a LOT of junk to try...bubble gum, suckers, tootsie rolls, sour candies, different chocolate bars, and so on. It will sell well, especially as much of it will only be 25 cents.

Tomorrow we are changing from zoo to shopping as I have a dead camera battery. Had my charger in my hand and put it BESIDE the suitcase, not IN the suitcase...DERP! So off to Future Shop to get a new one. And shop, and shop, and shop, and eventually drop. We are then going to see a Winnipeg Goldeyes game which will be fun. More need for photos.

So I'm off to bed, and so are the charges in my care, and we are having a great time!

TTFN!

Terri

Where, oh where, is the nicer weather?

Today

• -1°C
• 60%
• Mon

• -2°C
• -4°C
• 30%

Tue

• 2°C
• -3°C
• 30%

Wed

• 2°C
• 0°C

Thu

• 3°C
• -2°C
• 60%

 

So, the reason for my rant is obvious...I am so heartily sick of cold, wet, windy weather. Sigh...

I am officially using a cane these days. The hip injury in January was a torn muscle that has not healed due to continuous use. The cane is helping, although the kids all tell me I look old now. Starting to feel that way too, LOL!

The girls and I are looking forward to our trip, with a scheduled departure set for 2:00 pm on Wednesday. I will post updates and photos. My senior boys are eagerly planning their trip in October. I am proud to say we ahve fundraised to the tune of nearly $7000 so far. Woohoo for us!

It seems strange to find the end of the year so close to us now. I am already planning for the first weeks back. I have my homeward tickets booked, am planning summer outings and so on, so it should feel close. But it has not felt like a full year here. It seems like just a couple of months have passed and yet it's almost time for year end! Strange thing, this fluidity and lack of continuity in the sensation of time passing. I remember how summers (and school years) were endless as a kid. Now they are just a brief flash in the pan and gone...

Anyhow, not much else is new, so I'll keep you posted on the Winnipeg happenings!

TTFN!

Terri

Finally!

The snow is about half melted, and I can now see the ice in the harbour peeking out from under its winter blanket. There are birds chirping and every sign that spring has not forgotten us up here in the tundra. My Honda and I are sporting the latest in designer fashion by wearing matching (mud)beige polka-dots on all our clothing, LOL! With the hills here, everything is melting and running down the roads, leaving puddles and small rivers everywhere. Needless to say, I splash through a lot of them riding back and forth, ergo the fashionable splatter-look. I am driving more this year as I think that is what kept the battery from keeping its charge last year. Ta-dum, I love my Honda!

The preparations for our 5K racing trip are well in hand. We have bought out the canteen, and are now running it daily. I am ordering in supplies and keeping my accounting records straight. Still waiting on the cheque from Sport Nunavut but we fortunately have raised enough to have been able to book our hotel and pay for our airline tickets out of our account. If all else fails, I will use one dedicated credit card for our expenses and simply sign out the cash to pay it off as soon as the cheque arrives (it's in the mail, natch!) We fly out on May 30th, and our itinerary includes a day at the Manitoba Museum, a day at the Assiniboine Zoo, a Goldeyes baseball game, some time exercising and scoping out the race course, and of course some quality shopping and movie time at Portage Place Mall. I am VERY excited, and so are the first four lucky runners! At least four more going to Montreal in October for a 10K, and maybe more if we can afford it. We now have 18 registered runners in the club and growing. I may have to break into Junior and Senior divisions...

Today I finally had my own first really good run in a long time. My hip is still bothering me, and I may have pulled or torn a ligament. I cannot lift my leg very well, and it is impossible to bend it to the side. I have to put my clothing on the floor to step into, and I find it challenging to put on socks or slippers. The left leg is fine, but the right one needs some TLC. Anyhow, after limping through a bare mile for the last few weeks I ran 4 miles today, a full hour, and felt like I could have gone much longer. I decided not to push it and left it feeling smugly content with myself.

Lots of fundraising ahead of us: Movie Nights every Saturday, two Music Nights, one Arctic Records concert night, and two cakewalk/yarn pull nights with another community showing of the film "People of a Feather" starring our own Mary Kavik's family here in Sanikiluaq. It will be coming with me for family showing this summer. Nice to be able to show others my town and community members!

We're also down to our last few weeks in the school calendar! Where has the year flown? I have my tickets home booked and paid, and my plans for several jaunts hither and yon made. I am most looking forward to my trip to Thailand. Now if only the price of the tickets would begin to drop...

Off to eat some lunch after my run...brought the fixings with me to work and I'll go get everything ready in the kitchen. The Jell-o and the monster cookies are made for tonight's movie, my canteen cart has been inventoried, pop is chilling in the fridge and we are set to roll.

TTFN!

Terri

The Science Fair in photos.

So, the Science Fair has come, yay, and gone, double yay! for another year. And what a fair it was!

It filled the senior gym and though our tables looked less full than last year, they were twice as large and we actually had a lot more stuff. The community came and everyone was amazed. We had two graduate students from University of Ottawa up with the group, "Science Travels". They helped out immensely, and they said it was the best Science Fair they had ever seen. I also taught them a few tricks, so I felt kind of impressed with lil' old meself, yes I did!

As usual, I included a few visual aids on the posters...

Ha, ha, yes, I crack myself up!

This is one of the Sound Discovery tables.

Our Density table, where the kids can make density columns, float eggs, and check out the sink/float relationship beyween pop and diet pop.

Experimenting with magnets...

This is my "hologram" display, at the Light Discovery table.

 The frog is actually INSIDE the bowl, at the bottom.

This is a clip of our students walking on eggs.

The Bubble Table...where we make square bubbles, giant bubbles, tetrahedrons, and

of course, wrap kids up in bubbles!

Air Discovery table before...

...and during... 

My invaluable helpers from U of Ottawa...this is Dave Mandia...

...and our marksman, Justin "Yes I'm the Beebs" Renaud.

 You have to try this one...

Take a plastic beer cup Poke a hole in the bottom.

Cut a piece of string about 18" long.

Thread string through the hole and tie a knot so the knot is inside

the cup and string is hanging out the bottom.

Wet the string and your fingers. Pull the string.

You will know when you have done it right!

More sound discoveries...

 The ball tower and spark generator at Stephen's display.

Our "Newton's Nightmare"...drop a magnet through a metal tube.

It takes forever for it to drop out...

My infamous "Bed of Nails" poster for my balloons!

Sigh...clean-up time at the end. Thank heavens for helpers!

 Told you it was a BIG gym!

Last few tables going away...

And dinner for the helpers...

...then dishes...

 And done for the year. Oh thank heavens!!!!!

We did a lot of cool stuff:

-pushed pencils through baggies without having them leak

-shook pop cans and then opened them without exploding

-pushed skewers through balloons

-made levitating rice

-made liquids change from clear to black

-made elephant's toothpaste (exploding foam)

-imploded cans

-shot off air rockets and cannons

-made film canister rockets

-made croaking cups

-made jelly marbles disappear

-walked on eggs

-made oddly balancing bottles

-balanced a table full of kids on a few balloons

...and impressed the whole community while we were at it! All in all, a WILD success!

I'm off to try and relax for a few hours before Music Night tonight, running tomorrow,

and Movie Night at 6:30 pm. Busy? Naw...LOL!

TTFN!

Briefly...

Science Fair May 3rd...busy busy BUSY!!!!

Still running...ouch!

Phone maybe soon? Lines are coming.

Cable, no sign of.

Internet only at school. Where I am still. 8:00 pm Sunday. Ugh.

Honda running...yay!

Weather cold.

Me, cranky.

That's all.

Good News!

We got some good news, my poor tired running girls and I...we have been approved by Sports and Recreation Nunavut as an official club, and that comes with an activity grant of $10,000.00 to take the kids to some competitions! Woohoo! So, I have done some shopping around and the 5-ish Fun Run in Winnipeg on June 3rd is calling our names. So four girls and I will be winging our way south to take on our first real run. We plan to leave on May 30th (just in case Kivalliq is delayed, and then we can get out on Friday). We will return home on Monday, June 4th. The girls will get a free lunch and a race T-shirt for their effort. Me, I get a pain in the hip, LOL! Whatever I injured in January has never fully healed. Likely a pulled ligament. I can run, but I have trouble walking, and trying to cross my right leg over my left to put on a sock? Almost impossible! I empathize more and more with my Mom and her hips every day!

I also have a few guys who are interested in joining running, so I may have some competition for the spots in October. On the brighter side, I may have found my marathon group! I hope that next year we can do a 10K, and the two years after are for some 20K half-marathons. The big goal is for July of 2016 and the Arctic Bay Midnight Sun Marathon in Nunavut, at the top of Baffin Island.

So, if I can train and stay healthy, and my leg doesnt get mad at me and fall off or something, will any of my family journey up to see me run my tushie into the ground? That would be worth the cost of the airfare, I'm sure! Any takers to laugh at my misery? Heck, go cheap and just head to Winnipeg, I'll be limping around enough there and  you can laugh for less, LOL!

Still no phone, cable or internet, so I'm living at the school. Of course, this is nothing new. I have my big fundraising auction tomorrow night, so I have been preparing my list of items and baking like crazy. We got an Air Inuit ticket to auction, and I will have a plant in the crowd to bid for me. We should raise close to $2000 for the event, hurray! And a big Music Night on the 27th, and Movie Nights each Saturday along with our practices...I need to be two more of me! Of course, then I'd just irritate the heck out of myself, always giving myself advice that I didn't want to hear, so I'd just wind up shooting the spare me's anyhow...oh well. I can relax when I retire...

TTFN!

Terri