Thanksgiving!

Phil, Geo, Meegan and myself getting ready to chow.

 This Thanksgiving was hosted by Corin and Andrew, two of the paramedics in town.  The flight medics got a "cheap" turkey from Yellowknife, and everyone else brought food too.  Arctic Char was a welcomed addition to the meal.  Good company, good food, but we all missed our families!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The food spread.

Phil, Geo, Josh and Meegan.

The whole group of firefighters, nurses, doctors, medics and friends.

Celebrating Tallitality

It all started on June 21st, Aboriginal Day of 2011.  Lianne Jones and myself were in a discussion about the idea of having a specific day to celebrate races, mothers, people, queens and presidents.  It dawned on us that there was not a day dedicated to those of us fortunate enough to be blessed with a height of over 6' tall.  October 1st was the 1st annual Too Tall Party to celebrate our height. 

Chocolate cake with fondant made by Andrea and Lianne.

Awards were given for tallest natural person, tallest person, longest femur, longest eye lashes, and a variety of other tall/longest things. 

Too Tall Jamal

Too Tall Jamal was built as our front door Harlem Globtrotter greeter and stood at a height of 8 feet tall.  Each attendee was "heighted" in upon arrival. 

The shortest guest stood at three feet tall, and that was Rukus. 



Andrea and the growth chart



Judine at 7' 9"

The lallest person award was given to Judine, who stood at a height of 7'9".  Fantastic effort by everyone, especially the stilts and wood block shoes made by a few.  We had such a good time.  Too bad I wiped out and sprained my ankle wearing high heels... I guess it just was never meant to be. 

Dawson City Music Fest and fishing on Airport Lake

Last weekend I travelled to Dawson City Yukon for their anual music festival.  This year their big name was the Stampeders.  We had a great time.  My self, Paul and Melanie drove in my car and Leah, Justin and Pete took his truck.  The road was in rough shape and it took us forever to get there.  We camped the whole time, it was right up my ally.

And did some gambling at Gertie's... what a great place!

News paper article

So I've kind of fell off the ol' blogging map.  Here's a pretty cool like of a newspaper article about our trip to Kenya.  I will start bringing my camera out more and actually posting things for the world to see.  Summer so far has been great, I have no complaints.

 

http://www.nnsl.com/frames/newspapers/2011-05/may12_11cofi.html

Back from Kenya!

This selection of photos has been whittled down from hundreds, literally.  Within the next week, I'll post some safari photos from the end of our trip.  Enjoy!

Project Helping Hands Kenya 2011 team; Meegan, Leah, Fred, Patrick, Kayla, Haylie, Kirsten, Andrea, Kerry and Ashley posing along the Rift Valley.

Market day.



Brian Larman sent us to Kenya with 6 soccer balls.  These kids were so cute when we chucked one out our window for them to play with.  Nearly started a riot!



Team Canada trekking to the litttle village for our first clinic day.

Kids were the biggest distraction in getting to the clinic on time. 

The Clinic that was built jointly by Hope Teams International and Project Helping Hands.  We were the first group to use the new facility sans roof.

Local kids peeking in at us working looking to get some balloons or tooth brushes.



Kirsten teaching the kids something, although I'm not sure what!



Leah peeking through the bush to see who is yelling "Mazongoo" at us!

Toothbrush teaching to the masses.



Me treating a family at the medical clinic.



Leah caring for a huge family.



Kerry, Meegan and Leah trekking home in the sweaty heat.



Sunrise from our hotel room.

Women in Kenya carry everything from water, to sticks, to heavy water jugs on their heads.

And I got to play dentist for a day.



... yes we used local freezing before yanking it out.




Gideon the dentist posing with team Canada.



Riding the PikiPiki's to Gideon and Dr. Greg's orphanige to do a well child/student clinic.

A typical family's yard and house.

The school where we checked over 125 kids for heart, ear, lung and skin problems.  Most were relatively healthy.

50% of the orphanage team.

Our Canadian flags made their mark... everywhere!



Gathering our motorbikes to make the "walk" to the clinic on our last morning.



This little guy was the sickest person I saw.  He had malaria, a lung infection and had been vomitting for days.  We were able to help him.

Haylie and I made home visits one afternoon for elders who could not make it to the clinic. This was the second house we went to.  Very small and dark inside.

The last house we went to had this lady in it with an old arm fracture. She was so happy to have us come to her, so we ended up giving her some glow in the dark bracelets.  That made her day. 

The team gathering for breakfast. 

I started a mini "incident" on our last day by tossing balloons and other toys through the window.  Who could resist?

Beautiful Kenya.

best Inuvik blog ever....

Phil Morin of CBC radio has had a blog up and running for several years.  He has posted some of the best Fireman's ball photos yet.
Check it out...  http://inuvikphotos.ca/

Photo credit to Phil Morin...  this is the only photo I've found that shows just how much decorating and effort when into the planning and execution of this event.  Great photography Phil.

Mary and Jim Visit.... posted a little bit late.

Walking on the Arctic Ocean!

Mary harpooning.

April 1st was a fantastic weekend to visit Inuvik.  The Muskrat Jamboree was as fun as ever, lots to do, lots to see, and lots of waiting for things to happen. 

Me trying my luck at the harpoon throw... much harder than it looks.

It was so nice to have family up here again (I am lucky to have so many visitors!). 

I'll try to post some photos before I fly out in two days of our amazing fire fighters ball on April 30th.