Hello Friends!

I've been enjoying the recent postings. I remember back to the first day of the conference and how some of us had been out of school for almost a month, but that Georgia and I (and some others) had just gotten out for summer that week (or the day before the summer conference, for Georgia).

Now the tables have turned...some of you are back to school already! We have meetings next week, but our first day with kids is September 6.

Yesterday I had an iditarod party with last year's class (only 10 were able to make it). I shared with them all my souvenirs. There were "oohs and aahs and You're so lucky!"'s heard. When I gave them their musher's autographs, it was as though they had a Hollywood star's autograph!

Then we played an iditarod simulation in the park across the street. Some neighborhood kids were using the space, but were willing to let us use it for awhile; one of them even joined our game as a dog.

The mushers had to put on Alaska clothing (my winter coat, scarf, hat, boots). Fortunately, we've had unusually cool weather this week. They followed their dog (child holding a stuffed dog--bootied by the musher)and sled (wagon) from checkpoint to checkpoint--I only had 4 checkpoints set up. At each, the musher picked a situation out of a bag that either added or took time away from their total race time: i.e. You were caught in a blizzard. Add 24 hours[2 minutes]. At Anvik, instead of an 8-course meal, the first musher received gift certificates to McDonalds. At Unalakleet, instead of gold nuggets, the first musher received gold-covered chocoalte coins. Each team had to declare a 24-hour rest [2 minutes]. It was crazy...but fun!

I took only a few pictures, but they were not worth sending (or even keeping)!