Saturday, September 28, 2013

on the cliff

When Mom and Dad were here at the end of July, the weather was still fairly summery, the bugs were still out, and the sun only set for a few hours a night. Today, the sun sets just after 7 pm and rises slightly more than 12 hours after that. The skies are cloudy most days, and the temperature sits at or just above zero, dipping below that throughout the night.

While winter is definitely approaching, I'll share some pictures from a walk I went on with my dad up on the cliff behind our house.

I can't even explain how beautiful it is here. Even the pictures don't do it justice.




The Coppermine River 








The airport...



We have hikhiks all around town (ground squirrels).



This is all going to look very different in about a month and a half.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Arctic Gear

Paycheques are finally flowing in, so I have finally managed to order all of my arctic gear for the winter. By mid-October, right when the weather starts to really drop and snow starts to stay on the ground, all of my orders should be here. This is what I'll be all dressed up in:

Canada Goose Women's Trillium Parka - $649.99
The North Face Women's Bansko Pant - $250


Chaos Merino Wool Tubular Headwear - $19



Parkhurt Merino Woo Cap - $14


Smartwool NTS Light 195 Crew Base Layer - $107


Smartwool NTS mid 250 Base Layer - $122


Smartwool Hiking Light Crew Socks - $19.75/pair


Auclair Polypro Liner Glove - $6.50


Merrell Thermo Arc 8 WTPF Winter Boots - $159





All of this combined with my homemade rabbit fur and leather palm mittens that my sister gave me last year.. I should be toasty warm all winter long! I just need to get a head lamp now, so I can see where I'm going during the 24 hour darkness.

First few weeks

I've been abandoning the blog the past couple of weeks, not because there is nothing to report, but rather because there is so much and I wouldn't know where to start.

The first week open was probably what you would expect for the first week of a first-time manager and staff with minimal training and preparation pressured in to opening before they were completely prepared. Programming was minimal, the daily schedule was nothing but a draft, and we were still in the midst of installing gates to keep the children from getting in to the kitchen and running out the building.

I quickly realized that staffing was a major issue, which I won't get in to, just that it's difficult to work under a Board that doesn't really have any understanding about how group size influences the quality of the environment and that ratios are legislated for a reason. I've also had almost an entire staff turn-over, replacing 2 of my full-time staff within the last two weeks.

I've been busy this week writing proposals to the Board identifying how I believe our donations and fundraising should be put to use, as well as writing a proposal to the association that pays our wages to amend our contract to add more full-time positions.

Things are getting better, slowly, as we get used to the routines and the children are more familiar with the environment and each other. Before taking these last two days as sick days, I managed to get some programming done just for this week, but it was something.

For now I'm going to spend all my energy getting rid of this illness and hopefully be back to 100% to try again next week. Also to watch all of season 9 of Grey's to prepare for the two-hour Season 10 premier next Thursday!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Blurred the faces

My brother-in-law and sister managed to snap some awesome pictures of all the engaged little children at the open house, though I've blurred the faces in order to show you. I take no credit for any of these photos, only the people in them :)



















Monday, September 9, 2013

Lesson number one

It is always, ALWAYS a good idea to have extra staff scheduled. Always.

As far as first days go, today went well. We didn't lose any children and no one got hurt. Yay! Parts of the day were rough, trying to figure out who was doing what (watching who, making snacks and lunch, cleaning, etc.), which children needed to be picked up and dropped off when and where, et cetera.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Open house

As some of you know, just yesterday we had the open house, with the grand re-opening taking place tomorrow! The Open House was a hit, with tons of parents bringing their children and engaging in so much play! I'm SO proud to present to you the new look of the centre (staged for the Open House):






















Remember what it used to look like??