Last days in Pedro Bay, AK

I'm writing this in retrospect and I'm sure I'll leave something out - how could I even try to get it all in?!  The Mister and the Boy left last Wednesday and went to Levelock for the district volleyball tournament.  PB ended up sending 4 players.  They had a bye for the first game, played one game on the second day and played the semi-finals on Friday.  They played for the championship and won.  The Mister said the whole crowd seemed to be cheering on PB.  Everyone realized that the school was closing and that would be the last thing the kids ever did as PB students.  I think it was a tear-jerker.

Soooo... I was left in PB with 3 students and the end of the packing.  We had saved boxes all fall and ended up using every last one of them.  On Sunday, the Pilatus from Illiamna Air picked us up.  We were supposed to start loading at 10:00 am but snow showers kept pushing back the time.  Finally, at 2:00 we started loading tubs on to the plane.  We had 2 pick-up loads and a few items in another truck to load.  We think it was about 2000 pounds plus the three of us.  The plane was packed.  They had taken all the seats out and then packed tubs right up behind us.  The Boy got to ride in the cockpit.  Big stuff!  We took off at 2:45 --- 15 minutes earlier than the pilot had wanted --- something about getting that plane off the ground and away from the snow!

On Saturday night, the village had cake and ice cream for us.  The beautiful cake said Thank You and Good Luck Wards.  It was so nice.  I think Courtney brought the cake back from Anchorage.  It was very good cake.  One of the girls from school brought me earrings she had made and Becca, a student's mom, brought me a fresh spruce wreath with berries and a gold bow --- I've already put it on my front door.  It SMELLS so good!

Verna came by Sunday morning and visited for a while and then the Jensen family came to help us load up the truck.  We couldn't have done it without them.  In fact, our stay at PB was so much nicer because of them and everyone else at PB.  We felt so accepted and at home.  People were very nice to us.  I was sorry to leave the village.  Those students and their families will always hold a special place in our hearts and memories of Alaska.