Axel's Candle Post

The Iditarod

Axel R., Staff Writer • February 23, 2017

Axel R.

Axel R. and Family at the Iditarod

What is the Iditarod? The Iditarod is a race that happens in Alaska. The race is done by a person on a dog sled, with dogs pulling the racer. The traditional dog is an Alaskan husky, but not all of them are. The Iditarod race covers about 1,000 miles. It starts in Willow, Alaska and ends in Nome, Alaska on the Bering Sea coast. 

In 1925, part of the Iditarod trail became a life saving highway for an epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened the people and serum had to be brought in. This was done by dog mushers and their hard-driving dogs because there were no roads to the village of Nome. Throughout the years, the sled dogs were important to day to day life for the villages and throughout Alaska, because the lack of roads. There were two reasons for organizing the long-distance Iditarod race: to save the sled dog culture and Alaskan Huskies. They were being phased out of existence due to the introduction of snowmobiles in Alaska. Another reason was to preserve the historic Iditarod trail between Willow and Nome. The Iditarod dog sled race has grown over time and helped to accomplish the goals of preserving the tradition of the Alaskan culture.

This year the race starts on March 5th at 2pm. Normally the race takes 9 to12 days. The mushers and dogs can be followed online.

Referenced from http://www.Iditarod.com

Axel R.
The Iditarod

Axel R.
Iditarod Dog Race

Axel R.
Iditarod

Axel R.

This is Axel's first Candle- 3rd grade Newspaper- article that he wrote by himself and posted.  They get to pick their own topic, have to edit and post the article and the teacher wants them to find an idea that they can use their own pictures with.  I helped Axel with the pictures from when we got to actually go to the Iditarod when we lived in Alaska.  I remember it being so much fun and really feeling a part of something special and unique to the area. It was fun to read his article.  You can see it at his school website also- but I copied it here to share!

Axel R. and Family at the Iditarod

Axel R.

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Random-ness

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:)

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So much fun shopping with Mom

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He didn't just want to be any wizard!

I just love that he is his own little person

Axel is a member of the 3-5th grade newspaper
He gets to learn all about the newspaper and even write different articles 

The Candle is brand new this year. Each kid is learning all the roles and having a chance to practice writing.
Posted articles to come soon!



Finished his 3rd Harry Potter book!!!

Couch forts with Ansel

Today I added a little bit of random-ness to catch up some pictures that I hadn't posted yet.  We have been staying busy- school & work & life! We spent the beautiful weekend fixing up our house to sell.  I know- selling a house is a lot of work but we have decided to enter the circus of selling a house.  I will post pictures later of all the work we did to the garage.  We were so lucky to have warm weather in February to get a few projects done!  More to come on the house selling and buying :)

Bowling party

Bowling shoes :)

Abel

Axel

Stella

Bode, Stella, Krisha, Abel and Axel

Grandma Bev and Ty

Ansel

Cupcakes!

We had our winter Hamblin family celebration.  We went to a pancake breakfast to help Maddie and Ty's 4-H trip and then we all went bowling!  I haven't bowled in a long time but it was really fun.  We have a get together twice a year for birthdays, instead of trying to get together every other weekend to hit every one's Birthday.  It was a really fun idea and no ones house had to get dirty! 

Winter Blues....berries

 Breaking up the winter blues with some homemade Blue Berry Pie!  Yummy, it turned out really good!  Each winter I have been trying to learn a new thing to cook or bake.  This winter I have been trying pies.  We have made an apple pie and now a blue berry pie! I totally didn't make the crust yet I think I'll try that next!

The Sour Patch

Fun with play dough

See the sour glare :)

Ansel- my almost 3 year older.  You are SUCH a sour patch right now!  You are so sweat and then the sour kicks in!! You are my busiest at this age, that's for sure.  You have a ton of opinions and like to make sure you get your way. You never want to wear shoes, you "hate" to sleep  (the h-word is now a naughty word in our house!), you love to hang with your brothers & bug your brothers, you are funny and silly and have so many words now! You want NOTHING to do with potty training. You don't want to be called a big-boy- you say "No, Momma I'm your baby". We have started to call you the toddler because I know you are playing me and working this I'm the baby thing. You will always be my baby but using the potty is a good thing! Your brothers were much easier to reason with or maybe easier to bribe?! I'm going to keep trying to find your weakness :)