This is a busy winter month for us up here - Friday and Saturday was Polar Games. Every Grade 5 and 6 student across the territory comes into the big city of Whitehorse for a two day sports festival and dance. They come by bus, car and fly in from Old Crow for the excitement. I got to supervise the dance - great fun. Mira had a wonderful time despite getting curling and bowling as her team sports - last choice and the hour power outage on Friday that put all sports on hold. So Mira is missing from all the photos because she was 'busy'.
Kate enjoying the Yukon Quest.
In terms of Yukon winter activities - the Yukon Quest Dog Race kicked off the fun. This is a 1000 mile (1600 km) dog race that starts this year here in downtown Whitehorse and goes to Fairbanks Alaska. They have a great web site and you can follow the race on line. The dogs were happy and anxious to get the show on the road. Kate, Paul and I rang the bells and cheered them on.
Dogs taking off from downtown Whitehorse.. 1 km down, 1599 kms to go! 
Crowds cheering the race on.
Kate and Paul waiting for the next dog team to pass.
The next day, we watch as the Arctic Ultra Marathon took off from Shipyard Park. Participants run, ski or bike 430 miles to Dawson city... It was a brilliantly clear day - blue sky and -20, a perfect day all round. There were even hot air balloons in the sky. Great fun. WE of course cheered on the intrepid runners and headed home to a roaring fire and hot coffee!
Runners, Bikers and Skiers preparing to set off.
Kate
Kate has been burning up the ski trails lately. Really, she prefers the hills - don't they all. She screams down hills as her mother tries to find alternative routes so that she doesn't have to follow the 6 year old down the hill. Scary stuff for mom - great fun for Kate.
Getting reading to scream down another hill...
Whitehorse is also preparing itself for the world or at least Canada next weekend. Next weekend, Hockey Day in Canada is happening right here. There is a buzz in the air and lots of events are planned. The ski teams got into the fun and played hockey in the stadium. The cameras were rolling and footage will used next weekend during the telecasts. Kate did her best to get into the game - by racing down a hill and screaming across the stadium while the game played on.
Hockey on skis
The team photo - like the 'cup'?
Paul got away for a quick trip to Rose Lake with a couple of friends. They went out on snowmobiles and had great weather. They saw a few herds of caribou and some wild horses. Great views!
Paul
