It's 6am. It is already light outside. The wood stove is going nicely; slowly heating up our cabin. We've lived here for ten days already. Days filled with hauling and stacking wood, filling the kitchen to the brim with bags of flour, sugar and rice, cans of fruit and vegetables. We're getting ready for winter to set in.

Outside the forest is turning more and more yellow every day. It is going fast. Yesterday we saw the first leaves drop. It doesn't only mean that fall is here. It means that winter is knocking on the door. This morning it was 39 degrees. It's a dry cold. So it doesn't really bite. Still, a jacket is nice on the way to the outhouse.

The cabin is lovely situated in the hills north of Fairbanks. We don't have electric or running water. To charge the laptop and phone we've come up with quite a contraption. A solar panel is going to charge two 6V car batteries. To them we hook a couple of converters into which we can plug in. Besides this we have a generator on the porch to cover for the months without sun.

Eventhough we're very high north, we're not that far. We're still south of the Arctic Circle, which means we will still have a couple of daylight hours in December and January. As of now it's light from about 5.30 am till 10pm. But it is dwindling fast. Every evening we turn the propane lights on a little sooner.

Inside the cabin it's laid out very simply: coming in you'll find the wood stove to your left, the kitchen to your right. Go a little further and you're in the dining/play area. A little bit more and you're back outside. It's an open floorplan; creating a lot of space. Upstairs, about half of the downstairs 20x24 feet, is a loft. Space for us all to sleep. It's cozy. We'll find out soon it it is still cozy when it's to cold to go outside this winter.

The girls are enjoying life in the cabin. They each have workbooks for math and reading. Even Robin: "Where is my math book mommy?" They're all over them. You've got to love it. We have some art and craft supplies. We even have a threadle sewing machine. Cheyenne and Jasmine are already masters at pedaling. Yesterday we made each of them a purse. Pockets included.

Robin works on her triangles.

We can always use more craft supplies and (old) workbooks. If you have them laying around and haven't quite figured out what to do with them... Send them to us. We'll need all we can to stay busy this winter!

Follow us through the winter!