Memorial Day Weekend

We celebrated Memorial day weekend right this year and packed in as much as we could. We took off Thursday night and drove down to Coal Mine lakes Road where we had a public use cabin reseverd for two nights. We could not have ordered nicer weather and the cabin was in a beautiful spot. Wyatt loves to go fishing so as soon as we got to the cabin we geared up and headed out on the lake.

 We only caught a couple small Char the first night but it was a great evening on the lake. It was midnight by the time we got in had some dinner and got the boys in bed. I have not been up that late in a long time but it was nice to enjoy the sunset (yes, this was taken at midnight!). The low clouds were actually smoke from a forest fire burning in the distance. 

 This is the view from the front porch of the cabin first thing on Friday morning- Spectacular!!

First words out of Wyatt's mouth in the morning were "Can we go fishing now?"

 After fishing and breakafast we headed up to the old coal mine to do some exploring.

We went for a nice long hike up into the tundra above the mine.

View from the top of the hill we climbed.

Wyat was a great little hiker, I was surprised at how far we made it. Sam didn't hold up quite so well. He fell asleep up on Papa's shoulders.  I wish I could sleep like that.

Stopped to cool off by the creek.

Got a nice look at a herd of Caribou.

I rode my bike back down to our cabin, the boys took the 4-wheeler.

And of course as soon as we got back to the cabin we had to go fishing!

We did end up catching a couple keepers for dinner but most of the fish were pretty small.

On Saturday we headed back home to catch Friendly Frontier Days here in Delta. Two of our good friends got nominated to kiss a pig. Couldn't miss that! Plus there were hay rides, straw bale mazes, homemade ice cream and baby yaks to pet.

Here is Eileen, she opted to sit on the pig before smooching it.

She did a fine job and came out of the pen in pretty good shape.

Next up is Chuck, here he is practicing his pucker.

Now Chuck took a slightly different appraoch, he went for the full body slide tackle.

 He did finally land a smooch on the pig but came out of the pen in much worse shape than Eileen did.

The rest of the weekend we spent working in the garden and visiting with our good friends Dave and Shiway who came down for a quick float trip on the Clearwater. I wish every weekend could be just like this one was.

Spring Pigs

We are very grateful that we are able to fill our freezer with meat that we have had a hand in harvesting and processing. Most of the meat we eat is wild game (moose, caribou, Dall sheep, bison, salmon, and halibut), and some home grown turkey and chicken. But we do love bacon!! and so for the second time we decided to raise a couple hogs this year.

We went out to Pinklemen's farm to pick out our pigs and Mr. Pinkleman was kind enough to show us around and to let the boys hold the day old piglets. 

This is Wyatt's "I am super excited but very nervous" face. Shortly after I took this picture a pig right behind Wyatt squeled really loudly and startled him so much that he dropped that poor little piglet flat on the ground. Opps! 

Look at the size of these sows!! Amazing animals and we love the fact that Mr. Pinkleman treats them so well. This sow came right up to the fence so we could pet her. Animals this big can be quite mean and dangerous but when they are treated kindly you can certainly tell.

Here are our two girls at home. Yes the boys did name them, Oinky and Squirmy, and we all spend time in with the pigs petting and talking to them but we do know that come the end of the summer they will go in the freezer. That is Papa's job:)

Spring Clearwater Float

Every spring a group of friends get together float the Clearwater river in late April. We have been doing this for almost 10 years. It is a great way to shake off the winter and gear up for summer.  

Sondra was pysched to dust of her raft, Mike was pysched to be kicking back drinking beer.

 This was the first year with both kids together in the boat.

 There was still a bit of ice and snow along the river but we had great weather.

Wyatt and Thea sharing a stawberry on the river.

Kids had a blast running around on the sandbar where we camped.

I swear they did this on their own, we did not make the kids carry the beer!

There is also a long running tradition of playing the stick game. To play the stick game you place a stick on your chin and spin in circles while looking up at the stick and counting to ten.  Then you have to drop the stick on the ground and attempt to jump over the stick. Somehow Jeff and I have avoided this game all these years but this year we were discovered and we had to play.

 Jeff didn't make it to the part where you are supposed jump over the stick :)

This was Sondra and Lori's first Clearwater trip and first exposure to the stick game but they didn't hesitate to give it a try and they both did much better than Jeff!  No pictures of my performance but there are videos on facebook :)

 The supportive crowd.

 The boys did great on the first day of floating. The second was not quite as much fun, it was windy and everyone was tired. Sam cried for aout 30 minutes before falling asleep.

Wyatt took a little snooze as well.

Wyatt also took a dip in the river right as we got to the take out at the end of the trip. We got him out of the water really fast but he was soaked and not happy. He recovered pretty well and after he was warm and dry he said he had a great time on the trip.

Remember Easter?

I know Easter was a long time ago but it seemed like a good  point to start catching up from.
Mama decided it would be fun to make an Easter egg tree this year.  We blew out the eggs then dyed them just using regular old food coloring and a little vinegar. The boys had a grand time.

 Sam was determined to make this egg green, really green. In fact he was so detemined that this was the ONLY egg that he dyed. He just kept putting the same egg back in the cup and holding it there.

In the end I think his hand was greener than his egg...and stayed that way for days.

 The tree was a success!

Upon waking Easter morning Mama quickly realized that the Easter bunny had forgotten about hiding the baskets.. so she made a quick call to the bunny while Papa distracted the boys upstairs and the baskets got hidden in the backyard just in the nick of time.  The bunny left a trail of eggs in the yard leading to the hidden baskets. 

 Wyatt was quite surprised to find a basket of goodies hidden behind the wood pile. He was a little unsure at first but when I assured him it was for him he was very excited.

 Sam was a little less enthusiastic about the whole basket thing, he just wanted to go back inside and get to work on that giant chocolate Easter bunny that our neighbors gave him.

 Next we were off to the Easter egg hunt in in town.  Here Mr. Sloan gives the preschool group the run down on what to do.

 And they are off!

Afterwards the boys compared baskets with some of thier friends.

 My favorite part of the day was when a car drove past the kids and Sam (who is 2 years old) says "Throw eggs at the cars!" That must come from his Papa's side of the family.

Visit With Cousin Jeff

My cousin Jeff came up for a visit in August. Second year in a row and we really hope it continues!! This year he got to do more fishing than building but we still got some hammer swinging out of him. My dad was pysched because his nephew's need to catch fish provided a much needed break from his building too.  Jeff took most of the photos while he was here and I am still waiting for him to send me copies (get with it Cuz!) but here are a few I got from a family trip out to Lisa Lake..