Strider

Gabe made it home, for those of you who are wondering. I picked him up in Bellingham last Thursday. They had a great trip, ran into somerough weather from Seward to Juneau, then it
cleared some. The name of the boat is the Strider, it's about 70 feet (I'll have to get back on the specifics). Gabe loved being out on the water again and learning all the new technology on the boat. During the night in Juneau, the bathroom on the main level overflowed(a valve stuck), they had about a foot of sea water "in" the boat. One of the guys was sleeping on the couch and he said "you know the normal swishing of the waves was just a little loud". "I woke up, looked down and thought what the .......". So, they spent a little time in Juneau ripping out carpet and draining water, nothing else was damaged. Other than that everything went smoothly. Oh...no fish though, so Gabe is back up to canada right now.... CAUSE THE KINGS ARE IN!!!! LOL

I finally did it, I developed "some" of our photo's. Now just have to take the time .....lot's of time, to transfer some to the computer. So many cool photo's, it's going to be hard to pick out of 600+ shots. I still have not edited some of my posting so just ignore the errors! When I went to the photo store, one of their machines ate my memory cards so I'm still waiting for their repairman to retrieve it, someday (I'm beginning to wonder). And no, I was
not the one that put it into the machine.

MORNING

It's morning already???? Last night I worked a bit on our blogs (quickly) I have not had a chance lately. I promised myself everything will be edited later, and hey, may even add some photo's. HA! I procrastinate when it comes to my photo's, this computer is so slow and my new camera is not compatable with my old faithful printer/fax.

Sat. was my birthday. Phoenix woke up early (on a Sat morning) I came upstairs and shewas making me a cake and had breakfast ready for us. Ahhhh, so sweet. Wanted to thank everyone for all the birthday greetings, they made my day special. Also, our neighbor for taking me to lunch last week and then showing up with flowers and plums on Sat. It was a fun sunny day!!!

Gabe called early this morning and they are headed out of the bay this morning. The fog is thick and it's raining and they are wishing for better weather soon. We are not sure if his cell phone will work at all along the way,we won't have much contact, if any. Wow...2 weeks that's a long time. I'll blog if I hear anything. For me, it's going to be a busy 2 weeks.. kids, mowing lawns, the yard it growing as fast as the weeds. The apples are ripening at an uncontrolable rate. Taking care of some business for Gabe, gee can I go back to bed, I'm already tired just thinking about it!!!

OUT OF TOWN

Yup, Alaska again. Gabe headed up on Wed the 10th to help his friend Billy bring the yacht down. Gabe's friends Billy and Terrance run a big yacht year round, in the summer it is in Seward, AK. In the winter they bring it down to the Seattle area and dock it, the owner does not
use it much during the winter so we have fun going out on it once in awhile. Gabe more than once in a while. LOL This year Terrance is guiding bear hunts so he asked Gabe if he would like to help Billy bring it down from Alaska. Of course Gabe jumped at the chance and to make it
even more enticing, they are paying him and bought his ticket up to AK. We all know Gabe would have done it for free but we won't complain about him making some money while he has fun! Should take him about 2 weeks. They have tried to do some fishing beforehand in Seward
but it has been raining every day. They are planning on leaving tomorrow (Mon 14).

I SHOULD GET AN AWARD!

Most of you know the year before last we dug a pond on the property. Last winter if filled up
with water from rain and the natural stream that runs into it. Dalton & Gabe fished a bit during
the spring and caught fish for the pond. He has about 8 trout and 15 or so bass in there.
We feed the trout, trout food but the bass only eat insects and worms. Worms we have to buy
and right now the termites are out flying around at dusk. Gabe was over in eastern Washington
Dove hunting and the kids job is to feed the fish at night. I went up with Dalton one night and
we fed the trout, then he told me we needed to catch termites to feed the bass. I was a bit hesitant at first, but final thought what the heck. So for 1/2 hour we caught them and threw
them down into the pond. Have to admit we had a blast, but I really think I should get an award for going way above and beyond the wifely duties. LOL Come on who catches termites to feed her husbands bass. HA

SUN-SUN-SUN

We are sooo enjoying the sunshine this past 2 weeks. The kids and I have gone down to the beach almost every day. They have built a fort next to this huge log and now are adding to it each day. They don't even want to swim, just being busy. I can tell you this...I'm not ready for fall or more rain.

SCHOOL - SEPT 3

The kids started school.....already!!! Summer goes much to quickly here being they only get 2 months. Phoenix is 8th grade this year, last year of middle school... WHAAA Can't believe she
will be in high school next year. She seems to like her classes and happy to see all her geeerrllfriends. Ahh the social.

Dalton's best friend is in his class again this year. His new teacher unknowingly put them at the
same table. Also, a girl who "loves" Dalton and is a chatterbox. It will be interesting to see how
long this situation last.

I always have a hard time the first week, it does not get easier. I think it is getting harder now
that Phoenix is getting older. In my mind that flash of kindergarden still goes thru my mind as they go into the school the first day... phoenix's long hair swinging and Dalton so overwhelmed.

VANCOUVER-Sept 6&7

Whoo what a beautiful city. I can't believe we have lived here this long and never been to
Vancouver. I'll tell you what, it won't be the last time, this is just one of many future trips.
I had no idea how beautiful it was and how many "shops" there are. Looks like a girls shopping expedition is in the future. lol

Sat morning we hopped in the car and drove up to the aquarium in Stanley Park. Stanley Park
is huge, those Canadian's love their parks. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the aquarium then
headed up to No. Vancouver to our hotel. I had no idea where to go but thought getting out of
the actual city would be a good idea for Gabe. HA Everyone that know Gabe, knows how he
stays away from the big cities. We ate, worked out and swam in their pool. The next morning
headed up to the fish hatchery, hiked around then headed back home. The wait at the border was and hour and we decided we were going to need the "nexus" card so we can zoom thru too.

This was actually my birthday weekend as Gabe is leaving soon.....

CRABBING-Aug

Mmmmm, is about all I need to say. We hit the water and took the boat out to go crabbing.
It was a beautiful day and we loaded up on the Crabs, these guys were some big ones.
Once again Captain Gabe caught us dinner and extra for the freezer.

UTAH

The kids and I finally made it down to Utah. With everything going on this year we only took 6 days to cram everything in. I promised the kids we would do some "vacation" activities. We used the first 3 days visiting with family and then the last 3 just plain running our fannies off.
We made it to Lagoon and it was all about the waterslides. The kids are lightweights, they just
do not like amusement park rides. Mind you, the first time they ever rode a ride was about 3 yrs
ago at the fairgrounds. I thought I was going to have to clean-up as I watched the horror on their faces. Since then it's just the gentle rides, I even had to "BEG" then to ride across the sky ride with me. We had a great time though, they are ready for next year and who knows maybe I can get them on the rollercoaster.

The following day we went up to timpanogas cave. It has been forever since I have been, the
hike was great and the cave we loved. Yes and we had to hit Cabellas on the way back.

We stayed with my mom and a few weeks before, 4 wild kittens and their mother showed up in her yard. She has been feeding them and trying to tame them. We had so much fun playing with them, kept the kids busy on the down time. Phoenix begged me to let her bring one home but we did not have the time to get things together. It was a fun trip and so great to see everyone but sad to say goodbye as always.