...beach days...

...this past week has been beautiful...

hanging out at Settler's Cove beach

No, we're not fooled... the water is cold!!

Building Project

Some of you will remember the small house/shed on the side of our property. It was very old, full of junk, and starting to come apart, so we decided to tear it down and rebuild it into a more usable space.

...tearing it down... (definitely the best part)

Here's a little video of the tearing-down process. Dad is having WAY too much fun with the "digger" (as John calls it).

A friend of ours got us started on the building while he was in town. In the two days he was with us, we got the floor and three walls up!

a little help from Uncle Paul

admiring their work

...getting ready to lift wall #3...

...half way there...

...closer...

We did it!

Here is how it looks so far. It still needs quite a lot of work, but I wasn't sure how long it would be until it's all finished, and I had all these great pictures just waiting to be blogged... :)

Orton Ranch Hike

On Monday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather with a boat ride and hike to Orton Ranch. We took a boat from town to Loring, where the trail starts, then hiked around Roosevelt Lagoon to Orton Ranch.

...all 16 of us...

...hiking... hiking...

...and more hiking...

It was about a two-mile hike around the lagoon to the ranch.

We did it! Pictured: Off the trail and into the grassy lawns of Orton Ranch!

taking a break

We found some shade from the sun and rested our feet and snacked.... unfortunately, the bugs thought it was a good place to hang out too...

wading in the river

We found a ton of little frogs along the river bank.

ahh... freedom

(or maybe this was when they were escaping from the angry grizzly bear...?) No, we didn't see any bears, though we did see a mink. I was in the woods, when I saw the underbrush moving, and it ran right up to me. I think it was as surprised to see me as I was to see him, because we both stood there looking at each other for a couple of seconds before I screamed... then he decided to leave.

After resting for a couple hours, we headed back down the trail to the boat.

As you can imagine, the boat was pretty crowded with all of us in it. Pictured are us kids, waiting for the adults to finish the hike... :P They were a couple minutes behind us.

going home

Happy Mother's Day!

...Our yearly Mother's Day meal at Chicos, a Mexican restaurant here in town... We love you, Mom!