Grandpa's Backyard

While Mike and my dad were hanging the meat the kids were having fun playing in the back yard in the nice warm weather! And I was snapping lots of photos! Enjoy.

A Successful Hunting Trip!

Mike returned today, and what a beautiful day it was! This morning when I ran to do errands at 10:30, I walked outside and was hit by the warm air. It was 68 degrees! And that was verified on three separate thermometers! And as I write this it's 61 degrees! What crazy weather we're having, yesterday it was raining so hard I thought we were going to drown!

OK, enough on the weather, at least it was a good day for flying. Mike, my dad and Mike's brother Timm were picked up today at 3:oopm and drove into the driveway around 4:00pm grinning ear to ear.

All in all there were sightings of 47 deer in the area they were hunting. They shot a total of 5: Mike 2, dad 2, Timm 1. Lots of meat!


One of Mike's was the largest buck he's shot, ever. (see picture of rack). It was fun, we went to my dad's to hang the meat in the shed (with halibut hooks no less). Michael Jr. was in there checking everything out and was grinning from ear to ear as well. Each time we took a picture of him he said 'Cheese, Meat.'

OK, enough writing, here's some pictures!

Hunting Update

Mike, my dad Craig, and Mike's brother Timm have been on Admiralty Island in the Seymour Canal area deer hunting since Thursday afternoon. This year they rented a SAT phone at it's worked out pretty good. Mike and my dad both have two deer each and Timm, as of 10AM today, only had one. Unfortunately this year the limit is three, so I'm hoping that they all limit out, I'd like to avoid buying any red meat this year. We have a small empty chest freezer that Mike cleaned out before he left, so we'll package up some chunks, ribs, back strap, burger and do some canning as well. Two seasons back we canned some and it was out-of-this-world and great for nights that you don't want to thaw out your dinner.

Mike took down his camera, so hopefully we'll have some decent pictures to post when he returns home on Tuesday.

Kids and Accidents!

Boys are boys and are bound to get themselves pretty banged up from time-to-time. Earlier in the week when we had good weather Connor bit the dust and has a good scrape on his forehead.

Yesterday, however, I thought I was going to end up at the emergency room twice! (But only once was necessary.)

The first incident was Connor pulling over a lamp and the light breaking, shards everywhere, of course, my back was turned just the instant it happen (and everything does seem to happen in an 'instant' - nothing is ever in slow motion so you have the chance to intervene like in that movie The Matrix). So anyway, down the lamp goes, bulb breaks, Connor screams, mommy runs - trying to protect and discipline at the same time (making sure I see no blood or shards of glass in skin / eyes / etc.) and I put him in his playpen (which he hates now that he's mobile and therefore his screams increase in intensity) and keep Jr. sitting on the couch while I throw open the windows (because it's one of those new halogen lights that save money but unfortunately has Mercury in it) and begin the cleaning process. I have figured out now that I'm going to Velcro the lamp down to the side-table, but ran out of Velcro in the process and need to get to the store later today so I can have light in my living room.

With that incident over with I give the kids a bath, get into PJ's read books and then Jr. needs to go POOP (and he has to be supervised in the bathroom or I have to disinfect everything or end up unclogging drains or the toilet, anything else you can imagine?) Well at this point Connor starts crying because he wants to nurse which is difficult when you have to read books to your 2 1/2 year old while he's on the toilet. Anyway, Connor continues to cry and Michael Jr. finally finished and then it was time for bed. Michael Jr. ran down the hallway to avoid the inevitable and at this time I had Connor in my arms who was crying still and Jr. threw himself on the floor when I told him to go to bed and while holding Connor still, I reached down to pick up Michael while he was still throwing a fit and started walking down the hall to the bedroom when THUD! Michael's head hit the corner of the wall, which I first thought 'not again' and then I saw blood gushing down his face - at this time I couldn't see where the cut was yet. I had to put Connor down to handle the situation and this caused even more crying and screaming. I walked Michael to the bathroom (just steps away) and put the hand towel on his head thinking 'I've got to get this bleeding stopped!) So, surprisingly the bleeding didn't last too long, so apparently I was applying enough pressure and then to the freezer to grab a bag of frozen blueberries which I held there for some time. I was surprised at myself for not passing out or throwing up at this point. I assessed the damage and decided I should call my mom to come over to watch Connor so I could take Michael Jr. to the emergency room to get checked out. By now I had Michael Jr. holding the bag of blueberries on his own and I reached for the first aid kit and found the butterfly band aids to keep the gash closed, of course, Michael Jr. thought it was pretty neat to get three of them. So after that I ran around the house, first getting Connor a bottle of soy milk which he adamantly refused to take and continued on his screaming episode as I put some things together in a bag to take with us to the emergency room, which I just knew would be full and I'd need to keep Jr. occupied. My brother Chris arrived first, mom had called him to come over with her and help out. So we were finally off - and arrived shortly at the hospital and there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room. We got right in and when we were in the nurse's station answering questions and Michael was sitting on the bench with me with my arms wrapped around him, he leaned into me and patted my arm and said to me very matter-o-fact "Mommy, Michael's going to be OK." He proceeded to flirt with the nurse and showed her some sign language. To get him to stay still I (reluctantly) gave him a lolly pop which I had found moments before in the car's glove box. We proceeded to registration and Michael Jr. charmed the receptionist there too, persuading her to turn off the lights so he could play with his key chain flashlight. After that brief interview we went directly into the emergency room and got a bed, the nurse was great and gave him some 'blue gel' to numb his gash and told me that we could get it glued instead of stitched, which was nice to hear, because I'm not fond of holding down a 2 1/2 year old to get shots, let alone stitches. So, everything went well and we were home by 10pm. Of course, the report on Connor was that he eventually fell asleep but didn't want to take his sippy cup with soy milk, he kept signing 'milk' which meant 'I don't want that stinkin' soy milk, I want my Mommy!' Needless to say, I gave into Michael Jr.'s requests to watch the Noggin channel and eat a snack. Well, Jr. ended up sleeping with me and so did Connor when he woke at 2am with a full diaper and insisting to nurse. I was surprised how well we all slept together in the bed.

Just Pictures

Trampoline Fun

I picked up a trampoline the other day because the weather's been so awful that the kids and I need some indoor exercise other than running around the house and playing duck-duck-goose and ring-around-the-rosie.

The directions tell you that you need three people to assemble this little thing. I couldn't believe it until Mike and I actually tried to put it together. Good thing Mike has the strength of two!

The funny thing is I wasn't sure how the kids would react or if they'd even like to get on it. They both love it! Connor throws the biggest fit ever if you take him off to give Jr. a turn. I couldn't believe it!

Enjoy the pictures.

Close Encounters with a Bear in the Neighborhood

These are pictures of the Bear that's been hanging out in our neighborhood.

On another day I was getting the kids ready to go to the store and I had taken Connor out to put him in his car seat, when I saw out of the corner of my eye the same Bear just 10 feet away from me between my car and my husband's truck. By the time I saw him it was too late to run into the house so I squeezed Connor and myself into the backseat of the Explorer (what room there was left from the room the car seat was taking up) and in the process nearly knocked out my own kid trying to rush into the back seat it was split second thinking and Jr. was still in the entryway getting on his coat and boots, so I only had a moment before he leisurely walked out onto the porch! I quickly fumbled with my keys and turned on my car alarm to try to scare it off. It took several seconds (felt like minutes), the Bear just looked around to see where the noise was coming from and eventually walked off - but only to across the street, so I kept up on the alarm and it took another few minutes for it to walk out of my sight. In the process I was yelling at Jr. to stay in the house. Of course, I didn't tell him there was a Bear in the yard - because he'd be curious and want to come out and see it!

Where has the time gone? ...Sick ...Fall Cleaning ...Daycare ...Hunting ...'Stuff Happens' ...Organic

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last entry.

We've all been sick on/off this week plus Connor's teething. Lots of sleepless nights. Today I didn't go to church because Connor was just settling down and nursing and falling asleep around 10am (which he desperately needed!) and he slept a solid 2 hours - which is very unusual for him - he usually only takes a 45 minute nap.

I have a long list of things I've been trying to accomplish at the house - fall cleaning of sorts, and trying to get everything lined up to be licensed for daycare and ready for a home visit - making sure everything is just so. Although I thought I've been careful with my kids, there are several more things I've been made aware of during this licensing process. One of which I'm trying to fulfill - CPR and First Aid - which the class keeps being canceled on me! There are several benefits to being licensed - grants for food, education, arts and crafts, etc. I'm only going to start with one child for daycare, just to see how things go before I take on any more, I only just started staying home with my kids since June 16th, so I'm still trying to adjust to some things and keep up on other things that I used to do on my breaks at work like balancing the checkbook and paying bills and making phone calls - of which I can do hardly any at home because the kids take naps at different times and if I do try doing anything with the kids around, they both want my attention immediately, although they've been playing just fine on their own for the past 15 minutes.

Plus Mike's getting ready to head over to Admiralty with my dad to go deer hunting and I need to do the grocery shopping and get Mike's things ready before Thursday. We are counting on deer this year, last year there was such a bad winter kill that he didn't get one deer, which he usually takes home 3. I'd like to avoid having to buy any red meat!

I'm watching a new show called 'Stuff Happens' by Bill Nye, The Science Guy, on Planet Green, it's very informative! I have decided to re-use my tin foil and to quit using pans with non-stick Teflon coating. It has opened my eyes to how aluminum is mined - it's a very ugly process - one good thing is that all aluminum is recyclable, so now I'm washing my tin foil and re-using it. It's also cost-effective! So, as for the pans, I've switched to cast-iron (I only bought one - they're expensive!). It's not as difficult as I've made it out to be as far as cooking and cleaning. It's rather easy - unless you're the kind of person who doesn't like to clean up after a meal!

Many of you may already know that I've gone Organic - now that I'm aware of all the pesticides and chemicals is 'regular' food, I can't go back. I have this guilt of feeding non-organic foods to my children, knowing that they contain harmful chemicals. I am gearing up for next summer to grow some of our own vegetables, hopefully next summer won't be as rainy! Going Organic is not really that much more expensive, in fact, some Organics are cheaper than 'regular' foods - you just have to look before you buy and compare. Also, take note of food waste in your home and make sure you only buy as much as you need so you're not preparing too much and throwing it out or not letting it rot in the fridge because you can't eat it in time. I have found this to be a problem for us in the past, but am improving my system so we have less food waste. I also compost all of our scraps and hope to have some good soil for next year's garden! I recently had a good chat with a gentleman at Rainbow Foods who was telling me about a step up from Organic (if you didn't think it could get any better) called Bio Dynamic. This system takes everything into consideration - the whole farm - everything interconnected to keep the farm work in harmony with itself as a 'closed circuit' of sorts. Very interesting, I'm going to be looking more at this 'Bio Dynamic' system and see what it's all about.

A Day At The Beach

This afternoon was the most beautiful day we've had in a long time. I actually can't remember when we last had a good 'sunny' day. I decided to take advantage of it and take the kids to the beach and my parents came along for the day as well. Unfortunately Mike was working today, so he didn't get the chance to sun bathe.