Mike's September Hunting Trip

Due to the fall blustery weather, Mike and his hunting party had a tough time getting out of town and getting back to town.  They were scheduled to leave on Friday, but didn't make it out 'till Saturday and then were scheduled to return Tuesday and didn't make it home until Wednesday.  It sure was nice to see him back home.  The kids were very excited to see him go when we dropped him off at Ward Air, getting to see the airplanes in the hangar and all the gear the guys hauled in.  It was a lot of excitement, both Michael Jr. and Connor are already talking about when they get to join daddy on a hunting trip.  Mike has promised Jr. to go shooting soon, starting with a .22 rifle this Sunday at the gun range!

Mike had talked with Jr. about how we had to cut the meat off the bones and process the meat.  We ended up working on the meat while the boys were at my parent's to spend the night.  The next day Jr. was VERY UPSET because he did not get to help daddy and mommy cut the meat off the bones! 

With Mike only shooting one deer, we only ended up with 11 packages of meat for the freezer and we had enough scraps to fill 2 Quart Zip Lock baggies so we can do a little canning, I think we'll end up with 6 - 8 jars of canned venison, unless we also include the one package of meat from last year we haven't used from the freezer, then we may get 10 jars.  We'll see!

Mr. Christian and his SmartiPants!

Lately Christian has one hand down the front and one hand down the back of his pants!  It's so funny, and tonight he managed to work his diaper down so much he's got a plumber's crack too.  Priceless! 

Haines & Whitehorse

Our Road Trip Begins...We head to Haines to visit with Mike's sister, Jami, and her husband, Dan.  We all had a good time and the boys had a blast playing around on the 'wheeler' on their property and playing with their dog, Sunny.  After Haines we headed to Whitehorse.  And, yes, for the record, the weather was fabulously DRY!!!!

 

One of our stops on the highway from Haines to Whitehorse (and there were many of them).

At Whitehorse we did a few things, one which was going to the Beringia and the Transportation Museums (but my batteries died just before the 2nd Museum).

And the kiddos all got a ton of outside playing time, of course, what else do you do when the weather's nice and dry?

Well, I guess, before it got warm enough to play outside, they were playing inside.

 

And then we had to head back to Haines.... 

With some stops along the way and beautiful scenery thru the bugs on the windsheild.

Back to Haines... We went and viewed the Bears there out the road past the Ferry Terminal, it was amazing, but the shots barely turned out, it was too dark...

 

And the only picture of Mike and I together without kids; how gorgeous is the view behind us?

Now, back onto the Ferry for another adventure...much easier this time that we rented a room with 4 bunks and a sitting room, well worth the $.  So much less stressful being able to let the kids and us relax.

 

Then we were able to take each of the boys out on a walk around the boat to take pictures 

(and we let the boys take their own pictures as well...)

 

Now for Connor's Photos...

 

And Michael Jr's Photos - our budding photographer!