Wildflowers

Look what I woke up to this morning! At 6:30, when I walked into the dining room, I was greeted by this cheery sight. Jeremy must have picked them early this morning before leaving for work. What a sweet, thoughtful guy I'm blessed with!!

Eklutna

The sun was shining this morning, so I shrugged my way out of a commitment (a very casual one, though) and we stacked up our five bikes in the back of the Yukon and drove up to Eklutna, one of our favorite places for biking. We took turns taking silly pictures on a rock at our snack stop.

The End.

June Happenings

The weather has been so unpredictable. I've decided this "abnormal" summer is actually pretty normal. It's so funny that we Alaskans hang on to a summer or two in recent history which was unusually warm and sunny and decide that somehow, that was a "normal" summer. Then when we get summers like this (which is usually what we get) it is considered a quirky, weird summer.

So we've been doing what we do most summers and get outside to enjoy a sunny day as if it is the absolute last day we're gonna actually see the sun for a long time. Laundry backs up. Dust layers itself all over the house. The floor begins to feel sticky on our bare, dirty feet. And this summer, eventually, regardless of the weather, we have the inevitable "house showing" and I have to clean like mad. Even if I have to miss the sun.

The kids enjoyed a rousing game of Monopoly in front of a cozy fire one fine June morning.

Then the sun came out (kinda) and we seized the moment and hiked the Butte.

The Adventures of Tom

We have a new family member. We adopted the little abandoned bunny and named him Tom, after the man from whom we bought our property. He was in the same place on Sunday that we left him the day before. Lucy, our dog, found him. Ryley saved him from certain death and Tom was left no worse for the wear...with only slobber-covered fur. Jeremy pointed out that if our kids were able to catch him, so could anything. So we brought him home and borrowed a cage from some bunny-loving friends. We currently feed him raw cow milk out of a dropper. It's a very laborious job, as this rabbit seems to always be hungry. I think we need a miniature bottle with which to feed him.

The current plan is to keep him until he's bigger and then release him back into the wild. But I'm admittedly getting pretty attached. So, we'll see...

Our Saturday

What a beautiful, fun-filled day we had. We were at the property (checking out the progress on the driveway!) and as Jeremy and I worked around the cabin (I even mowed the "lawn"), the kids started work on their tree fort.

Ryley spotted and caught this sweet little bunny. We all took turns holding and petting it, then we released him back where he was found. We were a bit sad to see him hop off, but "'tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all". It was truly love-at-first-sight. We're dreaming that maybe he bonded with us because he's so young and impressionable, and he'll stay around and occasionally play with us!

Coyote, and Foxes and Bears, OH MY!

Construction on our "driveway" is now underway!
We were up there the other day and saw these fairly large bear tracks right on the trail, ahead of the excavator. (Isaac's little bear paw is there for perspective.) The tracks were fresh and we know they were made just that morning, as Jeremy had been there the night before and there were none. Also found on the trail was either coyote or wolf scat and fox tracks. None of these signs are unusual for that trail, but these bear tracks were the biggest we've seen yet. Although I do pack a handgun when were playing/working up there, I seriously doubt we'll ever need it. Unlike the Anchorage bears, these still have that healthy fear of humans.

And although at times I'd really appreciate some silence, we are pretty much unable to sneak through the woods.

FamilyFriends

This post title is not a typo. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the two. Often, they are one in the same. And that pleases God, I believe. Our near 13 years in Alaska have been remarkably blessed both by the natural and the non-blood family our Heavenly Father has brought into our lives. I occasionally wonder where we would be...who we would be...without their spiritual impact on our lives.The DenBleykers blessed us with their presence for dinner and a long evening. "Aunt Marva" and "Uncle/Grandpa Mike" are so special to our kiddos.

Our good FamilyFriends the Morris Family came to see us the other day (all but Jamin, who's out fishing...) We played around on the land and in the creek and had such a fun afternoon.

My dad has been in the state for a couple of weeks doing several horse clinics and we were thrilled to have him here on his big day! Between our family and the Horsman family, Grandpa was well loved!

Missing from the grandkid photo are Kaylie and Jacob, (whom he got to visit in Fairbanks also) and Grandma Horsman, who was unable to come this time around. We missed you all!!