It's About Time...

My husband has been bugging me about getting a "family" post on here so here are a few pictures of life since August.  

Natalie and Craig checked out the "digger" at the school one day.  Craig is facinated with all things mechanical and would love to have had a ride.

We didn't get out to pick blueberries this year.  Because we had such a cold summer the blueberries were weeks behind and we weren't able to coordinate the 60-90 mile trip to pick berries with a hunting trip.  We are out for the year which is a bummer because we all love our blueberry pancakes.  Instead we picked some lowbush cranberries.  Heidi and Jessica even got a chance to earn some money picking some for a local dear friend of ours. 

Hunting this fall has been all of frustrating.  Tim went out moose hunting on three different attempts but was met with roadblocks each time.  He's also been out caribou hunting a handful of times with no success.  From medical problems to boat accidents to frustration from other hunters it just wasn't meant to be.  Hunting in Alaska has taken a different shape in the past 10 years.  (But that's a whole other blog post)  Thankfully three different people shared their caribou harvest with us and we were able to get some burger.  The kids always love to watch the "snakes" of burger come out of the grinder as we grind the meat.  They all pitch in with the packaging too.  This year Jessica enjoyed labeling all the packages while Craig got his hands dirty filling bags.

You never know how you'll see Jess coming toward you these days.  She does cartwheels everywhere!  She does a cartwheel from the floor up onto her bed.  I think she may have even tried them going down the stairs.  She would love being in a gymnastics program, but unfortunately we just don't live in the right environment for that.

Jess and her dad went caribou hunting this fall.  This was a promise fulfilled from a year ago.  Jessie still remembers back to the time when Tim took Heidi and her hunting while I took Natalie to Seattle to have her G-tube removed in 2009.  They got a moose and a bear.  It must have made Jessica a forever hunter.  Last Fall, Tim had said something about taking Jess caribou hunting.  It didn't happen.  So this Fall, Tim took her.  It was an unsuccessful day but hopefully good for Father/Daughter bonding.

Our camping this year wasn't very remote.  We had a campfire in our back yard and camped a couple of nights at Grandpa's farm while baling hay this summer.  The kids love a campfire and as Heidi says, "Campfire popcorn is the best!"

Both girls are playing Little Dribblers basketball again this year.  Jess loves it.  Her size might be small, but she is a very good defenseman and loves to steal the ball.



Jess has finally gotten her top front teeth.  She went toothless for about 8 months because she just had to get those wiggly teeth out last winter.  It gives her a new look as a second grader.