Fun with Chainsaws

Drew and Jim spent a couple hours today playing with a chain saw and a giant log.  We came out with two seats and a stump!

Photography by G

Drew's truck 4-wheelin'

4 pointer buck

These are a bunch of pics taken with G's new camera in the few days after she just got it.

The whole gang

Hops

Sweet Weener

Hops

Labrador Lovin'

Ahi

Anna and Roy 54th Anniversary

Since we were all at the cabin, we decided to drive into Yosemite and have lunch at the Ahwanee Hotel to celebrate 54 years of marriage!  We were there 4 years ago to celebrate their 50th!

It was a beautiful winter day with blue skies and cold temps (low 30's in the valley).

Post Xmas Adventure

We squeezed in a bunch of adventure today:

• Playing in the snow at Cherry
• Sledding
• Fishing
• Hiking around Cherry and talking to a Hetch Hetchy worker
• 4 wheeling in snow and mud
• Looking for deer to photograph
• Exploring around a huge water pipe that moves Hetch Hetchy water 
• Swimming (Hops, not us!)
• Finding a huge chunk of wood that Jim and Drew had to bring home...

Cherry

What the heck are we going to do with this?

Loading up our new wood

Christmas 2016

We were lucky enough to celebrate xmas at the cabin this year!  My folks went to my brother's house so it was just Grandma Anna and Grandpa Roy and us.  We started on xmas eve with fondue - see upside down pic - I can't figure out how to change it but thought it was fun anyway!  We ate like pigs and really enjoyed it.

Then we opened gifts on xmas morning and had a yummy gluten free casserole (potatoes, eggs, cheese, sour cream, etc) for brunch.  Grandma's favorite gift was a sweatshirt from Grandpa!  My favorite gifts were my collapsible walking sticks and Grace loved her new camera!  Jim immediately started reading his book about Warren Miller (the ski movie guy), Drew loved his new tent and Roy loved his new slippers!  Even the dogs loved the 3 new monkey toys Grandma Anna got them!

Grandma's new sweatshirt!

Corn hole!

Oh - it's hard to pick my favorite gift because Jim and the kids made me a corn hole game which is super fun and is extra special because it is home made!  And it is such good quality that it will be around for years and years.  I can picture the kids playing corn hole with their kids using it!  

Collapsible walking stick - makes it easier to transport by airplane!

After a bunch of game playing with the grandparents, Grace and I went for a hike down to the creek so she could try out her camera.  The pic above was taken with the new camera using the timer.  The out takes were hilarious and included Grace running into the pic and one with just Hops butt in it!

It was fun to play corn hole on the deck...until one of the bean bags went over the side.  Being the problem solvers we are, we taught Hops to go get them!  Smart girly!

TNDC White Elephant 2016

3D dog

This year's TNDC did not disappoint.  There were ugly gifts, useless gifts and hilarious gifts!  The night was not complete without Doug's traditional box game.  Followed by a rousing game of 4 way nibs!

Viagara hat

New dog toy!

Knight tp holder - might end up on the Coleman Crapper at Cherry!

Box game!

Haleakala - Day 4 - the hike out

Day 4 was our hike out - 3.7 miles - up the side of a  mountain on switchbacks.  It was overcast and drippy but not really raining most of the time.

This is a great pic to see the switch backs

This shows the trail from the first day heading down into the crater

Going up!

At the end of the hike!

Going up the mountain and looking back into the valley at the trail we walked across.

A selfie on the edge of the world

Once we got to the trailhead, Eric had to hitch hike to the top to get our car.  We timed how long it took for him to get picked up:  3rd car stopped and it was 11 minutes of waiting!  After we came down from the mountain, we had lunch at Fatt Chicks Burgers -- DELISH!

After lunch, we headed to the airport, dropped off the rental car and took and early flight back to Kona.  All in all - a great trip.  It had been on the bucket list and it did not disappoint!