Mimi and Jackson Graduation

Mimi graduated from Elementary School and Jack graduated from Middle School on the same day!  Luckily Grace finished her finals early and we were able to both go up to EDH to celebrate!

Jacks ceremony was at 8 am and Mimi's was at 10 am at the school right next store.  So we efficiently went to both of the events and then went back to their house for lunch!

Since we were heading straight to the cabin from their house, we had to bring the dogs with us -- all 4 of them!  Everyone was very well behaved (well, except for Henry who finds Hops irresistible! ;-)).  But it was a lot of work to keep them under control in a different home.

The dogs LOVED Uncle B's park like backyard complete with a pool and Oakley only fell in once! 

Doggie Cousins!

Oakley - 1 Week at home

Sit - Stay - waiting for the morning walk

Oakley has been with is for 1 full week.  So far the transition has been good.   She is such a puppy - she plays like crazy and then sleeps so hard you can barely get her up to go outside to go potty.

Book ends

Thank goodness for Hops because she plays with her and tires her out!  It would be a lot harder without her.

Reading Buddy

Hops was tested and certified today to be a Reading Buddy!  Grace will take her to a library and she will sit with kids for 15 minutes at a time and listen to them read.  She passed the testing with flying colors.  In fact, she put her head down and took a little rest while a little boy read to her.

Alaska Hike

Fish Camp Crew

So -- Jim and Drew are in Alaska "working".... here they are "working" on an 8 mile hike!  This is the hike that Susan wants to take the family on for the wedding in August so they wanted to check out the trail after winter.   Since they are going to be at fish camp for the next two months, now was the time.

Drew said it was a really tough hike - at one point so steep you had to walk up it sideways.  But he said I would have loved it!

Eric and Susan

Alaska Update

For those who don't know - Jim and Drew are commercial fishing in Alaska this summer.   They will be fishing for salmon for 2 months. 

Getting loaded up in Eagle River

Jim is in Alaska already and is helping get ready for the season to open.   He has spent the last few days getting geared up, packed and taking a load out to the fish camp.

Above is the inside of their cabin.  Notice the stove pipe on the back wall.  That is their heat source. And notice the roof which is clear plastic and allows light in about 20 hours a day!  They stay out at fish camp for about 2 months with no running water and no electricity.

Above is the view from their cabin.

And this is where Jim dries his socks - and burns a pair the first day!  Drew has already been instructed to bring more!

Above is a pic of where they loaded the boats into the water in Whittier.  They then put all the gear in the boats and drive an hour and 45 minutes to fish camp.

Laundry Time

Tip for the day:

When you are in the outback with no running water, you do your laundry by:

Filling a 5 gallon bucket with water and dawn soap.

Agitating with a plunger!

Old Friends

Drew's college room mate is the grandson of former neighbors of Grandma Anna and Grandpa Roy.  We found this out by accident last summer when his room mate mentioned Drew's last name to his mom and she recognized it.

This morning, Drew texted me the pic above that his room mates mother had found.  That is Grandma Anna in the front!  The pic says 1967/68 so Jim was between 1 and 2 at the time!   What a surprise gift - Drew and I were so excited to get this and see how much Grace looks like Grandma!

Parks For Life 2017

Grace and I are doing a County Parks Challenge this summer.  You make a flag - see above - and go on adventures at various county parks and take photos of the adventures!  So far we have found a deer track, crossed a bridge, hiked with a dog and visited a historic site!  Next up:  yoga pose and shooting an arrow!

Visit with Oakley

We stopped on the way home from the cabin for a quick (it lasted an hour!) visit with Oakley!  What a thrill!

Drew was in AZ and G was at home so we took turns facetiming them so they could see her play.

She was pure puppy!  Exuberance and intense happiness!   She immediately reminded me of Hops.  They had similar mannerisms and looks.  And look....she even sits sloppy like her mama.

I love this pic where it looks like her mama is telling her to settle down!  And below was a brief moment where she was actually resting....while also taking bites of grass.

People keep asking me if the pups seemed to know Hops and if Hops knew them.  Check out the video and decide yourself!

Senior Prom

G was asked to the Senior Prom by a friend, Rick, in a couple of her classes.  She knew the group of kids that she went with but didn't know them well.
 

She went with a classic look in a black dress, with swept back curls and red lipstick.  It was the same dress she wore to the Junior Prom last month but looked totally different with different make-up and hair.   She looked stunning. 

We met the kids at Vasona Park for a long picture session that led to all these great shots.

All the kids seemed really nice and we enjoyed chatting with the parents while waiting around.

Goofy prom shot

Silly shot

Reports were that they had a great time at the prom - good dinner, lots of dancing and a VC ice sculpture with tubs of ice cream in it -- brilliant!

After the prom, they all loaded up and went to Denny's for breakfast.  Good times!

Bad Ass Ladies Tour 2017

My girlfriend, Susan, who we backpacked with a couple years ago in Washington, has come up with another hike for this summer!  It is in the Olympic Peninsula and is a 4 day, 3 nite trip.  Shannon, who also went with us 2 years ago, is also going!  It will be a reunion for the Bad Ass Ladies Tour!  The band is back together!

The hike is called High Divide - Seven Lakes Basin and is 19 miles and only goes to about 5000 foot elevation.

More to come as we prepare.

Wildflower Hike

Jim and I are at the cabin for a couple days in the middle of the week getting the boat summer ready and into the water.  We squeezed in a quick hike to see the trees that the TNDC men planted over a year ago.  The trees are growing - maybe a little faster than ours - but they were hard to see because of all the grass.  The wildflowers are crazy beautiful this year - as seen with the hounds above.

Jim was playing with the go pro and got these silly action pics!

Prepping for AK

While Jim and Drew are preparing for Alaska, the Alaskan's are also getting ready.  The boats are finally uncovered from the snow and the first load of supplies (below) are ready to go.

If you want to see where they will be fishing, check out this video made by Max. 

Oakley

Nine more days until Oakley comes home.  She is learning...and playing while getting trained.  Notice the water on her face in the pic above....she had been playing in her water bowl.  She is also learning to swim!

Learning to sit and stay