13 Years Old!

So... I can now say that I am the mother of a two year old and a teenager both.

It's pretty awesome, and sweet and wonderful!

Oh, you know, we have our moments... but I can honestly say our two year old brings so much joy to our family and so does our 13 year old!!!  Just love her spunky, kind-hearted, helpful, smiley self.

She pretty much fills right in where I leave off whether it's babysitting, cleaning, baking, or getting ready for company.

I really don't think I could get along very well without her, especially after 13 years!!!!!!

Off the Road Again

Just can't wait to get off the road again...

Goin' places that we have never been Seein' things that we may never see again Just can't wait to get off the road again.

I haven't been to this place since I was on my 8th grade field trip some 20 years ago. Thanks to the kids who begged and pleaded along with me, Randy finally agreed to stop. The stop wasn't a complete success because all the neat buildings on the Ranch were locked up because they were putting in a new fire suppression system, but it was great to get out, look around and breath some crisp (cold), fresh spring air. I REALLY hope to go back again someday when we can really immerse ourselves in this fascinating place! You can read about it here.

Hope you all are enjoying your spring! I will be going off line from now until the first of May so I'll see you then!

Just can't wait to get off the road again,
Tootle-loo

Meeting At Fairmont

It was super special to meet all my family last week at Fairmont Hotsprings. We had a really wonderful, relaxing time together.

We took special time to get a picture together on Sunday afternoon. We would have liked to be able to take the picture outside but the weather didn't cooperate so we snapped this indoor shot...

I loved to complare it to this picture taken back in April of 2007 when we met at Fairmont Hotsprings the last time...

Here is a picture of all the kiddos with Grandpa and Grandma...
We have to take a silly picture too. Looks like Melita finally smiled!
Dear Dad and Mom... Here are a few more pictures taken of our time together. As usual, I didn't take very many pictures so thanks Mom and Dad for sharing yours with us!..


Thanks for the special time everyone! Can't wait to do it again sometime!

Big Bud!

Lets just say that Montana isn't known for it's Manufacturing Industry. There was a day however, that a little company in Havre, Montana called Northern Manufacturing Comapny cranked out some big tractors. Some REALLY BIG tractors. In fact, Colter's teacher's father owns one of these tractors. His tractor was produced in 1977 and happens to be the biggest tractor in the world. The tractor can work more than one acre per minute, at speeds up to 8 mph. You can read about it here and here.

Needless to say, Colter was very excited when his teacher shared this information with her students one day. He came home and told us all about the tractor. We had fun googling it and learning more about "Big Bud"!

Randy's known about Big Bud Tractors for years since he grew up on a farm in Eastern Montana. On our recent trip home for Thanksgiving, he told Colter he would show him the place were Big Bud's were made in Havre. He also thought that there may be a couple Big Bud Tractors that he could show him along the way...
And there was. I think Colter's "Big Bud Smile" says it all!

Alison

p.s. Oh and... did you know that Colter went on a trip to North Dakota for a recent school project? You can read about it here! Thanks Aleta, Rob, Evan, Lana and Mattie for the fun time at your house and for sending him on to Virginia! What fun

In the Good Ol' USA

How can I wrap up the rest of our Alaska trip in one post? I think it would be impossible... but I will do my best.

Deer hanging out in the yard...
One of the most memorable things for me was a trip across "the narrows" for a visit. Here is the boat coming to pick us up!..
Our expert captain...
Our new friends with Lita! This is one time, (along with many others) I wished our other kids were with us. What fun they would have had!..
The boat is rigged up on a rope and pulley system so they can move the boat with the tide...
We had such a nice time together as we sipped raspberry/nettle Tea and talked about life on the island. A lot like my own life in many ways... but really, so very different. The kids had so much to tell me too and I had fun telling them about where I live. The time was gone before we knew it and we had to head back across the water...


These nasturtium's were growing everywhere! Apparently they love this climate...

I have to post a picture of my Alaskan Sneakers. They were provided for us and we wore them much of the time while walking around the island. Also, see that ground I'm standing on? It is called muskeg and it is a spongy, squishy, wet bogland that is made up of layers of decaying and living foliage. So different from the hard packed ground we have back home...

This was the cool, drizzly day we left. We had a little time in the morning so Auntie Karen took me out to the shoreline to do some beach combing...
We weren't looking for seashells although I did find a few of them. We were looking for sea glass. It comes from an old "dump site" out in the water off the coast here and the glass pieces are washed smooth and they eventually make there way up onto the shore...
Mostly green and brown and clear glass. Very rare to find blue pieces...

While we where "combing" the guys were out "brushing". They were out climbing through the brush down into a garnet mine where they went garnet mining, with picks, and found lots of pretty garnets to bring back for the kids. These may have added a pound or two to our luggage but oh so worth it! The kids really enjoyed these treasures!..

This view (below) is near the garnet mine...


No pictures of the following, but so special none-the-less!
-Our friend Keith only lives about 20 miles from us here in Montana but we had to go to Alaska to really get to know him. :)
-A wedding reception of another Montana connection acquaintance, Ashley, and her new husband Marcus. It was neat to see their new home!
-I also enjoyed my time shopping around town with Auntie Karen, eating out a couple times, and just relaxing at her nice cozy home. It gave us lots of time to visit and now I miss that.
-Two fellowship meetings added the icing on the birthday cake.


When I was making the travel plans I emailed Uncle Joe and asked him if we needed passports to travel there. He emailed me back that no, we wouldn't need passports, "Alaska is in the good ol' USA", he joked. Yes I know (haha!), but... it just seemed like a place all it's own. And it was!

We will never forget this special place, these special people and the special memories we made while we were there!

Thanks again to those who shared it all with us!
Alison

Alaskan Rain Forest

We really enjoyed our Sunday walk through the rain forest. I wonder if Karen and I would have enjoyed it a little less if we would have seen this sign BEFORE we went on our walk. The men decided not to point it out to us when they saw it at the beginning of the trail, but I noticed Uncle Joe looking around for a big stick... (here, let me hit YOU with that!) Maybe us ladies should not have been yacking so much and paid a little more attention. Well, at least we had two men and a big stick to protect us...

Needless to say, it was a beautiful walk through the lush, green island forest. Huge tree, huge ferns, abundant mosses, huge patches of Devil's Claw, huge leaves... you get the picture. I can see why huge Mama Bear and her huge, little ones would want to hang out here. So glad we didn't run into them!

Another HUGE thank you,
Alison