Memorial day outing

Dad and Ethan got out to Granite Basin for a boys only ride. Ethan did well with zero complaints. Not bad for his first time on more challenging trails. He knows that complaining is unacceptable, because face it, riding bikes is fun even when it's not.








The last shot was taken by the 6 yo. Not too shabby.

Ethan especially showed good judgment, riding a few sections that stretched him, but walking a few that I'm pretty sure he could ride, but he is not ready to try yet.

Sailing

We had the great experience of getting a short sail around Watson Lake in the Hosking's small sailboat. The kids loved it. Rachel asked Captain Chris if he would tell a story while sailing.





Thanks Captain Chris!

How to Say Goodbye

Heather and I are both bawling over this video. Enjoy the cry.

Fire Bomber

We got to go visit the Forest Service base at the local airport on a home school field trip.

As part of the trip, we got to tour one of the "Fire Bomber" airplanes that drop the slurry on the fires. Very cool.
The airplane is a P-3 Orion, previously used by the Navy to hunt submarines, then converted to a slurry bomber. It is huge! Fully loaded it weighs 100,000 lbs!


The inside is pretty much stripped bare.


Prescott is one of various bases around the country where these things can fly in, load up and fly out again. They can re-load the slurry in 11 minutes.

K'nex

Ethan loves these things, and is really making some intricate projects with (a little) daddy input.

Thanks for the box Grandma.

More Framing

Click Thumbnail for bigger photos


Top floor on, bring your roller skates



Top walls framed in:


Garage slab poured:

Hike on Little Granite Trail

This is one of dad's favorite biking trails.

First rest, check out the cool tree basically growing into the rock in the background

Hiking sticks are a necessity.

Abby looks pretty good after climbing 800 feet in a mile in loose dirt. That takes an hour at 3 yo pace.



Believe it or not, we did need to keep the kids near by literally due to lions. I know one had to be hunted near this very trail last year due to aggressiveness towards hikers. I have been out there many, many times on the bike with no trouble, and have never even seen one. Kids, however are bite sized and tempting, and believe me, whether you see them or not, they are there.

Helicopter ride

Helicopter rides were being given as part of a fund raiser at church. Since it was for a good cause...
Rachel and I got to sit in back, Ethan up front. Everyone had head phones so we could talk to each other.



The ride was remarkably smooth. I actually liked it much more than my previous fixed wing experiences. Ethan has decided he wants to fly helicopters when he gets bigger.

I got to walk through the basement again this afternoon. Everything is framed in, and simply stupendous.

There is a big lodgepole holding a beam up for the larger room. It just looks great.

Heather and I are really overwhelmed with thankfulness. We constantly remind ourselves that this is God's house, and we are thankful to be guests in it for a while and enjoy it.

Framing begins

The lower level is starting to shape up.

This is after only two days of work. I'm blown away, these guys (only two of them!!) work fast!