ESPECIALLY FOR MORGAN

MORGAN loves to get on the blog and see pictures of her. It makes her feel special. She has such a sweet heart and always wants to make others happy. Sometimes she will even do nice things for her brother like help him clean his room. My Morgan is my snuggle bug. Every time she lays on her dads lap, she can't resist it to fall fast asleep. Here are some pictures and a spotlight of her spring days.

Morgan jumped in on the scout activity and found some dinosaur teath in a dig.

She always finds her friends. She loves to play with her friends.

A great sister she is. Always helping Mattie get what she needs. CREATIVE: Planting a tree so she can make a wish on it and wish for a unicorn. Now that is a good imagination.

BACKYARD FIGHT

I had a fight in my backyard today. Mattie tried to protect her salad and was telling her friend not to touch her food. Here are some of the out takes.

THE OTHER SIDE OF WET LANDS

MOMS DAY OUT. What would you do if you had 3 hours of time, with yourself, to do something you love? I love photography, sunshine, walks, and springtime. I have been wanting to get out and take some pictures of the brand new baby ducks that hatched recently...and this WAS the perfect opportunity for this.

I went home to change after dropping off the kids, loaded up my camera, and headed to the other side of the wetlands. The beauty joined me with sunshine and heat. It instantly brought back the feeling of home.

Growing up in my early childhood years, my dad use to take us on these long walks through hills in the desert of Pasco and Ringold. At times, there would be a stream of water running by. But my dad, he always felt at Peace on these walks. That is the memory I started out with on this walk.

I guess you can call this a boardwalk. It isn't a long one, but it is built for tourists during a real high tide...I would assume. But it made for a great picture.
This is why the birds migrate here in the Spring. The tall grass and the pools of water. I am in search of the ducks...but no luck yet.

The first stream I came upon. It was shallow and very calm to where you could see reflections. I could see a larger one in the distance that I start to head to. I hope there are some ducks hiding right over the ridge.

The old stumps are fascinating to me. When I was a little kid living in Oregon, there was part of the little city underwater. Can you imagine as a kid, AN UNDERWATER CITY?! So,me and my brothers and sisters would go to the park, walk down the dirt road,to the secret beach where the underwater city was. One particular time there was a huge log on the beach. With all of our strength and a lot of digging, we launched the log into the water and played on it for hours.

Off in the distance I spot a man. He was training his dogs for hunting. Some of these dogs are amazing hunters. Still no ducks though.

This stop had a pretty hard flowing river. It branched off into a million different little streams and paths. For sure I had hit the jackpot and I was on the right track to where the ducks where.

Sticky mud. Have you ever seen sticky mud?

And me. Of course, even though I'm all alone, I set up the camera for a shot of my hot boots. I know, my outfit isn't the best fashion. It looked good in the closet though.

OH LOOK...TRACKS!!! I must be close.

After further investigation, I am not sure if these ARE duck tracks after all. We couldn't decide.

A HUGE tree washed up. I wonder...how many years has this been here. AND I bet THIS IS THE BEST HUNTING BLIND!! I'm going to remember that this fall. I can't believe I haven't found ANY ducks/geese yet. At this point, I'm thinking they are sunning or something.

The helicopters and little "puddle jumpers" are seen flying overhead all day/24-7 in the summer. That is something I want to ride before I leave Alaska. Tell Andy that is what I want for my birthday.

THIRSTY ANYONE? Crystal Clear Alaskan Water. For Sale. I just started advertising, FOR 10.00 I WILL MAIL YOU FRESH ALASKAN WATER TO TRY!!

FRESH, CLEAN, PURE....MMMMM.....

I finally found 2 birds. They were Sea Gulls about 150 yards away that I zoomed into with my Canon 70-300mm and manually set the focus on the birds. Still too far away for a great photo but I was just glad I found something with wings.

IN THE FUTURE: I will definitely bring my children and the dog...and a duck decoy.

YARD SALE ORGANIZATION (UPDATE)

A COUPLE POSTS BACK I posted that I was looking for ways to have a yard sale. Today I went around and did some research at other yard sales. Here are some things I have found

CLEAR ADVERTISEMENT OF LOCATION: The bigger the sign, the EASIER it is to locate. Write the address HUGE because when your driving, you don't have much time to be squinting your eyes and remembering an address...and staying on the road. This was a great "at location" sign!KEEPING YOUR CLOTHING UP ON HANGERS. What ever kind of rod or mechanism you have to hang clothes, it is much easier to dig through and see what kind of style/quality the clothing is in. PILES (like below) don't get as much movement and get "passed up" by more people than "picked up". Your clothing, IF PRESENTED nicely, could be a large profit. Especially if you have kept them nice.

SIZING CLOTHING-And marking the size by bin or labels. Just think how much easier it would be to you if you walked up, there was a row of clothes marked "Children's 12-24months" or "women's small".TABLES- Make tables if you don't have any. Nice to have tables with items alike. A whole section with kids, kitchen, books/videos,living room, linens?,fishing?,and whatever else you have a COLLECTION of. Tables are good for mass quantities and makes it easy to go through.MAKE IT FUN-Let the kids take part! There are alot of families that enjoy yard sales and the kids pick up random things that you don't want. (Trey came home with a vacuum today!?? I told him to take it back. I'm so mean.) Also along the lines of having fun, let your kids participate by setting up a hot dog/lemonade stand and learn how to be a good sales man! Hey there kids. I'm sure they will do good.
MORE RESEARCH TO COME IN THE FOLLOWING LINKS. CLICK ON MY ORGANIZATION BUTTON FOR UPDATES OR FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO FIND YOUR WAY BACK TO KANSAS.

Being a Good Example

How many times have you left your children and hope they make good choices without you around? As you are thinking about that, think about what would happen if they did choose the right instead of wrong. What would they learn?
This morning, Trey and Morgan walked over to Glacier Valley Elementary School because they were having a garage sale. While looking around Luke Paden and Trey found a wallet. In the wallet was a $50.00 bill. They went and turned it in to the ladies without even telling Lela, Lukes mom.

Because of their honesty,they were rewarded with $5.00 each from Glacier Valley. I am so proud of both boys! To pass up the temptation and do the right thing without being told, is a big sign of great character and honesty. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for doing the right thing. The neat thing about it is that Morgan was in his presents and it set a good example to her. She got a chance to see good works in action.

Rainforest Trail

Yesterday evening ...We were stir crazy and it was GORGEOUS outside. I had to get out. But where? Somewhere where there isn't everyone in town at. I remembered there was this trail. Easy walking. And I remembered it ended at the ocean. So out we all headed and sure enough, it was the perfect choice for a early spring day.

Trey and Chris. They were running down the trail and jumping in the water the whole time we were there. They were both happy the majority of the time. Water cold boys?

Morgan wasn't feeling well on this trip. She was still a trouper and hung in there. Good job Morgan.

Mattie is showing me her dirty haaands.

The beach.

What a beach huh! Perfect.

The ground we walked on to get to the sandy part of the beach.

LOOK AT HOW RED THOSE LEGS ARE. The boys were in the water far too long before I pulled them from the Ocean. It was good times....good times.

Field Trip

Wednesday. The first sunny day we had since...I don't know when. It greeted me by hitting me in the eyes right when I walked out the door at 8:45am.

This was the first field trip I have been able to attend with Trey. It surprises me how many they have a year and all the different things they do. On this particular field trip, however, we went to the ice skating rink and then to the Treadwell Mine remains.

The kids got a free lesson on ice skating. There is an art in learning how to correctly fall and get up. Some of these kids were really good. The majority of them were beginners and would be seen on the ground. They all had smiles on their faces. Not a single tear dropped. It is different than 5 year olds.

Everyone got along well. Overall, it was a happy time.

Way to go Trey.

ONTO THE TREADWELL MINE TOUR. PUT YOUR HARD HATS ON AND YOUR ALASKAN BOOTS.

The Treadwell gold mine was the largest mine of the Alaskan Panhandle and, in its time, the largest gold mine in the world. During its operation from 1881 to 1922 over 3 million troy ounces of gold were extracted. This is the stamper where ore passed through and was crushed to granulates.The mine was a community where over 2000 people lived. In my opinion, it would have been a very classy place to live with an athletic club, mansions, tennis courts, and a plaza right in the middle where families gathered for 4Th of July celebrations.These are just to show a little bit of history , to this day, that still exists from the mine. These are old Tanner rollers and the walls of the building. They carried the ore over the top shaking anything loose that wasn't gold. Just a process in extracting gold. Today it is a little bit different.

At the end of the trail was a beautiful view and the remains of a house. Just the end walls stand. This overlooked the athletic club that the employees/families had access to. Down below is all that is left of the athletic club...wooden posts.The kids all had a chance to look for gold. Trey ventured off into his own little world to find gold. He is like this. When he was little, he would spend hours looking for sea shells and come back with buckets full. That kept him occupied. This time, he dug and really searched for gold.When kids start going to school, they are there for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week for 12 years. It is nice to be in his environment around kids his age and get a sense for the "school Trey".

I have gained a different view on my son. Field trips are a great bonding tool.