Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Blakely 2013

This was one of the best years at Blakely. Why? Because my sister and her kids AND my brother and his girlfriend AND his daughter came too! Everybody didn't exactly come at the same time... but we'll shoot for that next year, right Dad? In any case, all of the Fegert cousins were on the island at the same time for almost a week. It was rockin' awesome. 

We had so much fun. AND it was relaxing too. It was just great. And the weather couldn't have been better.

Cam and I above with some of our crab catch. LOVE all the fresh seafood we can catch and eat while we're up there. Jonah does a great job of making the most of the fishing opportunities while we are there. He even did some mean clamming. Mmmmm. I love me some shellfish. 
The three toddlers were the star of the show. All three of them wanted to be with Papa (my dad) every minute of every day, and would make sure they were on or in whatever vehicle he happened to be operating. 

They all got along so well, and they are so incredibly super cute. Po still talks about Reggie and Riley all the time and about "Papa's house at Blakely" and the four-wheeler, of course. 
We also had loads of lake time...
And plane rides in Papa's four seater...
And fun dance parties at Noni's (my grandma's) house with my fantastic cousin Samantha. (And also many card games and Settlers of Catan tournaments)...
Jonah did his best to do maintenance on all the vehicles. He even got some of the old bikes running again...
Po was SO excited for her turn on an airplane ride... and then promptly fell asleep about three minutes after takeoff. 


Reggie (whose real name is Gabriel, remember) was always ready for a ride. ALWAYS.






The three littles also begged for food constantly. Here is Papa divvying out some root beer float... 

But don't worry--everybody eventually got their own.




Cam and Jonah caught some awesome trout. (Cam also had a little fall on the razor scooter... on his face, of course).

Po became a master of the catch-and-release frog program at the lake beach. 

Reggie and Papa are special pals. 

Riley is sometimes not so sure...

Luke LOVED exploring all around and everywhere.

Luke gets a ride...


Sonna's cute kids.


My cousin Breanne and her husband Brandon and their three boys were luckily up on the island for part of the time we were there! I hadn't seen them in about three years, so it was quite a treat. Cam really hit it off with the boys, and he loved having so Fegert-side boys his own age for a change (but he still loves hanging out with you Ruthie!). Here are all the kids (minus Ana) that we had up there for about four days. Noni was definitely getting her great-grandchild fix. She was only missing Trista's kids!

Beautiful, fun, delightful, sweet Riley! I love this girl!

Tyler and his gorgeous, wonderful girlfriend Jerica finally made it up towards the end of our trip. Tyler hadn't been on island for about four years, so it was a blast to have him come AND have him show Jerica around. I think she's hooked...


We also were so fortunate that the Stewarts invited us to Anacortes for Meme's surprise birthday party. She turned 98! I can't believe we did a surprise party for a 98 year old, but I guess she can take it! She's a firecracker. She still picks up and holds my kids! And she dances and parties all night long. The only assistance she needs is a hearing aid. What a gal!

Here she is with her oldest grandson, my dad. 

And here is my dad's uncle Larry (who organized the party and took us there on his yacht), my grandma Noni (in the blue), my dad, Samantha (my cousin), my dad's aunt Pam and Meme in the middle. I wish Luke had been there-- he's Meme's youngest great-great-grandchild. She has a few great-grandchildren who are younger, but Luke is the youngest great-great. 



Tyler and Jerica. Isn't she cute?!

We left the kids back on the island painting piggy banks.

Cam occasionally needs some down-time-- he plays pretty seriously on Blakely. 

And Ana too...

We also took some fun family rides in the forest.

And of course did some sunset catching trips to The Peak. 



Ana built her traditional moss teepee at The Peak. 

And even let Elsie have a go! (What the heck!? First time ever anyone else has been allowed to go inside!!)

So so so sad to leave. So blessed to go from one magical island home to another. But man, or man, I miss that place when we're gone. Don't miss the winter weather, but miss the island. Thanks again Dad and Roxanne for hosting us for another memorable year!



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Monday, October 28, 2013

The Quick Drive North, July 2013

(I think my big camera was packed away after we loaded the car and left Bear Lake, so these are all iPhone photos.) We had to hurry up to Sequim to turn over our old house since the last people we were owner financing had moved out in June. Usually we like to take three or four days to do the 20 hour drive from Bear Lake to Northwestern Washington, but we did it in one and a half-- we left at 4pm on Wednesday and got to Sequim on Thursday. We stayed at our friends' house about an hour past Boise and only stopped at rest stops besides to let the kids get out and run. We usually have a fun time hiking and camping and exploring history along the drive, but since we didn't bring any camping gear this year, maybe it's good we were forced to travel fast. 

We did take one detour this year, however, to see my cousin and her baby. They'd been living in Moses Lake for about six months, which is near Othello where my parents grew up and where I was born. 

There's the infamous Othello water tower. Sadly, we didn't have time to stop by in attraction filled Othello...

And again, I managed to leave someone's house without taking any photos. I missed taking photos of cousin Brynda's cute house and amazing view over Moses Lake, complete with her own boat access! Her daughter Brooklyn is about the cutest baby I've ever seen in my whole life. Seriously. 
The kids had a fun time playing with little Brooklyn and making some Lego people. 

We finally pulled into Sequim at about 10 pm. Our sweet friend Amy had gone over to our house and cleaned up a bit and set up beds for us on the floor. We owe her big time. 

We got up the next morning to quite the mess, but it could have been worse. We did have to mow an acre of three month's worth of grass (up to our chest), catch some wild cats that had moved into the basement, and scrub until our hands were raw. My old garden and hundreds of strawberry plants and most of the orchard and blueberries had been taken over and literally destroyed by weeds. They also had strangely cut down an old beautiful tree that was the centerpiece of the yard and my kids' favorite climbing spot. But the worst part was the paint jobs they had done:


What the heck!? 

Anyway, we worked like CRAZY for two straight and full days. The kids took care of priming and repainting the walls and removing rubbish. Elsie entertained Po. Jonah mowed and mowed and mowed. We all put in our fair share of hard labor...as in, 18 hours each day all of us. Oh, and six hours on Saturday. We had some sweet friends feed us and some other friends take the little girls for play dates. We were so grateful. 



We did take two hours to run errands and go see two friends who couldn't come by the house to see us (we really wanted to see our friends, but we had to say, "If you want to see us, come to our house because we can't stop working"). The photo above is from a visit to our friends' new house... and we also got to see their new snake!! Elsie's not afraid of any creepy crawlies. 

On Saturday morning, Jonah took the last of the loads to the dump and we signed papers and got a deposit from the new owners! We hope they are going to be the long term owners of the place, but if not, we'll go back and do it again, I guess. We should probably just sell it outright to someone, but it is so nice to be making the income through the interest we can charge by carrying the loan ourselves. Hmmmm.... 

Anyway, we were glad to pack up again and head up north for one final stop... In any case, our backs needed a break.

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Bear Lake 2013



Each year we have the grand opportunity to visit Jonah's family's property on the shores of the enormous Bear Lake, which sits on the border of Utah and Idaho (and nearly on the border of Wyoming too... its right there in the corner where the three states meet). This year we got up there almost a week before the big influx of people, so we were able to welcome everyone as they arrived. We spent the 4th up there too... although I am having a hard time finding photos. BUT, it wasn't anything too spectacular because we usually rely on the neighbors setting off some awesome fireworks that we can just watch. It is great to be on a big wide sandy beach to watch the fireworks. 

My kids are in heaven at Bear Lake, especially once all of the cousins arrive. They each have quite a few cousins their same age, so they are never alone. Cam is the oldest of a group of five boys, not including the girl cousin two days older than him, another girl cousin eight months younger, and another girl cousin 11 months older. His sociality really shines through when he gets to the lake. 

Ana mainly hangs with her two cousins-- Grace who is two months older than her and Isaac who is six weeks. They are quite the trio. 

Elsie has a whole gaggle of girls her age, including Lucy who is a few months older, and Emmeline and Lyla, who are about 18 months younger. 

Po really lucked out to have two boy cousins her same age. She loves it. 

Jonah loves having such great brothers and brothers-in-law to waterski and fix the multitude of engine malfunctions with. 

And of course I love all the great conversations and festive reunion activities. I especially appreciated having my kids fed and entertained while I spent a lot of the nearly three weeks fairly sick. Well, the first two weeks were bad, but I got much better once we visited a doctor friend who figured the strep throat must have knocked down my blood volume and made me extremely low on iron (a common problem with me) to the point where I was having symptoms like altitude sickness or panic attacks. Once Jonah gave me a giant spinach and strawberry smoothie once a day and I ate a lot of frozen chimichangas (surprisingly high in iron and protein with very little sugar), I started to feel much much better. The heart racing and shortness of breath at random times of the day of day was starting to get real old... so glad it wasn't what the doctor initially feared it was, which was either rheumatic fever or a damaged heart valve. This is the second time I've been sick at the family reunion, and as much as it is a bummer to miss out on a lot of the fun, it is SUCH a huge relief to be able to recover without having to worry too much about cooking and cleaning and entertaining the kids. I feel bad to not be able to contribute, but I'm also so thankful to have everyone's help. At least this year I wasn't contagious so I could hang out in the midst of the crowd and at least get in on the conversations. I could also sit on the beach and go in the boat-- I just couldn't get my heart rate up or it wouldn't stop. Whew. Glad that's over. 

Anyway, my sisters-in-law do a much better job of recording the happenings of the reunions, so I'll link here to their sights and then put on a few of my own photos. Our memory card was broken for a few weeks, so that's part of my excuse for not taking as many photos as they did... 












And my mother-in-law probably did the most complete synopses of all:




Jonah's youngest brother Eli cuttin' it up. Sadly, I did not capture any epic crashes on film this year, but the rooster tail on these ones are sweet...

Jonah with the deepest cut ever. Not deep... like deep. Like his knees are nearly submerged.


Paddleboarding

Po just played in the shallows for hours and hours every day.

She also made friends with Uncle Jeff and made sure she always got in on the canoe rides.

Cam got up on skis again and even got up on a wakeboard for his first time.


Po and Peter were killer cute. They are only a couple months different in age and both have names that start with P and are both the fourth kid in the family!

They didn't get very far on this bike though. 


Ana is taking after her aunts-- she's a sunset lover!

Ana dressed up a bit for the Bandito show this year. We go to the Pickleville Playhouse every year to get our melodrama fix in for the year. It was hilarious, as usual. 

Ana and Grace and their yearly traditional tandem rides.



Even though the Kolob Fire is still a heartache, it makes treasures refound like this one all the better. Can't wait to get this onto DVD... and SO glad we paid for an extra copy to give to the in-laws!



We had a fun ragnar-style race this year. I can't remember how our team did... I think 2nd? I had to be the designated driver. 

Cam fulfilled his dream of winning Fear Factor this year! Good thing he loves weird food anyway!


We also had an enchanting time letting off some floating lanterns.




Hooray for Bear Lake!
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