Work on the Farmhouse

 

Here are some pictures from earlier this summer.  I have been pretty bad about posting along the way, so I thought I'd show you some old photos before I 'reveal' what we've accomplished so far.

 

The girls helped Kirk prep the toilet for installation.  It was a big day when the toilet was open for use.  I never realized until then how much I take indoor plumbing for granted!

Here are some shots of the walkway leading up to the front porch.  Kirk extended the roof to give more protection and we used cedar tongue and groove to dress it up. . 

 We also did tongue and groove in the enclosed porch.

 Kelly did all of our trim work for us.  I was so happy with the way it came out. 

 

 

 

The windows and doors look so nice with this simple trim design.

 

 

We had granite counter tops installed in the kitchen and bathroom.

 

 

Daniel laid slate in the main parts of the house as well as the enclosed porch.  It looks great and should be easy to clean and durable.

 

 

The final insulation was blown into the attic space.

 

 

Daniel spent a day jack hammering out the cement pad that held the former laundry room.  We removed it early on in the project because it was leaning amazingly far away from the house.  Kirk spent a lot of time hauling the cement chunks to the dump.

 

 

Daniel also cut a trench in the basement floor, Caleb shoveled it out and Kirk installed a french drain and covered it up with rock and a final coat of cement to match the floor. This should give us a dry storage area downstairs, even in wet years.

Lake Darling

Kirk took Hannah and Paige on their first ever backpacking trip last weekend. Hannah's backpacking adventures with us as an infant doesn't count. This trip counted because they each carried their own gear and shared the food load.

They hiked to Lake Darling, ate sausage roasted on the fire, set up camp, ate huckleberries, saw three moose, one giant frog and several small frogs. They had a great adventure and are ready to go again.

 

First Day

It was the first day of school today.  Four girls - three schools.  Hannah started Middle School today (scary!), Paige started 5th grade, Maren started 2nd grade and Izzy started preschool (exciting!).

Gem Lake

We are normally rafting on the Lower Salmon river over the Labor Day weekend.  But we had a little change of plans this year and were able to do some fun things closer to home.  Today we packed lunch and headed toward the Cabinet Mountains to hike to Gem Lake.

 

It was a fun and beautiful hike.  But the best part is that the trail was lined from top to bottom with huckleberries. 

 

They were ripe and ready to be picked. We grazed going up and did some serious picking coming down.  We talked about all of the good things we could do with the berries we collected and decided on some homemade huckleberry ice cream.  Yum!

Oats

What do we know about growing oats?  Nothing!  Except that our local county extension agent recommended that oats would be the best way to get rid of weeds and revitalize our (former) horse pasture.  So we tilled, planted and waited.  I'm sure the neighbors were all laughing as they drove by and saw us seeding with walk along lawn seeders.  Oh well, we have the prettiest oats on the road.  They have choked out a lot of the weeds and are now turning a nice golden brown.  The kids have a great time playing hide-and-seek in them and the chickens love it when we bring some home for them to eat.

Horse Camp

The girls were able to attend Horse Camp in Nibley again this summer.  My childhood friend and neighbor, Amy, is always willing to take my girls and cousin Natalie on a new horse adventure each summer.  Five days of catching, grooming, saddling, riding, feeding and watering.  And how about a few crafts, picnic lunch and swimming in the canal thrown in at the end?  Doesn't that sound like most girls' dreams?

Even Izzy was able to get a few rides in.

 

Their favorite horses, Rusty, Rufus and Flash (Peppy isn't pictured) were loaded up for trail riding.



 The girls rode in the pasture and fields around Amy's farm.  This year they also learned how to herd and cut (remove one from the herd) cattle.

On the last day they loaded up the horses to take them on a trail ride up Green Canyon.  This is a first and the girls really enjoyed it... despite seeing a rattlesnake on the trail!

Thanks for the great memories each summer Amy!

Seattle

Tia and Yuki's wedding brought us to Seattle at the end of July. It was a wonderful wedding and a fun reception. Yuki will be a great addition to our family and we are so happy for Tia (my brothers' daughter).

The wedding was also a great excuse to become Seattle tourists for a few days.  Kirk had to fly home to be the responsible part of our family while Mike, Molly and I hit the town with the kids.  We fit as much as we possibly could into a few days of sightseeing.  The kids were all troopers - walking miles and miles and foregoing naps, quiet time, regular bedtime and other normal activities to see the sights.

On Sunday we spent the evening at Ballard Locks.  One of my favorite spots in Seattle.  All of the boats were coming in for the weekend and it was fun to see them up close.

Monday we started at the space needle everyday and ventured from there.  The first day we took the monorail into downtown.


First to Pike's Place Market for gourmet Macaroni & Cheese from Beecher's, pastries from Le Panier (my favorite part), deliciously fresh but overpriced fruit, lots of people watching and window shopping at all of the fun vendors.

In the afternoon we hit the aquarium.  The river otters were entertaining.

For dinner we took the kids to Genki Sushi for a new experience.  The food comes past your table on conveyor belt. You take what you want and pay by the plate.  Maren was quoted as saying 'This is the best restaurant ever!'.  Not everyone agreed with her but everyone was brave to try something new.   

The next day we started at the Space Needle again.  While the younger kids explored the fun things outside the Pacific Science Center, I took the older girls to see the King Tut exhibit.  It was fascinating.  We also walked the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Then it was off to the Ferry for a afternoon trip to Bainbridge Island. Seattle is so beautiful and it was so fun to see it with Mike and Molly and their fun kids.

We didn't leave without a visit to see the Troll under the bridge.  Luckily the girls didn't wake him up even after crawling on top of his head.