PROUD PARENTS

Today Naomi received a letter from the Yukon Education Minister. This letter was to inform her that she received more than 80% on her provincial English exam in June. Because of her outstanding performance she earned $300 towards her post-secondary education. She had earned an additional $200 last year on her grade 9 Yukon Achievement Tests. We are extremely proud of her. She loves English and plans on taking Honours English at school this year. She reads everything she can get her hands on. She is leaving for school on Monday. Guess what the first thing she packed was? Books! We are going to miss her terribly, but will be in Whitehorse as often as possible to see her.

PERSONAL BEST

Today I ran a virtual 5k race. It is a race where everyone runs it at home and posts their age and times on the site. I have been slowly working up to this since I got home. Last week I was running about 3 1/2 kilometers. This week I really kicked it up a notch. On Thursday I ran the whole 5k in 34:18. My goal today was to run it in under 33 minutes. So, I got on the treadmill and decided to push my speed up a bit. I really pushed the last 6 minutes and managed to finish the 5k in 31:52. A personal best for me!

A FAILED ATTEMPT AT HUNTING

This morning Brian and I arose bright and early and ventured forth on a hunting trip. All was well. We had our coffee in hand while we journeyed down the road towards our destination. The one we had scouted out last week.) The place we were going is about 50 km down our dirt road. We were just pulling up to the turn off and Brian put on the brakes only to discover that we now had a problem with our brakes. It seems that we had no rear brakes. He pressed the pedal all the way down and there was not much there. So we pulled off the road and discovered that the rear brake line had broken off at one side. We didn't want to take the chance that the brake fluid would leak out while we were hunting so we turned around and headed back home. We made it all the way home without stepping on the brakes until we had to stop at home. Thankfully the local mechanic had an extra line so we were able to replace it today - a rare occurrence in Ross River. So, here we are with our freezers still empty and another hunting trip (hopefully successful) planned for next week.

GREAT PICS

Naomi finally downloaded the pictures from her camers and I thought you might enjoy these.

Josh is almost as big as an gorilla, as evidenced at San Diego Wild Animal Park:

He really has a thing about gorillas: Naomi poses with some cacti during a break on our river rafting trip down the Colorado river. We had seen the big tall ones but never stopped for a picture - this was the best I could get.
Hannah showing off her Jack Sparrow look:

Of course they had to sit in the "soak zone" during the dolphin show at Seaworld:

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Today we took Hannah to Faro to write the test for her learner's license. The deal is that we pay for the first test, but if you fail and have to rewrite the test then you pay for it out of your own pocket. Hannah, never one to turn away freebies, studied like mad and passed it on the first try with only 1 question wrong. Now we have another driver in the family. She drove home from Faro and did a wonderful job. She was so nervous at first that she couldn't stop giggling, but she was soon regaling us with Spongebob and Simpsons stories while she made the long drive home. She is going to be a fantastic driver. She seems to just have a natural ability and instinctively knows when to apply the brakes, etc. Of course it started raining on the way home so she had to work the wipers as well as concentrate on just driving. We got home without incident until we arrived at the local gas station where she pulled up a little too close and hit the pump. But all is o.k. and no permanent damage was done.

I have also been busy studying to get my class 4 license. I just joined the ambulance team and need my class 4 to drive the ambulance. Now if the examiner would just come all would be well.

MEXICO

I just came across these pictures we took when in Tijuana. We had such a great time there. Josh posed with the mariachi band. They came right up to our table and played a song for us. Very cool.

I think the arches behind them lead into the old town part of Tijuana - a place no tourist should venture.

One-stop shopping at it's finest.

OF LIFE AND LIMB

I think that while we were down south we must have stolen the sun. When we first arrived home it felt like we had come straight into autumn. It was quite cool outside. The last few days, however, have been quite hot. We have been working outside and have to keep taking breaks to get out of the heat. Today it reached 40 degrees. But we have been trudging on like true soldiers, getting work done on the house before it gets too cold out. Our deck is officially complete now. The painting is done. Today I worked on staining out deck chairs - last spring we bought some of those nice wooden adirondack chairs. Very comfy. So, before they get too weathered we decided to stain them. This is where "limb" comes in. As you may know, I have been suffering with pain in my elbow for a few weeks. It is what Eric likes to call my "bocce elbow", I would rather refer to it as my "golf elbow." Anyways, I should be resting it, at least that is the conclusion that I have come to, but you can imagine how hard that is. I keep doing things that aggravate it, like eating and painting. Pretty soon we will be tackling our firewood so I really need to get rested up. Oh well, I suppose I should just listen to my body and take it easy, but that is easier said than done.

As for other life events: Naomi is patiently waiting for the driving examiner to come to town so that she can get her drivers license before she moves to Whitehorse. We are taking Hannah to Faro on Wednesday to write her learners, so then we will be doing all this training again. Josh is just enjoying watching t.v. and playing Wii with his friends. Brian and I, as I mentioned, are just getting things done around the house. Yesterday morning we decided to go hunting. Being the mighty white hunters that we are, we ended up spending the morning scouting out the ideal hunting spot for future use. This involved a 10km hike during which we discovered the perfect spot that we can drive our truck to, camp and wait for the moose to show up. If only the moose will come close to the truck so we don't have to pack it too far!

JUST A FEW PICS

So, I finally finished organizing our vacation photos and thought I would share some with you at last. These pictures were taken in Northern California (Eureka and the Giant Redwood Forest).

The top row here is from Bryce Canyon and the bottom row is the Grand Canyon.No trip is complete without a visit with family:
So, there you have it - a quick glimpse of our fantastic vacation.

HOME SWEET HOME

At last we have arrived back to our humble abode. We spent a few nights in Kelowna visiting with my family. We were so busy there visiting with various people that the time was gone before we knew it. Then we moved on to Kamloops and began a whirlwind of activity there. We left Kamloops Thursday morning planning on taking 3 days to make the trip home. While we were in the truck we started talking about how much we just wanted to get home. The next thing we knew we had made the decision to tackle the distance in just 2 days. So we fortified ourselves with food every so often and undertook the drive to Fort Nelson on the first day = a mere 15 hours to drive 1400 km. We stopped at a fantastic Super8 Motel there and dropped into bed. Then yesterday we only had to tackle about 900 km. We took time to stop at the Liard Hotsprings for a quick soak and made it home just before 8:30 pm. We haven't even unpacked yet. We just took out the stuff we needed and left the rest for today. It was great to sleep in my own bed last night. Best sleep I've had in 2 months. Everything was good with the house except the weeds have grown at least 2 feet while we have been gone. That is something we will definitely have to tackle soon, but I think today we will empty the truck and just take it easy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!

Today Hannah turns 15. Hard to believe isn't it. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that she was born. Remember her being in intensive care because of the hole in her heart. Thankfully she is well past that now. She is so much fun to have around. She has a great sense of humour and really loves life. Still one of the "two crazies". Here are some photos of her on vacation:

Hannah, you are such a special person, we love you so much. Hope you have a wonderful birthday.

We will be celebrating with a family BBQ on the beach in Peachland. Should be loads of fun.