Day 21

Today, Deb and Ralphie's friends Dave and Judy came over for a July fourth picnic and a Hillbilly Golf and Beanbag Toss tournament. Zoe set up a bracket so that everyone was on everyone's team, but they were still getting points on their own. In the end of the Hillbilly Golf Tournament, Zoe got first place, Deb got second, and Pa-pa got third. We didn't have time to finish the Bean Bag Toss Tournament, but it sure was a blast! We then ate a delicious dinner consisting of hot dogs and hamburgers.




After we ate dinner, we went to the Fourth of July Parade. The Parade went down Pioneer Avenue in the middle of town, which is pretty close to Deb and Ralphie's house. Here are some pictures of us watching the parade from the sidewalk. Also pictures of other kids enjoying the many delights of the Parade. A small town Parade is definitely more entertaining and had a wide variety of floats/entertainment. There were such acts as women dancing with gardening tools, to fluffy dogs that had been meticulously groomed, to wind powered cars, to hula hoops, to horses, to dogs dribbling basketballs... I think you get the picture. We never knew what we were going to get next! It was a great experence and it seemed like everyone was just having a good time!

Day 20

Today was Deb's art show at Ptarmigan Arts!! It was a success to say the least, better than perfect at the most. we ran into some people we knew there, and talked with them while deb talked about her art pieces with curious art viewers and friends. Later, everyone but Deb, who was still mingling with others, went to Cosmic Kitchen for dinner, Deb joined us once the show was over. Here are some pictures of her show, and some of the people that stopped by :) Zoe designed this poster/flyer for her opening show and it was in the Paper!

Day 19

This evening on our way across the driveway to Grandma and Pa-pa's house, the wildlife had to make itself known. Zoe felt like someone was watching her, and when she looked over, she saw a baby moose staring straight at her!! (they are coming to get you, Zoe!!) She rushed back inside to get the cameras whilw Deb, Ralphie, and Alexis stayed to see if the mother moose would show up. As it turns out, the mom was right behind the baby! The moose family walked back into the forest, but we were determined to see these moose up close! We rushed into Grandma and Pa-pa's house to look through their windows to see exactly where they had gone. The moose were on their way to the area behind Deb's shop. Deb said we should walk to her her shop so that we culd get a better look, and we definitely did! Here are a bunch of pictures of the moose just outside of her shop. In the last picture you can see the mama moose nursing the babies!! That was amazing to watch! The babies were almost as tall as us, we couldn't believe it! Finally, after about 20 minutes of moose watching, we went back into Grandma and Pa-pa's house to get a game of Rummy going. The night was a success even if we didn't win the game of rummy :)

Day 18

Today Deb decided that we were going to go and split wood. Honestly, the pile of wood that we had to split was GINORMOUS! It didn't take us as long as we had thought though. The sizes of the wood varied from only needing to be cut in half to needing to be cut into sixteenths. Ralphie and Pa-pa took the wood to the wood pile using the four-wheeler with a trailer on the back of it. Everyone helped with the splitting. Grandma used the machine, and Alexis, Zoe, and Deb were the ones holding the wood.




After the long day of splitting wood, we were off to do something else!

I bet you don't know what today is! Canada day! Deb and Ralphie's friend Dan threw an amazing Canada day party out at ther house. There were so many games including: hillbilly golf, bocce ball, lawn darts, and horse shoes. Not to mention an amazing spread of food. Deb, Ralphie, Zoe and Alexis were all on a team ready to take on the other challengers at the party. Each team member had to play one of the games listed. Deb played lawn darts, Ralphie played hillbilly golf, Alexis played bocce ball, and Zoe played horse shoes. Deb unfortunately was not able to get the hang of the lawn darts and got kicked out in the first round :( Ralphie made it a little bit further, but lost in the second round of hillbilly golf. Alexis was starting to get the hang of bocce ball, but fell to some feirce competitors in the first round. Zoe, on the other hand, was able to carry the team name with a clean sweep in the horse shoe competition. Overall, it was a blast getting to know and hang out with so many nice people in the area, play some amazing games, and enjoy some great food! Unfortunately we did not bring our cameras to this event, but just take our word for it... It was a blast!

Day 17

Today we went out fishing (or should we say 'catching') with Ralphie and Pa-pa. We had a much better day than our last trip out. We caught our limit: 8 halibut (2 a piece) and one cod that Pa-pa caught. Ralph gutted the cod as soon as we got it on the boat because they keep better that way. The birds loved it :) We also had a friend throughout the day and Alexis named him Petunia. He is a Kittiwake seagull. Zoe caught a skate that Ralphie said must have been 100 pounds (felt like 300). Then Alexis caught a skate as well, then Pa-pa, and last but not least, Ralphie caught one.

When we get a halibut in the boat Ralphie hits him over the head with a mallet, and here is a nice picture of how one of the halibut's cheek looked after Ralphie got done with it. I guess Ralphie didn't know his own strength ;) Papa caught the biggest halibut of the day and it sure got a hold of Ralphie's fingers while he was trying to tie him up :)

When we got back to the house, Ralph filleted the fish, and Alexis and Zoe went to deb's shop to work on Alexis' amazing box, and a cribbage board that Zoe is working on that will eventually look like a duck (hopefully).

Day 16

Today we had a late start waking up. We decided to go swimming with Grandma, because we needed an afternoon activity that was going to be over before open gym. Alexis took everyone out to eat at Latitude 59 before swimming. Both Alexis and Zoe got a veggie wrap. They were HUMUNGOUS! So we took that half that we couldn't eat back to the house and saved it for another day. After swimming we ate dinner and went off to open gym.

We didn't take any pictures, so here are some of the animals we have been rooming with!

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Piper (the rambunctious one)



Charlie (the playful one)



Logan (the wise one)



Jess (the fearless one)



The Geese (the ferocious ones)



Also, today we had to gather the eggs that the goose was sitting on so that we didn't have any baby geese running around. Ralphie was able to grab her while Zoe grabbed the eggs that were in the nest.