First post of the new year...

Happy New Year!! A little late, I know.  I took a little drive this past week and found this view of the Olympic Mountains from the Hood Canal.  I sure love where I live!

The chicken coop I ordered arrived on Christmas Eve.  My mom helped me to build it the next week.  It's little but will hold 4 large chickens comfortably.  Eventually I want to add on to the back of it so I can add more chickens.  We are going to add a nice big chicken run to one end so they have a lot more space to move around.  My mom has an idea up her sleeve for building the run and since she is a super hero when it comes to designing and building things I'm going to let her have at it.  I want to help though so maybe some of those super hero skills rub off on me.  :)

 

Here are the girls all warm and cozy in their little loft.  I bought a heating lamp so they are nice and warm.  They seriously seemed really excited when I put them in there! Must have been the fact that they were no longer cooped up in that box that was only getting smaller and smaller.  In the next couple of weeks I will be picking up two more chicks from my mother-in-law and they will be living in my laundry room until they are ready to move out with the two girls.  It will be a full house.  I will then have two Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas, an Isbar and a Black Maran.  I will have light blue-green eggs, dark chocolate brown eggs and green-brown speckled eggs.  Can't wait to see all those pretty eggs in my fridge!  :)  

Now that the coop is done and my mom is planning the chicken run my next priority is getting the fence up around my garden to keep the rabbits and deer out.  I plan on using some store bought posts for the main supports and then using gathered wood I can find out in my parent's woods.  I will put chicken wire around the base to keep the smaller critters out.    I will post more on my fence later on.  

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year! 

Thanksgiving weekend...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  My husband's brother Taraz flew in from Denver and spent a couple nights at our house but stayed in the area for a week.  The day after Thanksgiving instead of doing the crazy Black Friday shopping our family went camping.  Yep, that's how we roll.  Give us the outdoors to a shopping mall any day even if that day is cold and wet.  :)  My mother and father-in-law drove out to Twanoh State Park on Friday to get their camp all set up.

Daniel and I drove out there on Saturday morning (Rue had to work.) and arrived nice and early just when everyone was waking up and getting their coffee.  Bonita and George made a lovely breakfast and I had a bowl of hot turkey, barley and vegetable soup.  Just the right kind of breakfast when sitting out in the cold around a campfire.

 

Daniel had a blast being outside and goofing off with his uncles.  George was splitting some wood and came across a piece that had termite larvae in it.  I dared one of the guys to eat one for a dollar but oddly none of them took me up on the offer.  :) Maybe I should have upped it to five dollars.  (Those little white things that look like wood chips are the larvae.)

Daniel liked the little trails the termites ate out of the wood.  It turned into a little school lesson about termites.  That's what I love about homeschooling, every day is a day full of opportunities to learn.  

Daniel helped Uncle Rahmat with stacking the wood Rahmat split.  Daniel made the pile you see there.  He LOVES working outside just like his daddy.  Pretty soon he'll be splitting firewood on my parents' property for their wood stove. :)

The creek was full of dead chum salmon who had just spawned.  The smell was something else!!!  But we did see several live chum making their final trip up the creek which was pretty cool to see.  Once again another little school lesson for Daniel.  :)

A live one.  

 

Daniel had a blast exploring around the campsite and getting good and dirty.  He slept REALLY good that night.  

 

George, Taraz, Daniel and I went down to the beach there on the Hood Canal. Daniel had a blast down there too and had all kinds of questions.  Taraz made a comment about how it was like Daniel was in Disneyland that's how excited he was about everything.  My father-in-law said we could all benefit by looking at the world through the eyes of a child.  

 

 

Staying warm in Uncle Taraz's coat. 

 And what was the most fascinating thing we saw that day??!! A payphone...that actually still works!  This picture cracks me up.  We seriously were fascinated by the payphone.  I guess this was Daniel's history lesson for the day? :)

Back at the campsite Daniel made his own little "campfire" to roast "marshmallows" on.  

 My sister-in-law Ruhiyyih and her husband Matt came out for a little bit too and brought my sweet little niece Adaryn.  

 

Just give me a baby and a campfire and I am all set.  :)  (Picture taken by Bonita.)

 

 Niece after her Auntie's heart!  Can never start them too young on Starbucks.  ;)

 

 Have a cozy, warm weekend everyone!

You can watch a little video of Daniel and Uncle Rahmat "grass sledding", the chum salmon, the water and sweet little Adaryn.  Click on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153569216475338&l=8459805032046714878

Theler Wetlands...

Daniel and I took advantage of a sunny day on Wednesday and headed out to Belfair and the Theler Wetlands on the lower Hood Canal.  They have lovely nature trails to meander in and explore.  Even though the sun was out it was COLD, about 35 degrees.  (All you who live in the mid-west or Alaska, no comment!)

These lovely little winter walks are some of life's simple pleasures.  Plus having a sweet little boy talking to you the whole time has to be one of the sweetest moments for his Momma.  :)

Guillemot Cove Wildlife Reserve...

Rue took Daniel and I to Guillemot Cove Wildlife Reserve on Tuesday. It is near the quaint little town of Seabeck on the Hood Canal. I was breathtakingly surprised at how beautiful it was. I wasn't expecting to get to see the Olympic Mountains and there they were!

The hike started out in some beautiful rainforest. It was great having Daniel walk between us because his motivation to keep going was not losing sight of Daddy. :)

Old outhouse. I guess someone really needed to go!

Old abandoned cabin. There were still beds inside. Very creepy, yet fascinating.

Daniel telling Daddy that there are mountains over there.

The view of Hood Canal from the beach house porch. You can just see the snowy bottom of the Olympics. I can't wait to go back on a sunny, warm day and enjoy the full view.

We are so blessed to live in a place where you can smell the salty sea air and be able to gaze up into the mountains at the same time.
What cracks me up about this picture is that both of their left ears are sticking out of their hats in the same way and it was not planned! They are so alike even in the tiniest of ways. :)
Yes, I was there. :)
 
The Stump Tree House.  The story goes that escaped prison convict Dirty Thompson built this house and hid out in it for a while until he was discovered.  Not a very romantic story if you ask me.  Rue calls it the fairy house.  I think I will go with that.  :) 

I can't wait to go back on a warm sunny day sometime this spring or summer!