Thursday, July 23, 2015

Stricking it rich

While my parents were visiting we went to Fairbanks to check it out.  I was surprised that it was actually quite a big city. By that I mean there is a Costco hahaha.   Our favorite tour while we were there was at Gold Dredge 8.  You embark on a little train and they tour you through the history of the pipeline here in Alaska as well as dredging/panning for gold.

I found it quite interesting that the dredge was actually shipped up here in parts and re-assembled en-route in Seattle to make sure all the parts were there hahaha.  They talked about the weather conditions the workers worked in.  One person's job was to stand outside in the middle of the winter (so -40F) and pound a metal bar down into the ground....talk about a tough job (I don't think I would last more then 20 minutes outside in those temperatures).

I was a little worried taking the baby girls on the outing because we had not taken them on a tour thing before and once you get on the train you have to stick it out for the whole ride there and back.  Thankfully it went great phewff!!

Josh was there too....just on the bench beside me and you can't see him.  Don't worry we counted and made sure they were all on the train hahaha 


At the end of the little train ride you get off and they give you a pouch that you get to sift with for gold.  The kids (and us adults as well) loved it.  Many laughs were had trying to pan for gold.
 


Once you have your little flakes you line up to get hot chocolate/cookies and for them to weigh your gold and tell you how much you panned that day:

Grand Total:
Jason     $ 67.00
Stacey   $ 11.00
Mathew $ 24.00
Zachary $ 12.00
Joshua   $ 18.00
Sarah     $ 18.00
Emma    $ 39.00

Grandma $ 22.00
Papa        $ 11.00

We struck it rich gold panning that day!!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Bike Wash

I have to admit I am addicted to Pinterest.  It just makes life so easy to quickly find neat things that my family will love.  I have actually created a board just for projects that I want Jason to build (lucky him).  On the weekend he decided it was time to build another project for/with the kids.  This time it was the bike wash that Mathew had picked out a few weeks ago.

My father in law and I went to Lowe's and picked up the list of supplies needed.  Let me tell you the lady that we had help us in the PVC section was fantastic and she even cut our 10 foot PVC pipes in half and made sure I had everything that was on my list!

Jason and the boys took to the front yard to start the project.



 It literally took them about 30 minutes total to build (and that includes time to let the glue dry) and at the end they have a fantastic bike wash that has already been used for many hours this weekend.


We put some car wash in a pail of water and they have been scrubbing their bikes/scooter/skateboards etc.  We may have the shiniest bikes in town hahaha.

The boys, parents, kids on the street, adults in the neighborhood etc have all tried it out and had many giggles already!

and the girls.....they supervise the whole operation!





Monday, July 20, 2015

Bear Paw Festival

I know I am so sporadic with my blogging lately but it's just so nice out that I can't resist going out and exploring. I will have time to blog more eventually; for now I keep a list of all the things I want to blog about.  It's kind of like the house to do list. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger but it's nice to get things done!

A few weekends ago was our towns Bear Paw festival.  I have to admit, for a small town festival it's quite good!  Last year we participated in lots of the events but this year we decided to just watch the parade and take the kids to the carnival rides.

On Thursday evening we took all five kids to the carnival and was it ever fun.  They all took turns riding/watching each other ride.  They played a few games and conquered a few new adventures like riding the ferris wheel.
 

 




Joshua was sick on Friday and so was Sarah so we didn't attend any events.  On Saturday morning Sarah still wasn't up to par so Jason stayed home with the two girls and I took the three boys to the parade.

They loved it.  The floats are all homemade, a big portion of the town walks in the parade and it has a very small town feeling that we absolutely love.  They cheer along with the walkers and receive tons of candy (like more than Halloween).  We even received things like pieces of pizza, bottles of water and age appropriate books for each child. That's right - a parade that hands out books!




Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Helping Out

There are many things to laugh about daily around here.  The boys often volunteer to help with little jobs around the house.  For instance they like to go and get the mail.  When I looked out the window on this particular day, I couldn't help but laugh!  Thanks for the help LITTLE man hahaha!

The challenges of a 7 year old when you have the highest mail slot hahaha!