Hello! So, Spencer and Max and I are back from our vacation. We had a great time! We left here last Thursday, did some errands in Port Alberni, and stayed the night in Nanaimo. We tried to get the 5:00 ferry over to Vancouver, and when that didn't work (we were too late), we chickened out on just about everything and got a motel room. We were very happy to just get an ice cream from the DQ and lay in bed and watch tv.

On Friday we drove over to Grand Forks. I don't remember if I told you or not, but we were going over there to visit Roly and Christine and Gabriel. Stacie was there (she went there after she was here the week before), and Melissa came up from Santa Cruz too. It was a big good reunion. Christine and Stacie had gone to Spokane to get Melissa from the airport, and they arrived about a half hour after we did. I hadn't seen Christine since the wedding in Montana, and I hadn't met Gabriel yet (he's 9 months old). Of course, he's just about the cutest thing ever! We all hung around and visited for Friday evening. Spencer and I pitched our tent in their yard, and slept there.

On Saturday we decided to head out. There aren't any snakes in New Zealand (Stacie is from NZ), so she was interested in seeing a rattlesnake. Some of Roly's family (his family lives in Grand Forks) had been to a rattlesnake den nearby, so we decided to go find it. We drove out to where it was, which was up on the side of this really tall hill! It was fun to go out, but it was hot out and I was a little overwhelmed, since it hasn't been hot here yet. We hiked up the hill, and didn't find any rattlesnakes, unfortunately. Spencer and I did find a black widow spider, however, which was pretty cool.

After we hiked up and back down the hill, we went off into the woods. I appreciated the shade very much! Roly and Christine are starting their new careers as hop growers (hops for making beer), and this spring they planted a new acre of hops (they live on Roly's dad's property which has a few acres suitable for farming). They were ready to install those really big poles that you attach the cables and strings to for the hops to grow on, so we went up to the woods to meet with some friends of theirs who were to help them cut down some trees to make into hop poles. We hung out at their camp for a little while and had lunch, then went to cut down the poles. Having the group made for some pretty efficient tree-harvesting! Their friend Mike was doing the chainsawing, and at one point he felled a tree, and the end landed right across the back of his pickup truck! Oops! Anyhow, we worked hard that day, and joked about how we all came out for a vacation and were put straight to work! But it was good work.

On Sunday the weather gave a change, and it was a rainy day. We had plans for that day to drive to the lake, canoe across, and camp there for Sunday night, but instead we hung around inside. We played a card game and drank some tea and beer, and decided to go out in the rain for a walk. We walked over the property, down to the river, and along the river and through the fields. Max had a total kickass time running all around. There is really nothing else that he likes better. We came upon a flooded area of the field, and someone had the idea that they should dislodge a log on the shore there and use it as a boat to sail across to the other side. The pond was about 30 yards across. I thought that was absolutely idiotic, so I stayed on the shore. I took photos until the camera battery died. Spencer punted the log like a gondalier, and Roly and Stacie used some sticks to push. I really did think they were all going to tip over and go in, but they didn't! I was very impressed. Particularly because Spencer stood and balanced the whole time.... Anyhow, they got to the other side (I walked around), and Spencer still didn't want to get his boots filled with water (everyone else had already), so Stacie and Melissa ended up carrying Spencer from the log to the shore, which was pretty darn comical.

We were woken up the next morning at 5 am by a huge thunderstorm! I saw a bolt of lightning through the tiny little tent window as I laid there. Luckily, we had let Max sleep in the house that night rather than the back of the truck, which was good because the thunder scares the crap out of him. The rain got harder and harder, and eventually it was raining so hard that it started coming through the top of the tent and started to get me wet, and at that point I decided to make for the house. Everyone was awake too, of course. The dogs were crazy and the baby was awake too. I settled in on the couch (Spencer stayed in the tent), and eventually the storm ended and we all were able to get another two hours of sleep in. That was good. Max Power was VERY happy to see me and laid down on the floor right next to the couch so that I could pet him.

After hanging around for the rest of the morning, we went to see the downtown area of Grand Forks, which is just about two blocks long on one street. We visited the shops and went out for lunch, which was great. When we got back to the farm, the sun had come out and it was time to work on the logs that we had cut down the other day. They needed to be stripped of their bark, so that's what we did. But cedar bark comes off fairly easily, so it was a pretty good job to do. After that was over, they decided to try to get one of the poles in the ground. The poles are 20 feet long, which is 4 feet in the ground and 16 feet tall. The holes were already dug. It took 6 people to get the pole in. It took quite a while, so I hope that they figure out a good way to do that job, because they have 70 poles to do....

After that was a taco dinner with Roly's family at his dad's house. I like his parents, they're pretty cool people. I had met them both at the wedding. They're no longer married, but his mom lives in GF too and they all socialize together, which is a cool thing. We all exchanged photos from the weekend after dinner and viewed them together on the movie screen.

We left GF at 5:30 am yesterday morning. We had a great time out there. It was really nice to see our friends and take a break from being here. The valley that GF is in is gorgeous and the drive over was really lovely as well, even though it was long. I enjoyed it very much.

So now we're back, like I said! I will post the photos from the weekend just as soon as I'm done here. Hope you had a good weekend too, and that you all are well! Talk to you later.