Easter

Here is her new Easter present as she cruises around our house in style
here we are for Easter as a wonderful loving family

O'Leary Easter

We spent most of Easter Sunday at the Littles. Joss and Jackson had tons of fun with empty (sad!) Easter eggs.


Joss looked so cute in her little dress! She's not a baby anymore!

Sweeties!

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

Happy Birthday Jordan! We miss you!

I't camping season in AK

Staney Creek Cabin

Reid had to work on the Prince of Whales Island last Friday, Monday, and Tuesday so instead of flying in and out each day we decided to make a camping weekend out of his work assignment. Reid flew into Craig on Friday and Max and I took the truck on the three hour ferry ride to Hollis Friday afternoon.

Because Jesse, Tricia, Sophi, Mom and Dad are coming to visit in May, we did some scouting and tried to take some pictures of the cabin to give you an idea of what's in store for the big hunt in May. This cabin is the same size and layout as the other cabin we are looking at to stay in so hopefully this will help!

You can see how luxurious and roomy these cabins are! You are looking at the kitchen and living room all in one picture! There wasn't any propane so we couldn't use the heater, but it was a nice thought! The other cabin has a stove that uses fuel and we gave it a test run while we were scouting it out and it worked so we will be able to heat the cabin! The weather is pretty temperate here so the nights don't get very cold, even in March!

Each cabin has two bunk beds like this with a table in the middle. The top bunks are twin size and the bottom bunks are full size so our queen sized mattress hung over a little, but it worked out pretty well. We bought a heater buddy (sitting on the table) before this trip and since the cabin's heater wasn't working I was pretty thankful for our last minute purchase!

This is a view from the front porch of the cabin. There is a picnic area and fire pit (although starting a fire proved to be ALMOST impossible even with "dry" wood and A LOT of fuel) and both cabins sit right on the water. This was taken at low tide.

This is a picture showing the nice hiking trails that we will have to drag our stuff down to get to the cabin. The Staney Creek cabin was 1/2 mile from the trail head, but the other cabin's trail is shorter....kind of. The trail is short, but then you have to take a boat across the lake to the cabin.

All the cabins have a covered deck which is really nice since it rains EVERY day. I know these pictures are a little dark, but it has nothing to do with our camera and everything to do with the cloudy sky. I hope you can see these!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun this weekend. It's pretty cool to be able to take a ferry and go camping on the next island over. The Forest Service cabins were really clean and pretty nice. I am already getting really excited to see you guys in May!

A basketball injury without stitches or super glue!

So, once again Reid took a random elbow to the face in basketball last night. Neither of us were too concerned because UNLIKE usual, there was no blood, until he tried to blow his nose......

When Reid blows his nose, there is a spot on his cheek that seems to inflate with air like a balloon under his skin. While we don't think it's serious, it can't be good.

Unfortunately it is hard to see in these pictures. We tried to get it at an angle where you will be able to see it, so look closely. His cheek is puffing out right next to his nose and under his eye.

A trip to Ketchikan

I have been studying the history of Ketchikan for work and thought I would share a little of it with you. This might make a little more sense for those of you that have visited.
This is a picture of several things. To the Right of the tug is The Cedars Lodge, which is one of the lodges that I work for. Behind that is the concrete bypass. This is where Max and I spend our morning run. If you follow it to the right you will end up at our house down in the valley between the two mountains shown.
This is a picture of Creek Street. Ketchikan started as a fish camp right here on this creek. In it's earliest days this was a red-light district. The trail at the end of this street is called the Married Man's trail and is named after the pathway that could be taken to disguise the visitors to all of the brothels. Most of these buildings have trap doors in the bottom of them which were used during the prohibition era for smuggling alcohol from Canada.
This baseball field was exactly where Reid's office sits now, on piling. This was the only flat spot available for baseball and could only be played on when the tide was out. If a ball was hit so far that an outfielder could not swim to retrieve it, a home run was called. This area was eventually dredged to make a harbor for fishing boats and is now called Thomas Basin. Reid's office sits right over home plate.
While being one of the oldest bars in Ketchikan, I did not include this picture to talk about bar hopping. I thought this picture illustrated well the "unique" building style that is very very common here.
This last picture is at Totem Bight State Park. The totem and clan house are both replicas built by and maintained by the state, but they are a great example of the historic architecture that is all around us. Ketchikan has the world's largest totem pole collection at Saxman Native Village. We have some friends that were actually married in the clan house in this picture.

Anyway, I just thought I would share a few pictures that I have been using for work lately. Enjoy!