Kristina's Birthday Weekend

Since Kristina's birthday lands on a Tuesday this year, they decided to celebrate the weekend prior.  Jared wanted everything to be a surprise, so the only details her told her was to be home on Friday, June 22, by 3pm.  Keeping that in mind, Kristina marked herself out on her calendar at work and arrived home promptly. 

She found out that Jared had planned to go to Victoria for the weekend.  They were going to fly via sea plane from Kenmore, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia.  The plane was supposed to depart on Friday at 5pm and we needed to arrive 45 minutes early.  They packed up their bags and headed out (they even had a pet sitter arranged for Indy -- poor little dog couldn't go this time).  They arrived at Kenmore Air, checked in, and waited for the plane to depart.

Jared had also made reservations for the weekend at the Empress Hotel.  For those of you that don't know, the Empress Hotel has a lot of British influence and it THE place to stay in Victoria.  Kristina was looking forward to a great weekend.  Jared and Kristina took their first vacation to British Columbia back in 1997 and they both were looking forward to going back again.

Well, unfortunately, at 5:15pm, Kenmore Air cancelled the flight -- so they will have to try again.  It was a bummer that they couldn't go, but on the flip side, considering that the rain was so heavy, it was good that they didn't go.  Otherwise, they would have been walking around in the rain all weekend.

So, Kristina literally got a "rain-check" for her birthday...:)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day 2012!  It is a low-key day here in Woodinville, Washington.  The weather is pretty crummy (even by Western Washington standards), so we are spending a day around the house and not doing a lot of anything.  We'll call our Dads today and Kristina will call her brother to wish each of them a Happy Father's Day, but other than that, we are just hanging out -- trying to avoid the wet weather.  Indy did get Jared a fly-fishing trip with a local guide for Father's Day.  It will be good for a year, so Jared has year to check out the local area with a guide.  That was really good thinking of Indy to get that for Jared.  What a lucky Dad!

Congratulations Jared!

Wow...who would have thought that two years would go by so quickly?  Jared celebrated his 2nd anniversary at WB Games on June 1st.  Since we were out of town on June 1st, Kristina took him to dinner tonight (June 9th).  She chose a new restaurant that we had heard good things about, El Gaucho.  We went to the Bellevue location and we both agree that the service was excellent and it is now at the top of our favorite steak place.

Rodger's 70th Birthday Weekend

As Dad's birthday approached, we talked with Jeff and Tonya to help plan out something a little extra special for his big 70th!  This all started back in March, with the first thought being a trip to either Mackay or Down River to be with Dad on his birthday and do whatever HE wanted to do!  We talked this over with him in April, and he decided he wanted us to all meet up in Mackay and do some bike riding and have a nice family barbecue.  We decided that we would leave here on Saturday and drive straight through to Mackay and stay through Monday, leaving on Tuesday.  So we headed out, arrived Saturday night, and planned out some fishing on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning arrived and we scooped up Dad and headed off for Copper Basin.  It was still very early in the summer, and the rivers and streams are usually high and dirty, so we figured East Fork of Lost River was our best option since it is a spring fed creek that doesn't vary much in flow.  It was a nice day, if not a bit cool, but the water looked pretty good, and we managed to catch a few fish.  Dad had a great time fishing and wandering down the stream, and Indy also had enjoyed her stay as you can see...

After fishing there for a while, we decided to head back home where Mom had been readying the barbecue and some special guests had been arriving.  But, not so fast... we had to stop to fish Corral Creek a little bit!

A few bites later, but no fish, Dad spotted a beaver dam that looked like it might be good fishing!  But, we had to drag him back to the truck to get back to his barbecue!

After we arrived at home, Dad found his sister Cherie waiting for him at the house to help celebrate!  We hadn't seen Cherie for quite a while, so it was great to see her again!

Jeff and Tonya originally planned to be here at that time as well, but got held up for a while, so we decided to do some more fishing!  Se we headed up below the Mackay Dam to try our luck!

Kristina grabbed her rod and was hitting the water hard.  Everyone got a few nibbles, but didn't manage to land anything. 

Dad had a great time trying though! 

We headed back home once again and fired up the barbecue.  Jeff, Tonya, Wyatt, and Tina arrived and we all had a great time eating and catching up.  As the evening progressed, we built up a fire and enjoyed nice night.

Monday came, and we loaded up all of our bikes and headed for Challis.  We were headed to the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park where there are a bunch of trails and ghost towns to be enjoyed.  We rode up the trail and had a great time exploring.

After our ride, we came back to the trailhead and had some lunch.  Jeff and Tonya did an EXCELLENT job of packing all of the fixings for a picnic lunch.  After lunch, we headed over to Challis Hot Springs to do some swimming and to relax the muscles tensed up from wrestling motorcycles up the trail.  It was a great day, and I think Dad had a great time.

We headed back home and got ready to head out the next day.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and being there to help Dad enjoy his 70th Birthday!

Indy's Day of Idaho Fun

While it might have been Rodger's 70th Birthday -- Indy had one of her best days ever too.  Since we were in Idaho having fun in the great outdoors, she was free to run, romp, and splash -- and boy did she.  It was just Rodger and Jared fishing East Fork, but as soon as one of them said "ok" she was in the water checking it out and getting a drink.

Here she is getting to "sample" East Fork...trust us, that water was cold!

Indy racing around after getting cooled off in East Fork...see the snow in the background.

Indy looking at Kristina as if she were saying, "Are you going to get in the water too?".

She must have gotten warm again...she needed to submerse her body again to cool off.

Off and running again.

A nice view of the area...this is Corral Creek with Pioneer Mountains in the background.