Turkeys, Deer, More Turkeys, & More Deer

There have been wild turkeys all over the place the past several weeks, there is a flock (?) of about 19 of them that come in our yard or driveway nearly every morning. Once in a while they will be near the road when we come home from picking Ethan up after school. I'm pretty excited about this because I didn't think I was going to get to see any of them, but now it seems like they are around almost every other day. A few weeks ago the thunder & lightening were going insane, I thought the house was going to be struck any moment the thunder was so loud it seemed like it was right outside the door. So we decided to step outside on the back patio to watch the lightening...probably not the most intelligent thing to do, but the lightening was amazing & for some reason the turkeys were nearby in the yard, just gobbling away as though there was nothing going on.

Last Sunday I was going a bit stir-crazy, so I convinced Jeff that we should go on a little drive and show the boys the pretty fall colors. One of the ladies from church who lives farther up the mountain from us said that there are usually moose about 10 miles or so from her place, so we headed up that way. There were deer & turkeys hanging out in the field just down the road from us, & unfortunatley deer & turkeys are about all the wildlife we saw that day.

Our "little drive" ended up lasting 2 hours as we drove all the way up our mountain, winding, twisting, & turning along the mountain road. We came out onto a Highway that led to 2 small towns, so we decided to drive through them & check them out. It was a pretty drive, but by the time we got home I was hanging my head out the window feeling carsick.

Logging is a huge industry here & we saw the results of it along the way. Pretty strange to break out of the condensed forest into this:

When we were coming around a corner I saw a huge black animal right next to the road & I grabbed Jeff's leg as I gasped, thinking that the bear was going to attack as we drove by. Then it lifted it's head & I realized it was only a cow.

I hadn't expected to see a cow all the way out there, but he was happily munching away & didn't seem to notice we were even there.

This deer decided to take a Sunday stroll of his own, right through town.

More pictures of the turkeys, they were running alongside the road when we got back to the house, & then they were in our yard the next morning.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we DID end up catching a glimpse of a moose on our Sunday drive...

He didn't do much, though.

Kamden has been doing his best to track the turkeys so that he can put one on our Thanksgiving table...but they are rather elusive. And they are out of season, so it's a good thing he hasn't had a successful hunt yet.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we went in search of the perfect pumpkins for the year & ended up at Wilson Banner Ranch where we followed the boys into the depths of the pumpkin patch.

Ethan wanted the biggest one he could find.

Kamden wanted one that he could lift up & carry by himself.

Owen really didn't care what kind of pumpkin he got, but in the end he wanted them all. 

Thankfully they had these handy wagons to help us with our load because those pumpkins are heavier than you think.

Just ask Kamden.

And here is Ethan's pumpkin.

Well, it was his for a few minutes, until he spotted an even bigger one.

On the drive home Kamden kept asking if he could clean out his pumpkin when we got home. We unloaded groceries & while we were putting them away he was getting impatient saying, "I really just want to get started on this thing."

Jeff's favorite part of carving pumpkins is cleaning them out. Our first Halloween together I didn't yet know this about my husband, so while he was at work I cleaned out the pumpkins so that we could have enough time to carve them when he got home. He was pretty disappointed. But I don't particularly enjoy the cleaning out part, I would rather do the actual carving, so we have found a nice balance in our marriage when it comes to this particular tradition.

Anyway, Owen's face in these pictures is pretty entertaining.

He was totally & completley grossed out by the pumpkin guts.

Ethan's request this year was much easier than last year when he wanted a BSU Bronco pumpkin. This year he just wanted a "happy pumpkin with circle eyes & some teeth on the bottom & some teeth on the top."

Kamden wanted a scary pumpkin, which Owen isn't fond of. When we finished the carving, we set the pumpkins on the counter with lights inside & the house was dark...Owen ran from the room saying "Scare me, Mommy, scare me!"

Owen had no input on the pumpkin face he ended up with, but he lovingly refers to it as "Baby Pumpkin" and has lengthy conversations with it as it sits in front of the fireplace. We haven't put them outside because I'm worried the deer will eat them, as they have been devouring anything & everything they can find.

Trick-Or-Treat!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Thursday morning my "Aunt" Betty Joe passed away. She was the dear friend & housemate of my Aunt Fran, who is the sister of my grandmother. My parents had a name picked out for me but couldn't make up their minds when I was born. Betty Joe suggested that since I was born 10 days before Christmas, they name me "Holly". She also suggested that my middle name be Joe, but my parents went with Diane, after my mom.

Every summer I would spend several days at Aunt Fran & Betty Joe's house, sleeping on their green "davenport" & listening to Betty Joe play her harmonica & tell me about when I was a baby & how I used to "hoot 'n holler anytime they tried to wash my hair". Sometimes I couldn't fall asleep & would be missing my mom, & Betty Joe would sit beside me & rub my back until I fell asleep. We would go shopping, out to eat, & I would ride in the golf cart while they played the course.

Betty Joe was a teacher & joined the Navy during World War II. She always had a funny story to tell & lived a good life.

I wasn't going to drive down for the funeral, but when Jeff came home for lunch on Friday afternoon he said he thought we should go, so we hurried & packed. The weekend went by SO quickly, & now I'm back on this mountain...but here are some of the things we did while in town:

I got to meet baby Vaughn!

He is Jeff's baby brother's baby.

And he is SO cute, I could've sat there & held him all day.

Brian, Sierra, & Mr.Vaughn went to lunch with us & then said our good-byes, which Vaughn was very upset over the fact that I was leaving, but I did my best to reassure him that I will be back in a few weeks.

I also got a picture of him in the hat I made for him during the drive from Orofino. I think I need to make him a bigger one...

Then we got a few groceries & found Halloween costumes for Ethan & Kamden...

Owen's should arrive in the next few days, I decided he's going to be Superman instead of the dinosaur costume we already have. A girl can never have too many super heros around.

We also watched the BSU game with my family, Jeff has really been missing football parties from the good ol' days & I've been missing having someone to visit with while he watches the game...(thanks Charly!)

Then all of a sudden it was time to pile back in the car & make the trip back up the mountain. We went through McCall this time & it was a beautiful drive, once the rain calmed down.

Orofino.

Even Vampires Need Their Sleep

I got some things for Ethan's class Halloween party & Kamden ran around for most of the day wearing these red fangs & a spider ring on every finger. Owen wasn't a fan of his brother's get-up & he spent most of the day running away from him, screaming.

All that running around wore him out & Jeff found him like this when he went to check on the boys. So much for the myth that vampires don't sleep!

Weekend Getaway

We decided last minute to take off for the weekend and head North to Couer d'Alene.

Though we did a lot of fun things, the boys would all agree that the best part was swimming at the hotel.

They are easy to please!

We left the hotel Saturday morning and went to Lake Couer d'Alene where we spotted a friendly moose who told us about a nearby trail...

Ethan & Kamden led the way, arguing taking turns being in the front.

Kamden did not want to take time to stop for pictures.

The Resort & Marina

Owen had a rough time riding on Daddy's shoulders most of the way.

He got bonked by several stray branches.

We stopped at one of the beaches where the boys explored for awhile.

The water was so clear, it was difficult to keep the boys out of it. It was a chilly morning & we didn't come prepared for a dip in the lake.

We watched the "geeses" fly by...

& of course ALL of the boys had to throw lots of rocks into the water. Especially Jeff, who threw the biggest rock.

After hiking back to the car we went to find a magnet for my collection, then we found the golf course with the famous floating green out in the lake. Jeff had a tee time for that afternoon and when we pulled up there were big white gates & a little man in a booth who let us in. I think Jeff thought he'd died & gone to Heaven, it was like we'd just driven through the pearly gates or something. He was speechless & the boys were devestated & heartbroken that they couldn't tag along. 

On the Floating Green

Now, I'm no golfer, but I'll admit it was a beautiful course.

Jeff had a great time & even had a caddy who wore a white jumpsuit & drove him around in a golf cart with really shiny hub caps.

He even got a pre-game massage out on the course, but not from his caddy.

I'm pretty sure Jeff was in Heaven.

While Jeff was golfing, the boys & I navigated our way through the city until we finally found a park. I'm not sure how long it took me to figure out where I was supposed to park our car so that we could get to the playground, but we did get to see a lot of beautiful houses near the lake.

It was a really great park with an awesome wooden playground where the boys had fun chasing each other around. While I was helping them do monkeybars, someone said my name & I turned to find a couple who had moved from Emmett to Couer d'Alene a few months earlier. Crazy! When we all lived in Emmett, we played softball a few times with them & they both graduated a year after I did, I even worked at his dad's insurance agency after high school. So it was really surprising to run into them there, but they told me all the fun things to do around town. Too bad the boys all had a meltdown & we just went to the hotel to rest before picking Jeff up.

Then we went to dinner & back to the hotel for more SWiMmiNg!

This morning we drove to Spokane, Washington and went to this really beautiful park that we'd seen pictures of. They have a lot of bridges that you can walk across & see the waterfalls. Only, there wasn't any water. It had all been diverted so they could work on something & all we could see was the dry riverbed, which was interesting but also a little disappointing.

But we still had a good time wandering through the park & it was a lovely little stroll for a Sunday morning.

This picture is for my dad, per Jeff's insistance that I take it for him. It is a Boy Scout monument. For those of you who don't know my dad, he loves scouting.

But I think we can all enjoy it.

And look! Those helpful Scouts pointed us in the right direction to finally see some waterfalls, although they were small & not like the pictures, we took what we could get.

The boys kept trying to climb up on the bridge railing to get a better look but they were making me nervous, so they each found a peep hole to look through. It worked out better for everyone involved. And you can even see some of the pretty fall colors that were starting to show up!

We had also seen in a brochure some information on a nearby Cat Zoo, so we decided to check it out on our way home.

We saw one white tiger:

At least 8 regular (Siberian?) tigers?

& these freaky monkeys you could sit on...

There were also several Mountain Lions...which Jeff so kindly pointed out that we could probably see in our very own backyard.

& for those 8 years & older, you can pay money to feed meat-on-a-stick to a tiger from behind a piece of plexi-glass.

You can't really see in the picture, but the guy is holding a sword-like stick which the zoo worker pokes the meat onto, then the guy pokes the stick through a hole in the plexi-glass & through the chain link fence. There is a flat circle on the end of the stick next to the guy's hand that is too big to fit through the hole, hopefully preventing the tiger from biting his arm off.

This big guy is Sampson.

He is now retired, but was once the MGM Lion & has been in several commercials.

I'm not sure, but I don't think he chose a very good retirement home. All of the animals had very small cages & the entire zoo consisted of two rows of chain link fence that wasn't even as long as the house we live in. But they said they receive no government funding, the only money they make is from people who walk through the gate or make donations. So I guess that makes me feel better about the $31.00 it cost us to get in.

Here are more of the tigers...

I kept waiting for this tiger to fall into the water, bu he stayed balanced on that ball pretty well.

There were also a bunch of bobcats that were all sleeping, a black panther, a leopard, and for some reason there was a black bear...I guess I should've studied zoology because I didn't know that bears were members of the cat family.

Then it was time to hit the road & head home.