Lance was fortunate enough to have some down time on his last job counting moose in Nome.....our friend Kevin lives there and Lance got to go out and check crab pots with him and bring us home some fresh King Crab! what a treat!!!!

I think this pretty much sums up the whole month of February!!! this is how I found Reid this morning when I got out of the shower! I love him dearly!!!! He is so much like his dad!!!!!!!

As if Swiss Lake wasn't enough adventure....after being home for only one day, Lance left for a flying job in Nome and I took the kids up to Chena Hotsprings with our friend's the May's to celebrate Reid's 4th Birthday. We swam two days in the hot pools and went into the ice museum....it was lots of fun! Here is Reid with his new "wrist rocket" a big mistake if you ask me. It used to be Lance's and as you can see he has quite the form for a 4 year old!!!! My dear friend Lora made Reid this awesome pirate cake!

These photos should be at the end but they are of the 6 hour snowmachine ride out that Lance and I did last Wednesday. It was great to have that adventure together and know the kids were being taken good care of back in Cantwell. It was about -15 that day and a little windy in some spots.....it was good to be home.

Happy 6th Birthday Amelia and what a way to spend it!!!! Not sure if you can see Piper crammed in the back of the airplane through the window, but she's in there too..... Lance and I had spent one night with Will at the cabin and I had been there alone all day anxiously awaiting the kids' arrival. I was so happy to finally have all of us there at last to start our adventure!

Heading out for a ski...I managed to ski 18 out of 20 days at the cabin which kept a smile on my face! Reid and Amelia playing outside and eating icicles...notice Amelia's baby tucked into her coat. And the morning ritual around the woodstove...notice piper with her head UNDER the stove!

Setting martin trap....what a difference a day makes....one sunny and one super snowy! no martin but Reid caught 7 mice that had invaded the cabin before our arrival!

It wasn't all play at the cabin.....we had to de-ice the roof because water was pooling up and causing heavy loads of ice on the eves. This is the water hole where we got our water from. You had to crawl down in it and scoop the water in 5 gallon buckets and purify it at the cabin before drinking. we could haul 26 gallons at a time. It was about a 15 minute snowmachine ride from the cabin.

Bath nite was a rare occasion. In the three weeks we were at the cabin we only had two baths....not so sure I'm proud of that but it's the facts! The kids were thrilled when the day rolled around. We got the cabin really warm with the wood stove and they played until their toes were shriveled. We only saw (and smelled) each other for three weeks so we weren't trying to impress anyone......but it did feel good! Lance and I showered in similar fashion....no pictures needed!

"All in a days work!" Hauling firewood was a necessity and a team effort. The kids had no choice but to go along with us and we usually chose the worst possible weather days or the coldest days to haul so we could be out having fun on the nicest days.....they were troopers and usually found a tree to climb or somewhere to sled while we worked! I am so glad they have each other for entertainment.

We didn't catch anything on the trap line but managed to shoot 3 fox (which I hope to make fur ruffs for our winter coats with.) The kids are watching Lance prepare a ptarmigan for taxidermy that we are mailing to a friend. It was quite a feat to shoot a white bird and not get any blood on it anywhere but Lance managed to get one that would qualify. We shot quite a few ptarmigan and had them for dinner a couple nights. They make a tasty treat from the normal moose and caribou...

It was kind of flat light this particular day but we snowmachined up Watana Creek which is a beautiful valley. Most of the ride is up in the high country but you drop down onto the creek which was full of "overflow" which is when the water rises above the ice layer and then eventually refreezes on top. If the water isn't frozen such as in warmer weather, you can break through the ice into a few inches of water which is bad for the snowmachines because ice builds up on the tracks and makes it hard for them to go. We were going to keep crusing up the creek as Lance had done a few days prior alone but we ran into some water and the kids were cold so we decided to skate around on the ice, have a snack and head back to the cabin. On another day, it was so windy at the cabin that the kids never went outside that day and Lance convinced me to snowmachine up this valley and go ski. I bundled up and went for it and when I entered this valley the wind wasn't near as bad and I was sweating by the time I returned from my ski! Can't believe he would ever have to convince me to go skiing, but glad he did that day......

A couple of "shots" from around the cabin. We made a list in the last few days we were there of things we all wanted to do before we left and we made them all happen. Reid and Amelia wanted to shoot the .22 and they did. Reid fired ten shots before he even looked through the sights and shot the target once. Amelia took forever to get steady, aim and.........shoot! She hit the bullseye or close almost every time.....they are very different kids~ This is the stack of firewood that we left for Jim and the next cabin users. It is two layers deep and will last a long time.

This is on the way to the lake to go fishing....there was about 8 inches of fresh snow and some drifts due to wind so Lance was in front of me breaking trail and Amelia and I kept falling off the trail and getting stuck......it wasn't easy riding with her sitting in front of me....one thing we learned is that we need bigger machines. In no time, the kids will be able to ride these little Tundra's themselves....the mountains were exceptionally brilliant that day and the fresh snow was still hanging in the trees (until a few hours later...see below)

The weather finally got good enough for us to go ice fishing to "Big Lake". It was -10 but sunny and calm so we took the one hour ride over to the lake. The kids enjoyed watching Lance drill the holes in the ice and all the water gush up onto his shoes (good thing they were waterproof). The holes were about 12-15 feet deep. The kids were both into manning their hole and hoping for a fish. We were just getting started to roast some hot dogs over our fire when a ground blizzard came up and we barely had enough time to get the fishing gear out of the holes and the kids loaded onto the snowmachines and head for home. In the one photo of the clouds you can see the wind picking up. It was a grueling ride home trying to keep the kids faces covered from getting frostbite. I wish I had taken some photos of the actual blizzard but we were in survival mode at that point. We were sure happy when we saw the cabin......it was a lesson in how quickly the weather can change and take a severe turn for the worst. With the gear in the water for only about an hour....we ended with no fish but also no frostbite!

Lance getting ready to take off with my skiis tied to the struts to come home..... A snowcave that Lance made with the kids one day while I was out skiing.

A tree stand by the cabin on the lake that is used during the hunting season to spot game. The kids enjoyed the climb.....