Backwoods Wife

{pretty, happy, funny, real} - The Happy-To-Be-Outside-Again-Without-Snow Edition

Okay, that was probably my longest blog post title ever.  We are sure enjoying the warmer temperatures around here.  The snow has gone, plants are starting to green up a little, the trees have tiny buds, and the mosquitoes are making their prescence known.  Spring is finally here!  Here are a few photos from a recent playdate in a friend's yard.  We spend a lot of time there in the warmer months as her yard somehow seems to have fewer mosquitoes than anyone else's!  Don't know why that is, but we love it!  There's been a lot happening in our yard the last week or so as well.  I don't have pictures yet though, so those will have to be for another post.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Skip on over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more everyday contentment! :)

 

 

Hendrik's first ski race

This is a very picture heavy post.  Our whole family went to watch Hendrik ski in the Polar Cup a few weekends back.  GrandBarry and Aunty Christen also came out to watch, cheer, and help snap photos.  Hendrik was very reluctant to participate once we actually got to the race venue.  He was very concerned about winning, despite that not being our focus at all.  However, after a few chats and the promise of a participation prize from GrandBarry he got a bit more excited to give it a try.  (The prize was a photo frame with some pictures of him racing - Hendrik loved it!)  Here we go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy snowmobilers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great Saturday!

Our sweet girlies

This afternoon Hendrik had Jack Rabbits (cross country skiing for the small set).  It was his first time of skis.  He had a blast!  Afterwards, he and I went for hot chocolate at a local shop that was also having its grand opening today - hello yummy goodies and a beautiful ceramic travel mug freebie!  Hendrik, Emma, and I also checked out a brand new shop this afternoon in town.  Much more exciting for me than either of them - a women's clothing store!  I've always admired the owner's sense of style and her clothing, so I was thrilled to hear that she was opening up a shop.  I picked out an awesome tunic and a funky silver necklace today.  I will be back again, sans children, to take a better look and find some pants to match.  Love, love, love!  While I was out with the eldest and the youngest, Dwayne kept an eye on the middle two.  Riley and Abby had a great time fashioning cakes out of Play-Doh and Dwayne milled more lumber for the addition (I will have to get some photos tomorrow of he and the mill in action). Tonight we are watching Star Wars Episode III with the kiddos.  It may be too much for the girls, we'll see.  Hendrik is beyond excited.  He goes to bed with a Star Wars book every night and Dwayne gets asked a multitude of Star Wars questions when he gets home from work each evening.  Off to enjoy some BBQ'd burgers before we settle in on the couch with our movie.

Hendrik and company (he's in the red jacket wearing a blue and white toque)

A little video

Sunday Afternoon at Salt River

 

 

 

Whoopers!

Sunday afternoon Dwayne, Dad, the kids, and I went for a hike to the Salt Plains in Wood Buffalo National Park.  We were very excited to see something extremely rare while there - whooping cranes!  We spotted a pair off in the distance.

You could make out the white dots without any additional visual aids, but with binoculars and the mounted binoculars for sightseeing we were able to see much more detail of the birds.  This sighting was a first for Dwayne, the kids, and myself, and a second sighting for Dad I believe.  (For those of you interested in learning more, National Geographic's current issue has an article about whooping cranes.)

We told friends of ours at dinner and now they are going to try to squeeze in a visit after work one day this week in hopes of catching a glimpse of the cranes before they fly to Aransas, Texas for the winter.  I don't have any pictures of the cranes as they were pretty far off in the distance, but here is some of the other wildlife I spotted. ;)

We visited the salt mound down on the flats and tasted the very salty red plants growing alongside Saline Creek.

We were hoping to visit a fresh water spring as well but we didn't bring our rubber boots so we had to pass on that as it involved walking through a marshy area.  Dad tried to find us a way across and wound up with a soaker.  Note to self: always bring rubber boots or an extra pair of shoes to the salt plains (Dad did by the way!).  Between the mud and the water, it's a good idea. 

We missed the fall colour this trip, the Salt Plains are particularly beautiful when the trees are covered in orange and golden leaves.  Next year!

 

Helmet races

A new kid-derived game of late is helmet racing.  You wear your bike helmet and race each other in circles around the house.  There don't appear to be any apparent winners or losers as the racers begin when they feel like it and all chant, "I'm the fastest.  I'm the fastest."  Great for a pre-bedtime tire out session.  Here is a tiny helmet race clip.  It would have been longer but I ran out of memory on the camera. ;)

Slave River

Here is a nice little video of the Slave River produced by a German company. I don't understand German, but I was able to get the gist of things, and the language barrier does not apply to scenery anyway!

Slave River

Der Slave River in Zentral- und Norwest-Kanada mit seinen gewaltigen Wassermassen gilt als hochgefährlicher und unberechenbarer Strom. Mit seinem Team hat Olaf Obsommer das Abenteuer gewagt und ihn im Kanu bezwungen.

I think I just squashed a shrew...

I went outside with the baby a couple of minutes ago to shut one of the windows and check on the outside temperature. I slipped on my leather, shearling-lined moc slippers, one of which I flipped over outside on the back stoop. I went down the steps and around the side of the house to shut the window, and then headed back for the stairs. There was a tiny, dead rodent on one of the steps. I don't think it was there when I went out the door. I'm sure I would have seen it. This leads me to believe that I may have squished it when I walked out the door. Maybe it was hiding under my slipper and I chased it out inadvertently and stepped on it???? I have no idea how it got there. It definitely has not been chewed by anything. We don't have a cat, but our neighbour's cats do visit from time to time. Maybe it was a "gift" from one of them? But it looks more like it was squashed by something or someone. Weird. Now I have a strange mix of feeling bad if I did kill it, and feeling a little grossed out that I may have stepped on it. I should have taken a picture! I've already tossed it out in the woods. It's tiny but I think I can find it. Yup, here it is. You can see how tiny the little rodent is and how it might be hard to tell whether I trampled it or not because of my cushy slippers...this side actually doesn't look as smooshed. That little pointy, white thing near its pointy, little nose is a tooth!

If you want a closer look, click on the photo to enlarge it.

I love this picture!

I snapped this while walking down the path with Riley at the Snake Pits. I didn't know if it would turn out but it actually wound up being my favourite picture from that day.