Kelsey and Chelsea's visit

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting our daughter Kelsey and her friend Chelsea, and our two grandsons, Jack and Jackson.  

They walked along the nature trail,

where Jackson found and took very good care of a wild strawberry,














and enjoyed a campfire.

The boys each caught fish.

and rode the ATV.  Saturday they went into the Park.  It was a very nice visit.

Jackson and Kelsey Weekend

A few weeks ago Kelsey mentioned to Brian that she wanted to see YNP in May and visit the cabin with Jackson.  It doesn't take much for us to get excited to head north, so they put it together and off we went.  My camera battery died when we went into the park, so of course we had a great day and saw lots of bears and elk and bison.  Here are some pictures of us at the cabin and on a walk along the river, though.

My Dolly - Jackson. Almost 4 years old

Jackson wanted to take my picture

Two moose standing perfectly still, as if they thought if they didn't move they wouldn't be seen.

Jackson and Mommy, my other dolly

Looking at fish

Helen Likes the Taste of Fish

For breakfast this morning we had quite the feast.  We had hashed browns, eggs, bacon, and Helen's fish. She and Papa rolled them in a mixture of flour and cornmeal with a little salt and pepper.

Then they were laid carefully in the pan to fry for a few minutes on each side.







While the fish were frying on the stove, Helen snipped some chives to be used as a garnish and to add flavor.












The fish were turned over in the pan.






And voila! They came off the heat and onto a plate, garnished with chives.













Papa de-boned them.








And....

YES!  Success!

Daddy and Norah liked Helen's fish, too!

First Float Trip

The river was on the list of things to do today.  Since the river is my 'happy place' I was dying to go.

We took both canoes and the two new kayaks.  Sarah and I took the kayaks and the two families took the canoes.

After a short while, we tried out the feature I love most about the kayaks - a place for grandchildren to ride on with me.  Helen went with me for a short while, and Norah with Sarah.  We traded around after lunch with Norah and Penelope coming aboard. Norah wasn't sure it was the greatest thing, but the others seemed to enjoy the ride and the attention. 

We stopped on and island in the middle of the river for lunch about half way down, after working up an appetite following Jacob and Aimee into the willows on a side canal, which was lots of fun.

We did not see any moose today, which was not too surprising considering the traffic on the river.  The birds and water fowl were out in abundance, though, and we enjoyed seeing them. 

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy....

Helen has been talking about going fishing with Papa for weeks, according to her mother.  So this morning Papa got her up before the others and off they went to Henry's outlet.

 Papa taught Helen how to cast and set the hook when the fish bites.  But Helen wanted nothing to do with putting the worm on the hook or touching the fish!

Well, wouldn't you know, Helen caught FIVE fish in about an hour!  She made it look so easy!  Papa was more surprised than Helen, that was for sure.

Here Moosey, Moosey, Moosey!

Tonight Helen and I went on a moose hunt.  We were not to be disappointed! Not far from the cabins we spied a cow moseying along as she settled down for the night.  We called to the others to enjoy the sight as well.

The Long View

My first foray from the cabin this year was today when we took a ride up to Sawtelle Peak.  I don't know when I have been there on a clearer day.  We could see the Tetons, Mt. Jefferson and all the way into Montana, heck, maybe even Wyoming!  Jacob and his family were with us, as well as some friends of theirs.

The cabin is somewhere in the distance there along the river.

We met some yogis up there, practicing... yoga...

Mt. Jefferson

The 'long view'.  As I grow a little older I see that some things are just not important in the long view, and others are very important.  Family relationships are among the most important ones I can think of.  Also my faith in Christ. The weight of His sacrifice becomes more and more impressive to me as I grow.   I've often heard that life is short.  I  am realizing that is truly the case.  What we do with our time here should be epic, in terms of how we help each other, build each other, love each other.  The long view is hard to see when we take ourselves too seriously.  Or worry too much about details.  Or spend too much time in the 'thick of thin things', to quote a prophet.

On the way down the mountain we stopped at our picnic spot to pick flowers.  The girls found plenty to decorate our table with.