Monday, July 13, 2009

Trip to the Homeland

(I've been trying to upload pictures for two days so that I could post this! Sorry about the delay. Macs and blogger just don't mix...hopefully I figure something out before I don't have any access to a PC - I can't believe I just said that)


Nathan and I just got back from visiting my parents in the land of...well, not my birth...the land of my growing up years, though. I love going back to Hudson Bay. It's weird that I haven't lived there for 6 years, but it still feels like home. : ) We had a fairly eventful couple days. BUT, there was plenty of time to relax too. What would a vacation be without a good mix of memory-making and relaxation?

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Pocket Rocket

My brother bought a pocket rocket a couple years ago and keeps it at my parents' place. I had been wanting to ride it since he bought it and with Nathan's recent spike in his love for motorbikes, he had to try it too. So we got it going and my dad, my mom, Nathan and I each took turns riding it.

Nathan's favorite was going to the top of the hill in front of my parents' house and seeing how fast he could get going on the way down. I remember doing that on pedal bikes and homemade go-karts with my brother and sister back when we were kids. : )




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Fishing

Nathan has also been wanting to go fishing all spring already. With this weekend being free fishing weekend, it was a no-brainer. We HAD to go fishing. So, my dad dusted off the fishing rods and tackle boxes and off we went.
It was absolutely beautiful at the river. I'm so glad I took the camera. We also got pretty close to some skunks, which made the fishing trek that much more exciting. My dad was walking down the bank, looking for the fishing hole that alot of people use and he came back having seen a skunk right ahead of him on the trail. Nathan and I were a bit leery of following a trail with a skunk on it, but Dad didn't seem concerned to we went on our way. Shortly after, we were standing on the bank of the river and I looked beside me and noticed a black, fuzzy tail sticking out of the grass. There was a skunk, about six feet to my right. I slowly moved away from it, whispering to Nathan that the skunk was right beside us. It must have heard us because it scooted into the tall grass. Dad wanted to see the skunk so I could get a picture so he tried to go around and scare it out. We ended up following it down the trail for quite a while, discussing how mom wouldn't let us into the house if we got sprayed and how Nathan and I were both wearing our favorite clothes and would have to throw them out if we got sprayed. I did eventually get a picture, but it just looks like a black dot in the grass. (Can you see it?)




But I know what it is and it makes a fun memory of skunk chasing with Dad. There were actually two skunks, which made it even more fun.


But back to fishing (which was the original point of this story)...after 3 hours of casting, 3 or 4 lures lost on the bottom of the river, and 1 broken fishing rod we were still fish-less.



This is why I don't really enjoy fishing...I've never caught anything or been with anyone who has caught anything. If I'm going to sit in a boat or on a riverbank for hours on end, I may as well just have the camera in hand instead of a fishing rod. It's less disappointing. At least it's up to me if I catch a great shot or not. : )





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Baptism

It turned out that we were out visiting my parents over just the right weekend. My younger brother, Andrew, was getting baptised that Sunday and we happened to be there for it. It was fun and exciting to hear his testimony (playdoh addiction and all) and to see him take this step in his walk with the Lord. So fun. It reminded me of my baptism (has it been 8 years already???). It was at the same spot on the river and a few of the same people were there. What a great step to take. If you haven't been baptised, I definitely encourage you to think about it and look into it. Why not? Seriously, it's so good.



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So now we're back at Nathan's parents' place, doing laundry, making supper and gearing up for an evening of Lego Batman. Good times...

3 comments:

Kyra said...

Sounds like a fabulous weekend! Can't wait to see you Thursday (tomorrow) night!

Trev and Rebekah said...

I don't really enjoy fishing either. But i love to actually catch fish if I can. We went a few times up north and I never caught any but my husband sure was on fire with the fish.

Alicia Buhler said...

Sounds like such a great weekend (and great pictures!)

We have a fair number of skunks on campus, as well as other wildlife, so we had a wildlife expert come and do a forum one day. I learned that it's not very likely that a skunk will spray you because it takes 3 days for it to build up it's stench bucket again so it's defenseless for that period of time, therefore it will only spray as a last resort. It's also wise to make noise rather than being quiet because then the skunk knows where you are and won't all of a sudden be startled. When I'm out walking at night and see a skunk I jingle my keys and they usually go in the opposite direction. So there you go...now you'll know what to do the next time you encounter a skunk!