Monday Morning Photos

Good morning family and friends!

The sun is certainly staying up beyond midnight and the Mason family is enjoying all of this play time.  Denali was out in her beauty yesterday after three solid days of rain.  Guess she just needed a little watering to show her majestic beauty.  With all of the fires to the south and north of us, we are very thankful for the downpour of water.  

We have been trying to feed the birds, but instead, we are drawing in two very pesky squirrels.  I thought today that Spring and Sam we going to have a squirrel sandwich, boy were they close to snagging one by the tail.  The quick little critter barely got away and then did a victory, in your face chatter right above the dogs from the tree.

Justin's been guiding fly fisherman almost every day since he arrived in Cantwell.  He's loving his fishing gig.  The above picture was taken two summers ago at a nearby stream in Cantwell.  Jaydyn loves loves loves it when Justin takes her fishing.  She's always asking him when he has a day off so he will take her fishing.  On father's day, Justin was able to bring Jaydyn to work and take her along fishing for the day.  She was super excited and chattered like the little squirrel all day long.  

On Justin's first day off this weekend, Jaydyn was stoked when Justin woke her up and told her to get ready for a full day of fishing.  The kids enjoyed searching through the snack bag on the way out to the area, and then plowed through a whole container of blueberries, sandwiches, red russian kale, and then were ready to take a hike down the trail to the waters.  The mosquitoes followed us from Shelby and practically swarmed in large force and tried packing us away!  Tomorrow is another day off, so I would venture to say that Justin and the kids hit the waters while I'm working.  

Jaydyn is our animal lover.  Doesn't matter if they are furry, sticky, stinky, big, or small.  She flocks towards the animals.  The calf is Shelbi and she lives at the Mason ranch with her other calf friend Suli.  The guinea pig and gecko belong to the High School in Shelby.  

 JT is on the go, from the time he wakes up until his final sigh of sleepiness.  He has been having fun unpacking things that I try to put away.  He packs those same things in other places.  So, it's quite a treat to try to find where he has placed things.  Lately, his daily routine is to climb up to the sink to brush his teeth and then complain about how his clothes, socks, shoes and diaper are "ouchy" and then proceeds to try and get off as much clothing as possible.  So, we distract him as much as possible when dressing him and then hope that he will forget and go on with his day of running around.  JT's vocabulary is exploding and he's loving to eat spicy salsa, peppermint Altoids, broccoli, russian red kale, yogurt and blueberries.  He is a beauty for sure.  No resting for us, when JT is awake.  He parrots everything that Jaydyn does and drives her crazy.  She's patient with him most times, even when he pretends that he's going to bite her or jump on her.

Spring continues to be a freak of nature.  She's super smart and lives to play fetch and  is obsessed with water.  She tries to jump in the tub when the kids take baths and will get in the shower when she just cannot contain herself.  Right before our move to Alaska, Jaydyn taught her how to climb the slide stairs, make her sit on top until commanded to go down the slide.  The dog is just go go go too!  Works out pretty good most days that we have a puppy and a two year old, as they play together and then crash for the night!  Sam dog is doing well too.  He loves to run with the 4 wheeler and sneak up on the bed when Justin's guiding the evening trip.

 Jaydyn has talked non-stop about he week long camp.  One day, they visited the dog kennels in Denali National Park.  She was able to get her puppy fix for awhile.

One of the neighbors bunny had babies.  So, we've been going up to hold the babies each day.  Stay tuned to which bunny we will be bringing home at the end of the month.

 After about three hours, Justin had the trampoline put together and the kids (and Spring dog) get out each day to bounce.  I am hopeful that it is wearing JT and Spring out, but haven't seen any positive exhaustion effects on either of them just yet.  Maybe the summer sun with all the vitamin D is giving both the dog and the two year old ever lasting energy.

The purple and white fireweed are all over our yard.  They are awesome this time of year and the kids don't seem to have any AK seasonal allergies.  Looking forward to the blueberry bushes to develop and late summer berry picking.

The community library in Cantwell is great.  It is located in the school and has wonderful books that are Alaska based.  We found this one yesterday and Jaydyn and I crack up at how much we can relate to the storyline of the book.  She's reading better and better each day and now JT is enjoying sitting with her for a book or ten.

Well, off to play some more before that midnight sun sets.  Until next time, get out and smell the flowers around you!

Love,

The 4 J Masons