back to work

Parents are gone (left early this morning). No more birthdays. Now I can get back to work on the cabin. Until tomorrow when Kenny and Caroline get here.(very excited, it's so much fun sharing this place) They fly in at 8:30. Today's work project is continuing with the stairs. I have gotten the hole cut in the ceiling. Hopefully enough bracing in place to support the stairs. Now just building them. I spent the morning chainsaw milling some 3 inch slabs for the bottom 2 steps. Then there is a small landing that I built a few days ago. For the rest of staircase I made a template out of a 1x8. Then packed that out to Ben's house. Where I borrowed his jigsaw and skillsaw and belt sander to make the stringers. (thanks Ben) Next step was take the stringers down to the dock..load them in a skiff and bring them to the cabin. I only had a quick second to check them..but I was happy with the way they fitted. Now onto the fishing. I was planning on fishing in front of our cabin for an hour. But today is the opening for prawn fishing. A commercial boat has strung out dozens of traps all in front of us. So much for prawning....a doubt there will be any left for us to catch later. I tried fishing elsewhere for a bit but no luck. Maybe tomorrow.

Liam's Birthday

The Event: Liam 3rd Birthday Party

Location: Ons Tweede Huis

Time 11:30-2pm

Guest Lists: Opa and Oma Seinen, Mom and Dad Seinen, Sydney Seinen, Mya Vanderheide, Lily Vanderheide, Shannon Vanderheide, Shannon's mom Laura, Lutz and Wendy Budde.

Activities: Lunch, Treasure Hunt, Gift Opening, Candle Blowing out, Cake Eating, Toy Playing, Beach combing/Tidal pool fish catching

Menu: homemade pizza pops, fruit salad, crackers and cheese, homemade granola, watermelon, chocolate milk, strawberry ice cream, chocolate ice cream, huckleberry/strawberry cheesecake, assorted veggies,

Gifts Recieved: Homemade driftwood playtable with different rooms outfitted with barbie accessories, airplane, toy car, hockey shirt, personnelized shirt with attached super hero cape, garbage truck, skidsteer, loader with missing back wheels, book, homemade driftwood/shell /fishing lure wind chime, Hot wheels rocket launcher car, (sorry if I forgot somebodies gift)

Special Notes, double thanks to Jana and Shannon for all the food prep and gift making that went on..the days and weeks before. It takes a little plannig and co-ordinating to have ice cream here, nevermind cheesecake and treasure hunts.

Dad's Favorite Memory: moments after Jana unveils the special driftwood play cabin table with Barbie accessories...the trucks attacked. Within seconds Barbies playfort was over run with loaders and airplanes and every thing else with wheels. Barbie can just suck it up..she is gonna have to accept the fact that cars and trucks need a place too.

Mom's Favorite Memory: staying up till midnight the day before making enough pizza pops for everybody. and the chocolate milk..yes I forgot about the chocolate milk..it was my favorite memory. Plus just being a mom....and watching your child being selfless and excitedly sharing the day with everyone. He is already asking who's birthday is next? Watch out Ava.

Liam's Favorite Memory: ice cream and as much as I could eat....plus the airplane uncle Matt got him

Sydney's Favorite Memory: sitting at the big kids table without my stinking high chair..plus dropping ice cream down my shirt and smearing it all over Mrs Vanderheide

60th birthday Party

This morning we phoned Opa Seinen to wish him a happy 60th. It was 7:30 am and he was already out the door feeding cows. Aren't you supposed to sleep in on your birthday? Well Mom told us why he was out and aboat. The night before he got "our" present. A box full of fishing gear. He was so pumped and excited to use it they decide to come visit us for a few days. By 4:30 the were here dumping their gear on the beach. We were glad too have them. Liam was very surprised...he felt it was his personnel duty to remind Opa constantly that it was his birthday. Seeing how I can't catch any fish..we were glad to receive the cooler of Seinen beef. Jana had prepared a wonderful birthday dinner (chicken wraps with quinoa). Liam and I drove them home and they are off to spent the night in there cabin. After dad fixes his chimney..it was looking pretty rusty. They were nervous about sleeping with it the way it was.

production slow down

Well a few things have slowed progress on the cabin. Monday morning we awoke to snow and rain and then hail and then snow again. It was a pretty ugly start to a new work week. I also am going to do some work for Ben. Helping him on his house..to cover the cost of all the lumber I am getting from him. They have to build a deck on the rental house they are in now. So that is my job. Pretty straight forward. The deck was already framed..I'm just putting the deck down and building railings and benches. Spent some time on our cabin. Put in another wall panel. Now have enough to figure out the stairs. That is gone take some time too put up. Trying to figure out the best option for the stairs. Needs to be small,go in a certain spot, be kid friendly, not too steep, and look like it came straight off the beach. We will see what the finished product looks like.

fishing---but no fish

Got up early this morning. Nice and calm..a little cold and wet. But good for fishing. Lutz and I went out from 7-1pm. But we didn't catch anything. We did lots of jigging and a little trolling. No fish. But was nice to be out for our first time this year. We took his boat "catchalot"...nice and comfy. You can see from my pics..how low the fresh snow was. About half way down the mountian. Hopefully it warms up..we did have some sun today.It was a real mixed bag of weather. At least no wind. When the wind is northwest..it is always nice and calm here. After fishing we had a great dinner of crabs at Ben and Shannons. Ben suckered me into helping load his boat....they are off to town tomorrow for a re-stock. The need building supplies and groceries.

the walls.

Started framing today. The mill has been cutting up a storm. So there now is lots of 2x4 and any other lumber I need. Not too many people get too frame there cabin in cedar. I can easily pack a couple boards down the trail. So it was easy getting started. Today I made 4 trips. My only problem is my cordless batteries don't last the whole morning. I am going to have to start sawing them by hand..(old school). I really want to frame the wall pieces for the fireplace and the stairs. If I get those done.. I can build the stairs which will make finishing the upstairs easier. Those walls don't need windows..so they are pretty straight forward. I did 2.5 sections today. The went pretty good. The beams that Eric and I put in place were better than I thought. I just build a 7x8 panel and pound it in. They lined up good. Adding those panels with all the plywood and screws really strengthen up the cabin. I will be glad when it is all together.

Liam is having fun on the coast. His games are beginning to have a coastal flavour. First he sits in a basket with wooden spoons and pretends to paddle his "boat". The next game he got in trouble for. It involved chasing kids around the gym with dad's fishing rod. Trying to catch them. Apperantly the girls didn't appreciate the real hook he was using. I think he has forgotten all about tractors and farming. But there is loaded logging trucks hauling past..so that adds to his excitement. Also there is a 6yrs old boy in town for the weekend. He is glad to have another friend.

the roof is done.

Well got it done just in time. The weather held on all morning....it started to blow and rain just as I was rappelling off my finished roof. The ensuing rainstorm tested the roof beautifully. The roof passed the test. I guess-ta-mated how many shakes I was gonna need. I was 8 short. Luckily dad had a little pile of leftovers. Jana tied them on a rope and I pulled them up. Ridgecap on and call it finished. Now the next step...hooking up the wood stove. I am looking forward to testing the new chimney. There is a lot to do before the first fire though. Frame the walls and build a rock base for the stove to sit on. I am waiting for Kenny to get here so I can move some big flat rocks.

Jana and Shannon and all the kids came over for the morning entertainment. Also the tide was really low. So it was lotsa of fun for the kids exploring on the sandy beach. They had the first meal in our new cabin.