Whitehorse Sports Complex

We spent a couple of very long days driving so that we could spend a whole day at the sports complex. We had the multi-million dollar complex to ourselves which was kind of cool.

A track runs above the basketball and soccer fields on a balcony.

We played a little half-court soccer. Too bad we didn't have time to play a little more on the trip down. We could have played The Brendemuhl's vs. The Fowler's :)

Deborah dunking the ball (It was the little kids hoop...)

We pretty much had the pool to ourselves too... We played a rousing game of water basketball. Sarah had to hang on tight (she really seemed to enjoy it) as Paul and I had a good time guarding each other, much to the amusement of our kids.
We got pretty good at doing back dives off the rope swing. I even tried a flip and landed on my face.

Paul and David

Benjamin

Deborah and Sarah

Liard Hot Springs

We saw nine bears on the way to Liard Hot Springs.

Herds of Buffalo...

Two moose; one of them walked right up to us...

We got to the campground at Liard at about 9:30 pm. We swam until almost midnight. We met the Walker's while we were swimming. They had been dorm parents at a Bible College in Alaska four years ago and now felt God was calling them back to Alaska. They lived in Wilmington, NC for the last four years and left from there the week before we did to travel back to Alaska. Who knows how many times our paths almost crossed over the two weeks and 3,000+ miles we traveled the same road. And then God brought us to Liard Hot Springs to fellowship together. Their grandson Caleb was traveling with them so we told them about the great swimming pool at Whitehorse and then we met them there the next night.We left for our last trip to the lower 48 in April of 2004. We didn't have a blog back then (did anyone?) so I thought I would include some photos from that trip as it was very memorable. It was extremely cold that day which made the hot springs feel even better. Our hair frosted from the steam and then when we changed after we swam, our swimming suits froze stiff as boards by the time we finished.

Abigail is racing for the water.

Deborah

Deborah is holding Anna who can barely touch. Paul has Joshua, then Abigail and then a toothless Quentin.

The kids (including Paul) took turns getting out and rolling in the snow and then getting back in the water.

Matt & Natalie, Jack & Kelly and The Border

Next on our Montana tour we stopped at Natalie and Matt's house. They were teacher's in Nondalton a few years ago. Natalie's Mom lived with her for a while in Nondalton. Natalie and her Dad came to visit us after they'd moved.

We had a very nice visit, although it was too short and we got to meet their niece and nephew.
Next we visited Paul's cousin Chrysa and her husband Jack's house. Jack and their daughter Kelly were there for a good (too short) visit, but Chrysa was out of town. They try to spend most summers in Alaska so sometimes we get to see them there. I made sure I got a picture of Jack holding Sarah since Chrysa hasn't gotten to meet her yet.

We have made it a policy to have me drive instead of Paul when we cross borders. It must be the beard or something, but when he has been driving they've made us come inside while they checked our papers, they've had us get out while they searched the motor home, and once they insisted they'd given us back all of our passports when in reality they still had two; they finally found them. On the way into the lower 48 they took our oranges. We made sure we ate our oranges before we got to the Canadian border, but they didn't ask for oranges this time, instead they asked for apples, which we had several of... The border official offered to let us pull off and eat them, so we did and then we went on our way.

Andrea & Nathan's

Montana was a busy state, we had five families invite us to come visit. We missed Cam & Nicole's wedding (2 friends who teach in Nondalton) because we were on the other side of the country. After we left Ron & Linda's we went North to Sealy, Mt. where two more newlyweds live. We stopped and spent the night with Paul's cousin Andrea and her new husband Nathan. Nathan is a gifted cabinet carpenter and he's also an inventor. Below the kids are using one of his inventions. He made a cherry pitter that runs off compressed air and the kids thought it was very cool; Paul did too.

Andrea worked in Alaska for several summers before she married Nathan and she got to come visit us in Nondalton. The kids love her because she's still a big kid herself and lots of fun. The school playground is adjacent to their backyard and it was an awesome one. Sarah and I watched the kids and Andrea play freeze tag only they weren't allowed to touch the ground. The kids were happy to find that Andrea was just as much fun now that she's married as she ever was. They exhausted themselves climbing around on the rugged playground.

Quentin

Sarah, smiling as always.

Sarah and Benjamin

Caleb

Andrea is a talented musician. She's a percussionist including the keyboard and she's also picked up the guitar. We had a fun evening playing and singing worship songs together.

Ron & Linda Richter and Darby Montana

Ron & Linda Richter are teachers that live in Nondalton and fellowship with us there. They are a great encouragement to us. Paul & Ron share a love of all things mechanical, especially those things that are just now being invented and still need the bugs worked out. They live on a beautiful river in Montana during the summers with Linda's Mom and Dad and their daughter and son-in-law. We got to spend the night with them, play in the river, check out some of Ron's projects and inventions, including his custom bow-making shop (http://www.monarch-bows.com/) and eat some of Linda's awesome cooking.Linda took us down to the river and we got to visit while the kids played.
The kids are helping Ron fill the mixing tank with recycled paper to make papercrete blocks.
We helped Ron with the shed he was building out of papercrete. It's turning out very nice. It's very hard but very light and you can smooth it just like cement.
Ron is showing the kids his Rocket made by putting water into a 2 liter pop bottle and then filling it with compressed air. It works great! Quentin took lots of pictures so he can make his own. In fact, Quentin took pictures of lots of things on the trip that he intends to make once we get home. If he gets them made, I'll post them.
Sarah loved the quick bath we gave her in Linda's sink.
It was great getting to see Ron & Linda on their home turf. It's easier to picture things they talk about and it was fun getting to know their family a little bit. They'll be joining us back in Nondalton in August.

For everybody that gets this emailed to them, Abigail updated the background and it looks nice. You can click on http://quiverfullofkids.blogspot.com/ and check it out.