Jake's Back Country Flight

So that little strip of gravel and turf going up the hill just the other side of the creek is the runway at Thomas Creek.....the picture doesn't do it justice. After crossing over the ridge at 9,000 feet the valley opens up and you can turn back towards the runway while descending and follow the creek back to the airstrip. The tricky part is that you are making a "blind approach" and don't see the runway until you come around the last bend in the creek where suddenly you have to drop the plane in over the creek and some tree tops just at the approach end of the runway. Needless to say this was the start to an exciting morning!

This is a picture of the airstrip at Indian Creek, we flew over this on our way to Thomas Creek.

The view at the end of the runway at Big Creek. This is a great place to get breakfast, the Big Creek Lodge & Outfitters is a short walk from the runway. It is June 23rd and it is still to early in the season to make it through the pass in a car or truck. Everything is brought in by plane. I can't believe I get paid to fly into places like this!

On approach into Stanley, not a big deal, it is pretty wide open and the strip is in good shape. Our windshield is filthy and these pictures were taken with my camera phone so not really good quality.

This is not in the back country but on a day that I have to actually work for a living. This is the view out of my office window on a corporate flight at 19,000 feet on the way back to Boise dodging developing thunderstorms.......

and this is the inside of my office! Not very spacious, maybe someday I will have a corner office.

She's Come A Long Way

Paislee finally loves to swim. At first she was terrified, she wouldn't put her head under the water, she screamed if her ears got wet, and she absolutely HAD to wear goggles. Now she is a fish. This is her third summer of swimming lessons and she has learned the front crawl, the elementary back stroke, and the back crawl. We are lucky enough to have a pool in our neighborhood where she can practice practice practice.

And the teasing begins

Uncle Allen is notorious for torturing his nieces and nephews, as you can see, he starts them out at a young age. Fortunately our children are troopers and can take what he dishes out, occasionally they even enjoy it. They all love their Uncle Allen.

Prima Ballerina

At the end of May Ella had her first dance recital on stage. She was the comedy relief for the entire program. Once her group was in place she immeditately started looking for Mommy, at the top of her lungs. We finally got her attention and she began waving frantically at us, at this time everyone laughed. By the end of her second number she had rubbed her tired eyes so that her beautiful makeup was smeared everywhere (note the racoon eyes). She was so exhausted and worn out that she refused to have her picture taken professionally and it was only after much begging and pleading on my part she let me take this picture. Our prima ballerina is full of attitude to say the least.