Modern Conveniences & Fun Times

Well our time has been well spent here so far, we have been busy getting things operatinal in the cabin.   One is the running water, not warm but running.  There is a spring that we are tapped into and this feeds our cabin and hopefully T & M's too.  It is so nice to turn on a tap and have something there. 
Another convenience that we did not think we would have, is electricity in the cabin.  Both cabins are wired with plugins and sockets because the previous inhabitants had a large generator in the shed that ran both cabins.  Paul thought that he would try our generator for the heck of it and voila! we had light!  Good thing there were bulbs here because we definitely did not bring any.  We had plans of using our propane lights and we still will ,we just don't have them set up yet. 
As we have been cleaning these cabins we have found a lot of treasures.  Some usable, some for the dump.  One thing that we have in our cabin was a huge old record player and a trunk full of records.  We have been thinkng what to do with this as it was taking up valuable space.  Well, once we discovered that we had power we decided if it works, it will stay.  So last night with Ma and Pa's (Paul's parents) last night here we had a party, Aron knew it was a party because the chips came out.  We had our lights, we had supper and the kids had a dance, to some good old country music.  If someone would have drove up right then, they never would have believed what was happening, as we hardly could!

Getting settled

Well we made it in one week ago and it has been very busy .  We spent the first few days unpacking and doing a little more cleaning and painting in the cabin.  Paul's mom and dad came out the day after us and have been busy helping out too.  After a few days we had to stop ourselves and remember that we have quite a lot of time for that sort of thing and we should enjoy the nice weather outside.  So with that we decided to take a day trip and quad to the store.  This turned out to be a great decision, we took the old road to Germensan Landing and saw some great scenery which is never lacking around here.  We even saw the remnants on the Germensan River of an old flume that was used in the gold rush days, there is a picture of it at the store when it was operational and it is dated back to the late 1800's. 
After stopping at the store we contined down the road to see a 6000 sq foot log home that is being built.  It is being built for a couple from southern BC, a great stimulus for the economy around here, as many locals have been hired to work on it at one stage or another.  Speaking of locals, Scott from the store mentioned to us that you have to live here 20 years before you are considered one, so I guess we will never have that title. 
But we did meet some others who are, they were working on the log house when he arrived and were more than happy to show us around.  It was of course beautiful, with lots of space.  But I don't think that I would want to make firewood to heat a cabin that size!!!  We're hoping that we will see the place again, as we were unoffically invited for a Christmas party there!  Definitely something to look forward too.

Packing, Packing, Packing!

As I am waist high in boxes and headaches in my house, I can't help but think about Tim, Martina and the kids, who are already at our destination. I so wish we were there picking berries and getting settled, instead of going through my house and wondering if I need this item or that. The kids keep asking how much longer, as no doubt this has been dragging out for them too. Everything has to fit on this load, as we are not coming back for more. It looks like we should be okay for room. Here is a picture of our last load, this one will pretty much be the same with of course the truck box full both times!

So right now I am making sure that the camera cards are empty, my ipod has everything I need, the kids have clothes that they can grow into for the seasons, and of course, all our tax info for when that season hits too.

Anyway, I had better get back at it.

Ahhh! 10 days to go!

OMG there is so much to do. Our goal was to leave by the long weekend, now Paul has been delayed at work. I know it will all come together, eventually. We are just so anxious to be there!!

Goodbyes

Well, I have had to say my first goodbye, or rather see you later. None the less, it was not easy. I've told people that I don't want to see tears when we leave, because we are so excited about the trip, that we want to leave on a good note, not a sad one. And then there I was holding back tears. What a suck. I think this is the hardest part, is saying see you later to some people that are part of our everyday lives. We definitely will miss them.

What will we do once we get there?

I've had a few people ask me that. One even said "besides watch the clock go tick, tick, tick." We have lots of things on the to do list, and want to do list. We have a lot of clean up in and around the cabins, they have been left for quite a while. We have fire wood for the winter to put up. We have to unpack and get settled. The want to do list includes: going on a quadding trip to a nearby (100+ kms - one way we think) jade mine, going fishing, mining at our nearby gold claim (20kms), playing with the kids and just whatever comes our way. It's all pretty much about spending time together in a more simplified way. No running here and there, no going away to work, just family time all the time.

Getting ready

I thought that I would have posted more info by now, but man is it busy for us right now. The summer's are usually busy and this definitely adds to it. I have been buying lots of groceries, dry goods and canned, that sort of thing and packing it up. We want to bring as much in as we can, even though we do have groceries available to us at the Germansen Lake store. We can put in grocery orders there, and when Scott, the store owner goes out for mail once a week, he also gets the grub for us and any others. I'm guessing but I think that there are maybe 25 people that weather the winters out there.
So what else have I been doing since my last entry? I've registered our oldest daughter for home schooling. She will be in grade 1. Quite a bit different atmosphere from her peers, but I think we will do great, our science and phys ed aspect will be especially interesting.
I've been packing up clothes and the like, for the kids and myself for the seasons and weather conditions that we will face.(hubby packs his own) As well as skates, snowshoes, skiis, toboggans, soccerballs, fishing equipment, quadding gear, snowmobiling gear etc, etc. Even a hammock I bought in Mexico, especially for this trip. I look forward to a down day, laying back and listening to the waves even if there is a child or two arguing in the backround.