Day 10 - Fire Duty

Today is day 10 of Jason being away ... I already knew I wasn't cut out to be a wildfire fighter's wife and while Luke & I have done fine, we are definitely ready for him to be home. One of Jason's trainers had told their group that the divorce rate for firefighters was over 70%. No thank you. We're glad that Jason declined to re-up which would have meant having only 2 days off and then another 14 days out if needed.

I have been really thankful for the community here at Priest Lake as there are lots of other wives with young kids who also have husbands away fighting fires -- some for the majority of the summer -- and they have made a point of including me in their activities which helps so so much.

Jason's parents were able to go visit him at the fire base camp and sent me this photo -- notice they even have t-shirts for the fire (not sure how the people who lost their homes would feel about that, but it's nice for the 400+ people who've been working 16 hour days to have something to remember it by I suppose).

He's set to be home tomorrow by dinnertime -- woo-hoo!

A Fabulous Fourth Weekend

Hoping all of you had a great summer celebration of our nation's birthday!

We had a terrific extended weekend with our guests flown in via seaplane just for the occasion. It was so lovely to reconnect and make new memories with some of the friends we made in Guatemala. These gals are incredible women. We feel fortunate to have them as friends and were so thrilled that they wanted to come see us on their vacation.

We had lots of tasty food, beach/lake time and hiking altogether. Plus, Jason got to go on a more rigorous hike with them to an alpine lake that Luke & I wouldn't have been able to do. Then they just flew away ... the trailer felt very quiet and lonely come Monday morning once Jason had also left for work.

We're just looking forward to our next adventure with these fun and inspiring women!






The Navigator Trail from Priest Lake through to Upper Priest Lake was supposed to mostly look like the picture on the left. Due to a heavy thunder/wind storm earlier in the week, a lot of it looked like the picture on the right. More of a tree-scramble than a hike!

Allison, Emily & Jason at the trail head for Hunt Lake (after nearly an hour driving on 4WD roads!)


























The reason Luke and I stayed home for this one...the entire trail is bouldering. Fun going up, but pretty tricky going down.

 

And, he's off!

Jason got a called in last night to work on his first official forest fire. Something he's been hoping to do since getting certified at the beginning of summer. He reported in early this morning and they've told him he may be on-duty for anywhere from 2 - 14 days. It was a really, really cool thing to see how excited he was to be going to "work." It was almost as if he was a kid again and it was the night before going to summer camp.

I am thrilled for him to have the opportunity, but slightly less excited at the prospect of a somewhat undefined period of time apart...ironically, the story & craft theme at the library just yesterday was fire engines :) Each child got a fire hat and created an edible fire engine.

Luke's airplane adventure - another view of Priest Lake

Luke and I were treated to quite an adventure this week. Some of our wonderful friends (& Jason's co-workers) from Guatemala came in for a visit by seaplane!!! Allison's Dad is a seaplane pilot and landed at the dock right across the street from where we live to drop Emily & Allison off ... THEN, Luke & I got to go for a ride! It was so much fun!! The lake is spectacular from the air and it was a really special treat for Luke who is SO into airplanes since coming to live here.