Berries!

Of the Rasp sort!

We promised to take the kidos berry picking but didn't want to get too far from the road because of bears. They enjoy the berries just as much as we do!
We didn't have to go too far before we found an good spot... then we moved to an ok spot closer to town because of a crazy man who was not so friendly then oddly friendly... ya know bro?! It's interesting seeing the good and the bad of the town. This man was obviously not all there; probably suffering from a slight mental handicap and an addiction to drugs and alcohol. He came by a second time to apologize for the first time. And then kept coming around, but, then, he was riding his 4 wheeler around town and it's a pretty small square. It was a bit unsettling, all in all. We took the dog and a can of bear spray for protection... there is a bear living near the airport road apparently...which is where we took a walk yesterday without knowing. I think we make too much noise to actually see a bear though.
Gavin and Joe did a great job picking berries but dropped them alot with the end result being berry mush

Macy got a lot but most came with stems (I'll have to clean those off later)

(Macy's smile is too cute and do you see what Arwen's doing?)

Molly picked good ones and bad ones... all the bad ones went into her mouth and she ended up with about 20 VERY good berries in her bucket

and Arwen ate all of hers... and some of everyone else's! LOL! Little stink pot. Even after she was back in the backpack she was being fed "BERRYYYYY!" The kid is addicted.

Arwen spots a juicy one in the back...

...almost there...

... SUCCESS!

Even Thora had some! But she mostly enjoyed this stick and tangling her leash around Joe.

We met a lady on the walk back who told us where to find blueberries! So when Joe gets back I am sending him and Gav (or him and another adult willing to go) to get us some. While they are doing that me and the girls will stay close to the house and gather some rose hips. I am really excited to attempt rose hip syrup! It is terribly expensive to get fresh fruits and veggies (and milk and eggs and cheese and such) out to the village. The wild sort are seriously a blessing to us when we get them. They are free and delicious and there were no hefty shipping fees to get them into our bellies. Now if we could only get the natives to spit out where the REALLY good spots were (and then give us a lift on a 4wheeler) we'd be in heaven.

Also on our way home, we met some boys looking for Gav. They wanted him to come play with him! So cute. So Joe supervised the kids at the playground while I started a late dinner. It was already 6pm!

Macy hates this thing but wanted to play... she settled for pushing her sister on it. These 2 can be so adorable!

Molly on the merry-go-round. She loves this thing!

Gavin and his two new buddies playing with guns

Some of the sites during our walk

The old church

Yukon

I thought the broken glass (most likely the rest of that vodka bottle over there) was beautiful mixed in with the rock colors.

That was our day! Please pray for us this next week. Joe is leaving for 5 nights tomorrow and we both are having a hard time processing this... or rather we are trying NOT to think about it. I will take one day at a time. He will be spending some time in a hotel and the other time in Fort Yukon with access to MY amazing friends and good cooking. I will have 4 kids (who miss their daddy), dirty laundry, and my loneliness. It seems so long and unfair but in a week it will be over!