Paul Bunyon Days...!!!

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since our last post and we have to apologize. Things have been very busy getting settled into the new house. We're really enjoying it, and we never seem to run out of projects to do around the house.

First things first, this weekend has been Paul Bunyon Days here in St. Maries. For those of you who didn't grow up in America, Paul Bunyon is a story character who is a giant lumberjack who cleared huge swaths of land with his axe to make way for civilization. He also has a giant Blue Ox named Babe. Since St. Maries is a logging and lumber town, every labor day weekend, the town pays homage to the legendary Paul Bunyon. Remember, St. Maries is a town of 2,653 people, and during Paul Bunyon Days, there might be as many as 10,000 people here. There is four days of events and celebration. The highlight was a HUGE fireworks show on Sunday night. There was also the "Largest Topless Bar in Idaho". It was a large outside beer garden without a roof. Yesterday, there were various logging competitions in the city pool where people would roll on a log and try to roll the other one off, there were competitions where people were jousting in canoes and all kinds of fun things that guarantee everyone will end up in the water. Today was the competitions with the chainsaws, axe throwing, and pole climbing. There was also lots of music, dances, carnival rides and games, and a huge parade. We both rode on the back of one of the fire trucks and threw candy to all of the kids. Most kids had bags that were stuffed full of candy.....Every child's dream.

We've attached a few pictures of the house, including one that shows the view from the deck. It is quite smoky in this picture from the nearby forest fires, but it really is a beautiful view of the St. Joe River Valley. Hannalize is busy taking off lots of wallpaper and Joel is busy organizing everything in the shop (in America, a shop is a garage that is larger than normal and has workspace). We're also enjoying the hot tub that came with the house..that will be very nice this winter..!!

Joel's parents are up visiting right now. They came up to help us with some projects and enjoy Paul Bunyon Days. Roxy is enjoying all of the extra attention from grandma and grandpa....

It's only about 5 more weeks before Hannalize's parents get here. We are really looking forward to their visit. Her dad will get to go deer hunting with Joel. We'll show them around and give them the quick tour of the Pacific Northwest (and maybe a special surprise...)

Enjoy the pictures and we look forward to hearing from everyone.

- Joel & Hannalize