Mr. Rob & Mrs. Gayle's Yard

Rob & Gayle (our hosts) lived across the street and invited us to enjoy their yard as well as our own.  They have an amazing yard that is spacious with beautiful plants and flowers, gardens, creeks, and wildlife.  We roasted marshmallows & made s'mores twice as well as cooked hotdogs once in their fire pit during our stay.  Bobby has building campfires down to a science.  He showed the kids how to start with kindling (small sticks), and then build up to the larger logs.  Since it is summer and already warm, getting close to the fire was often excruciating.  Rob and Gayle joined us once for a s'more which the kids enjoyed explaining how to roast the marshmallow without it catching on fire.

We would wash our hands off in the creek to help with not being so sticky.

We stayed in the house with the red door seen in the distance.

We picked lots of delicious strawberries!

We came to swing almost once a day.  Most of the time the kids would sit together for big pushes through the air.  Near the end, they came up with a game that one would sit in the chair while the other would put the foot rest around their belly and run in circles.  I didn't take any pictures and should have. The momentum would cause the one running to eventually be lifted off of the ground and spin in the air like superman.  They would take turns being superman/super girl.

Speaking of wildlife, there is a bear family that lives in the woods next to Rob & Gayle's house.  We would often see the traces of the bear's presence in the form of trash spread along the ground or the shed window busted open (bear getting to the bag of bird seed).  One evening while Bobby and I were working, we heard the trash can thump over.  I looked at Bobby and said, "You want to go on a bear hunt?"  We jumped up and grabbed our flashlights (on our phone).  We rounded the corner to where the garbage cans were stored on the side of the house, and Bobby saw the bear look up at him from about 15 feet away and start to run in the opposite direction.  We retreated quickly back into the garage and could see the bear right outside the garage door.  I missed it as all I could see was the reflection of my flashlight through the window.  By the time I put the light away, the bear had escaped into the darkness.  The last week of our stay, our neighbors behind us showed us a video of a bear walking through our yard into theirs and then eating their bird seed.  It was in the middle of the day.  On another day around 6:30 a.m., Gayle took a video of a bear playing on the tree that has the swing the kids loved.  For some reason, I thought we would be safe from not seeing an bear during the day but I was totally wrong.  The kids and I never saw any of the bears, but they were about our place a lot!

This black bear lives at the Nature Center.

We did, however, see wild turkey frequently around our house.  One day while we were swinging in Gayle's yard, a turkey flew over head and landed in the yard about 20 feet away from us.  We watched it walk to the creek to get water and then walk into the woods.  When we would drive into town, we would count the number of turkeys seen walking about.

Wild turkeys hanging out in a cemetery on our road.

We are so appreciative that Rob & Gayle were so welcoming of our family.  We made a lot of fun memories in their yard!  Amelie and Liam also loved Rob & Gayle and wanted to visit with them frequently too.