Engebretsen Family Reunion

Earlier this month we had the joy of getting together with extended family for the Engebretsen family reunion to celebrate 50 years on the original homestead. My grandpa, who homesteaded in Homer, Alaska in 1959, has given us quite a heritage. Over 70 family members came for the five day reunion and lots of memories were made!

Lots of visiting and catching up around the campfire each evening, and plenty of fishing and playing in the river! We enjoyed being able to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and cousins that we had not seen in a long time. Our kids had so much fun with cousins they had never met before that none of them were ready for the week to be over!

My grandparents homesteaded on the Anchor River in 1959 with five children. They built a 16x24 cabin to live in and survive the winter! There wasn't a road into their place so they built buggies to get back and forth to the main road for supplies. The kids caught lots of fish in the river to supplement their garden and they also lived on moose meat. Oh, the stories we have heard over the years of the homestead days!

The pictures to follow are of Grandpa with his five kids... Then Grandpa with his grandkids... Then Grandpa with his great-grandkids!

Village VBS by Ethan

Hi, it's Ethan here, just wanted to tell you about my trips to the villages. We, Weston, Mrs. Buckwalter, and I went to two villages called Perryville and Port Heiden. The two villages were a lot different from each other. In Perryville the kids, as a rule, are quiet and are not very rowdy. Oh and there are a lot of bears. In Port Heiden it is a lot more flat and the winds get up to 40-50 miles per hour. And the kids? Well, they are the exact opposite of the kids in Perryville. They are a little loud and kind of rowdy. Some of their favorite pastimes is riding bikes, playing video games, listening to music and building stuff with their hands.

We had a lot of fun doing "In the Race with Jesus" vacation Bible school with the kids. One of my jobs during VBS was teaching the kids the song motions, they did great! The kids also had an enjoyable time watching me talk to our race car puppet, Otto, during his regular pit stops. Even though it was often hard to keep our kids in order, we had a good time.

I want to thank you for praying for us and sending us money as we went to the villages and taught the kids about Jesus. THANK YOU! Here's some pictures of the VBS.Bible story time...Weston as Goliath and Ethan as a Jewish soldier.
Ethan organized games with the kids...untying the human knot..kids had fun playing games!
The kids were divided into two groups. Ethan is here with his team of kids...
Weston with his team of kids...
On our one day off in between VBS in the two villages we made a kite out of a piece of old cloth. It was a two man kite, but flew well in the strong winds of Port Heiden. We flew the kite for hours and hours!I got to fly the plane on our 2 hour return trip to Homer...it was great fun!! I am concentrating on all the dials and gauges.

Baby bunny!

A couple weeks ago a new little critter joined us at our house! My dad caught a baby bunny at his shop and wondered if we would like to have it....I said, "Sure, why not!". So after several days of baby bunny in a cardboard box, Steve and the kids spent several hours on a rabbit cage project. Our little bunny seems to like his new home!

Our little bunny appears to be a wild rabbit...not just a domesticated rabbit that got away, but a snowshoe hare. He has very large feet and his coloring is the wild rabbit look. Not sure how long he is going to be content as a pet for six kids...

The first few days he was wild...wouldn't let anyone touch him and would bite. He was very aggressive towards anything and would lunge at objects to protect himself. With much persistence from the kids though he has tamed down considerably and they all pet him and get to hold him quite often.

The kids all agreed his name should be Camo...


Steve and the kids all hard at work on their Saturday project of building a rabbit hutch...and then the finished project...

Abundance!

The long days of our Alaskan summer and the warmth we have enjoyed are producing amazing results in the garden. We have never enjoyed such abundant harvest especially so early in the season.
Cabbages growing in the garden along with broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, onions, zucchini...


The greenhouse is also doing well with an abundance of yellow squash, celery, and herbs...


The garden and greenhouse...the place where we are spending so much time this summer...

Camping...

We look forward to our annual camping trip to Hidden Lake...and this year we get to do it twice! We took an early camping excursion with our friends, the Cooleys. Everyone had so much fun playing in the lake, despite the coolness of the water! Doesn't seem to bother Alaskan kids too much as they dare each other to dunk under the water and attempt to swim. Boating was fun too and a lot less cold.

Lots of rowdy games of soccer were played in the camp area. Steve and I even got involved in a game...just to make it fair! Steve really got into his position as goalie and was feeling it later! Oh well it was fun...

Hidden Lake is tucked into the mountains just outside of Cooper Landing...such beautiful surroundings and lots of rock climbing opportunities. The kids are getting old enough to do some climbing on their own just above our campsite. They played many games of hide and seek in the bushes and on the hillside.

There were lots of stories and laughter around the campfire and plenty of good food! It was a fun, relaxing time for everyone and we are looking forward to our next camping trip to Hidden Lake this summer!

Just a little update...

...will post pictures later...

Ethan returned from the villages without weather delay. He loved his time out there and from what I've heard he did a great job of leading during the VBS. One of the big highlights for him though was actually flying the plane. On the return to Homer he got be co-pilot and help fly the airplane...nothing could satisfy that boy more than flying a small plane! When he gets pictures a disc of pictures from their time in the villages, I will have him post more of his adventure.

Alaska is baking!! We have had some amazingly "HOT" temps, well maybe not hot for the rest of the world, but hot for Alaska! We are loving the heat even though it means hours and hours of watering the garden. If we can manage to keep it watered we will have a wonderful garden as the heat is making all our vegetables grow like crazy! We are already enjoying broccoli, yellow squash, tomatoes, radishes, and lots of herbs.

We have a new member in the critter department of the Veldstra household. Steve and I have been tossing around the idea of raising a few rabbits, but hadn't done anything about it. A couple days ago my mom called to tell me that dad had caught a baby bunny...were we still interested in raising rabbits? Well, since he caught it...sure why not!? Since this little bunny was wild it really didn't have much interest in being loved by a family of 8...but didn't take more than about 24 hours for the bunny to tolerate a little petting. We originally thought the rabbit was a domestic rabbit let loose, but we are now fairly certain it is a wild rabbit(snowshoe hare). It has the right coloring for a wild rabbit and large hind legs and feet which have amazing jumping ability! Anyways bunny has a name...Camo, and is figuring out that being loved by many hands is not too bad!

Wedding and family...

Only a month late, but I am still playing catch-up with pictures on my blog!

June 6 marked the day that Joshua, the youngest of the Veldstra siblings, married BreAnn...what a beautiful wedding it was with an amazing Alaskan view!(photo taken by Lynne Sinnhuber)

With a Veldstra wedding brings family up to Alaska...we always love to have family visit. There was lots of fun and laughter as we shared the time together. One sunny Sunday evening we had a barbecue at our house with everyone.

Uncle Keith and Aunt Pat came over for an evening with us. The kids enjoyed playing duets with Aunt Pat on the keyboard. They were very impressed with her piano playing talent...they are all hoping that someday they will be able to play that well!