Family History. Hat Creek Ranch.

On their Dad's side, our kids have history at Hat Creek Ranch. In fact, Great-Grandma Pat has stuff on loan there and the record books trace part of our lineage. Amazing stuff really. We took a day trip out there with Grandma Brookes to explore and find out more:

 The Lodge

 

We arrived. Pics out front. In the top left there is a pic of our ancestor Donald MacLean .

 

Grandma brought old photo albums with her and the curator was very excited to look through them. 

 

 

A great pic of Keiran and his cousin Brody. 

 

Some fun!

 

 

Haha!

 

 

Checking out the Tee Pee where you can actually stay in for the night!

 

 Blacksmith Shop.

 

The blacksmith shop. 

 

 

The kids learned how nails were made. Keiran gets one to take home :) 

 

Pounding out another nail. 

 

 The Native Village

 

Keiran checking out the Native village. 

 

Trying out hand drumming. 

 

This was our favorite shelter- a traditional winter lodge.

 

 

Inside the winter lodge. 

 

Drying rack. 

 

Haha. 

 

How they made tea. 

 

 

 Various cooking methods.

 Arts and crafts.

 

The girls lodge. 

 Dad and Finn. 

The Horse Barn

 The Miner's Camp

 Gold panning. 

 The boys' treasures. 

The Old House

 Antique stove. 

 These are actually antique dishes that belong to Great-Grandma. 

Transportation

Horse and buggy.

 Riding in the carriage. 

 Managers

 The McLeans are the ones we are related to. 

The Farm Life

 Feeding the chickens.

 The pigs got to eat too.

Back for some Hunting

 Bow and arrow practice. 

There was so much to see and learn about that we plan on going back again....

Camping.

We bought a trailer. Hooray! This was all of our kids' first time out camping.

 We are ready. Our home on wheels :) :) 

Gem gets top bunk. We ended up altering this and Dad built a rail to hold her in. 

 

Aiden reading library books. 

Keiran, of course, needs to figure out how everything works. Trying out the blinds. 

 

Lac Le Jeune was the best campground for biking, as the roads are flat and long. Aiden, Gemma, and Keiran rode their bikes whenever they had the chance, from sun up to sun down. Mom took them on a couple rides down to the lake too.

This is the second year that the kids have participated in the Learn to Fish program. Great fun!

Aiden fishing off the shore. 

Gemma fishing off the dock. 

 

A very serious Keiran, concentrating on his fishing. 

 

Beach time. This guy loves to dig in the dirt. Not much for swimming yet but he did a little. 

 

Gemma taking a break from swimming to warm up.

 

 A view of the lake as Mom walked by. The kids did a pond study this day and searched for water bugs, leaches, shrimp, etc.

Mr.Finn having a bath. Just for fun.