Friday, December 12, 2008

A few Pictures from the Jamaica Trip

Mom and Fred on the Beach in Jamaica - Anyone else notice mother is on her toes?


This is mom on the riverwalk we did. It was way fun, but the water was very chilly when we first went in. We came to spot in the river where it was about 4 feet deep, and I was just going to walk around it, but the next thing I see is Mom climbing the tree to jump in the water!! Now, I'm not sure she knew what she was in for, but she was a good sport and jumped right in! Of course, after that, I had to jump in too. Tracy managed to sidestep that though :-)



Further up the river was a spot where the river was about 7-8 feet deep. All of us could see this little platform up in the tree and the guides invited anyone who wanted to to climb up and jump in the river. So.....what does Fred do? He dives in the water and swims across; climbs the tree and gets to the platform.



And then he jumps!!! That had to be about 15 feet up....Yeah, he was the only one in the family to do that, the rest of us were content to watch.

Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Bryan, Danielle, Whit and Ty Cancun

I was talking to Grandma Roberts the other day and she said she wanted to see some of Whitney's pictures from Cancun. I asked Whit if I could post some up on the F2 blog and she said okay. So here are some of the pictures from their trip. Wish I was there!
Danielle and Ty on the bus
Whitney and Ty in their Hotel
Whitney in Cozumel
Danielle in Cozumel
Whit and Bryan para sailing



Whitney and Ty at the ruins

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Halloween Treasure Hunt Clues and Answers

After much anticipation, we have posted the clues and answers to this year's Halloween Treasure Hunt. The Clues are in Bold Orange, the answers in yellow.
Good Luck!

F2 Combined Family Halloween Party
Treasure Hunt Clues
prepared by
Fred W. Finlinson
10.31.08



In the Canadian Rockies, a variety of "Choke Cherry" trees has developed that have cherry red leaves during the summer. Directly Northeast of the most Easterly Canadian Choke Cherry you'll find the next clue behind a piece of vertical conduit.

This clue was found at the bottom of the pipe next to the utility pole where we take our electrical power from Rocky Mountain Power. Tate found the clue.

The Flowering Pear Tree is the community tree of Murray, Utah. In the spring, the blossoms are a delicate white and in the fall, the leaves turn a variety of golden red. At the base of the 2nd most Northern or the 5th most Southern Flowering Pear Tree, you'll find the next clue.

This clue was covered with rocks among the flower pear trees. The kids thought the pear trees were the Canadian Coke Cherry trees because they still had their leaves. Many of the leaves were "red." Tate discovered this clue while looking for the first clue.

This clue will be found under the nose of an object named after a mean dinosaur featured in a film about an island where dinosaurs still roamed. If you have guessed that the dinosaur is a T. Rex, you've got the wrong lizard. Today, this dinosaur's name applies also to a class of birds that prey on other birds. Eagles are part of this class of birds.

Our "toy hauler" trailer is a "Raptor" with the name on the front and back of the trailer. I'm not sure who found this one, but with grand kids looking all around the trailer, it didn't take them long.

There is an old farm joke about the conversation between a tractor and a plow. The question is asked, "What did the plow say to the Tractor?" The answer identifies the location of the next clue. You may have to ask your parents for help on this one. The clue will be under the southern most part of the answer to the Question mentioned above.

I was amazed, nobody knew the old farm joke. The answer to the question, "What did the plow say to the Tractor?" is, "Pull me closer, John Deere." The clue was hid under the front end loader of the John Deere Tractor which was facing south in the little barn.

To find this next clue, you'll have to think like one of the F2 Place wild cats. There are racoons that will fight them for cat food. Little Bryan loves to chase them. We have a pack of coyotes that would love to eat them. One of our neighbors used to bring his lion hunting dogs through our area, and "treeing" one of our cats seemed to be a lot of fun for his hounds. So you need to think, where could the cats be out of the weather and be safe from these predators. Access to this clue will only be available to the older cousins who will have to share the clue with everybody else.

The grand kids came up with the hay barn and the hay stack pretty quick. When we caught up with them they were looking all around the hay stack at their level. The safest place is up on top of the stack. Access to the top, is from the back of the stack where the bales are placed up against a brace. The boards of the brace became the ladder that Hannah used to climb to the top of the stack where she found the clue stuffed in a bale on the very top of the stack.

The next clue will be found on the circumference of a training enclosure in a device utilized to provide H20 for equines.

We use the Round Pen to train horses and there is a blue bucket tied to the side of the round pen that can be used to give a horse a drink. Brittany remembered the blue bucket and Tate knew what a round pen was.

To find the next clue, go to the largest collection of springs on the F2 Place. Elevation at this place will be necessary to spot this clue when you look to the West.

This clue stumped the kids for a while. The trampoline is new this year and the springs are hidden under the pad that goes around the tramp. They finally got a little help from a parent and they were off to the trampoline, but the next clue was not in the trampoline. If you jumped high on the trampoline while looking to the West, you could see the next clue taped to the highest bar on the swing set just west of the trampoline. Tate climbed the swing set and got the clue down for the group.

Grandma Finlinson has a soft spot in her heart for little ones, including all of our Grand Children. The next clue will be found in a spot where little spheres break apart revealing relatively large mouths and little bodies.

This was one of the most difficult clues. "Little ones," include the little song birds that are born each year in our garage, nesting on top of the hoes that hang on the wall. The "little spheres" are the eggs laid that hatch or "break apart" revealing the baby birds, that are mostly "large mouths" with very little bodies. The kids were looking all around the house, it took a little direction to get them into the garage and then they could see the nest on top of the hoe and the rest was easy.

Inside the F2 Gathering Place on the counter, you'll find this year's treasure. We hope you have enjoyed this year's treasure hunt. Grandma Chris and Grandpa Fred.

Actually, Grandma Chris found a better place, the treasure gift bags were in her legislative desk in the dining room. It didn't take this pack of clue hunters long to find the treasurer. The success of the hunt didn't come from the sugar found in the goodies in the bag, it came from the faces of the kids trying to figure out Grandpa's clues. The racing off to the next clue. The attempts of their parents to help them with the clues. It took three generations to pull of this treasurer hunt successfully. We're a good team.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

F2 Halloween Party 2008

Bryan napping
Brent and Brandon resting
Chase and his pumpkin
Tate
Brook Blain, Bryce and Henry
Lace, Grace and Britt
Grandpa Fred, Henry, Abby, Grace, and Lacy getting their pumpkins
Aww Brent and Tray, how precious
Sweet little Wren
Chase, Brook and Jaime
Abby
Grace
Bryce
Wren

Bryce and his pumpkin...looks like a good one Hannah, Brittney and Tate
Grandpa Fred supervising the pumpkin carving

Hannah getting one of the many clues, this one happended to be on top of the haystack
Abby and her costume

Oh Wren again, she just looked so cute we had to keep taking pictures of her
Henry, Chase and Brandon
The Treasure Hunt, we were all scratching our heads as what Grandpa Fred was talking about, but we made it thru okay.
Elsa and Shelly

Monday, November 3, 2008