Happy B'day Papa...sorta

Yup...what better birthday present than coming to Alaska to fish and hang out with your grandchildren?

I don't think Dana could find a better present.

The Tuia's were still at our house from dipnetting, but  this time they were helping us get our fish, so Kaye was a gem and made a birthday cake for Papa Pond!  Then Dad, the kids, and the Tuia's sang to him and had cake.

Where was I...and Jared you might ask?

On a boat in the middle of the Kenai river with James Henderson and Brian Richardson with two gigantic dipnets, dipnetting 90 fish to split between the Henderson's, Richardson's, and us.

Where was Shayne?  Oh ya...he scheduled a group physical for the Skyview football/basketball teams with some ER docs coming in to do the physicals.  He could have changed it, b/c he ultimately is the one in charge of the whole event...but the football coach, whom I do not like, b/c he has a severe case of short-man's syndrome, claimed it the was only time he could do it.  Seriously?  You have someone putting on a FREE event for your entire football team to get FREE physicals and you are going to claim it's the only day you can do it?  Whatever.

Can you tell I was a little annoyed?  

So...instead of making a birthday cake and enjoying the day with Papa Pond and the grandkids, I was busy coordinating getting a boat and people to go out with, sitting on the boat pulling in a HUGE 5 foot hoop with Sockeye Salmon in it, until I wasn't very good at it, and then spent the rest of the time bonking the fish on the heads, cutting their gills, clipping their tails...which meant kneeing i about an inch of bloody water on the boat...until around 11pm.  Then we had to get back to the dock, unload the fish, and get them back to our place where we would all be getting together the next night to process all those 90 fish.  I'm just thankful Jared Tuia and his family decided to stay and help us out..it was a huge lifesaver!!

So..I hope Papa had a good time on his birthday watching his grandkids so I could leave...while Shayne was gone too.  

Sorry it wasn't a better birthday...but there's always next year...right?  :)

BTW...Shayne took a pic so I'm gonna have to get it from his camera and repost this with the pic of Papa with his birthday cake.