Thursday, July 30th...the Russian River

While Kade & Ashely and company were here we took them to the Russian River. Not everyone wanted to fish but all wanted to see the place, so we opted to do the 3 mile hike to the Russian River Falls. We would eat lunch at the falls on the platform/outlook over the falls, and then those who wanted to fish would continue to hike down river and those who wanted to leave could hike back. It's an easy hike and a lot of fun to take people on, b/c the Russian is such a beautiful river.

However, if you've at all read our blog in the past, you know it's FULL of bears. I'm not talking just a few...I'm talking A LOT!! And not little bears...big Brown bears and slightly smaller Black bears. Our group wanted to see bears, b/c that's what you expect coming to Alaska...well, they weren't disappointed. When we got to the platform at the falls, there was a large Brown bear just below us in the pool at the bottom of the falls "fishing". He hung out in the pool trying to get a Salmon for a bit, caught one, pulled him to the side and then munched him. It is an incredibly cool and terrifying feeling knowing you are only yards from a massive bear, but feel safe at the same time. We took plenty of pics to document it.

Shayne had The Bug on his back in the backpack for the whole bear incident and what do you think The Bug was doing? Yup...sleeping. I had to take a pic. Our company, and the other tourists at the platform thought it was pretty cool...and I have to admit...I never get tired of watching bears...from a safe distance. :)

After the bear left, he went up the hill on the other side of the river, we ate lunch took some more photos, and then continued down river to fish. If you've ever fished on the Russian River you know what I mean when I say, "I hate combat fishing!!" There are so many people on the River all trying to catch Salmon. Usually they are a bunch of redneck's just snaggin' and fishing illegally. Drives me crazy! So...I opted to not fish a whole lot that day...ok, I didn't fish at all. Instead, with Ashley's help we sat on the bank and fed The Bug lunch, played with/entertained him, and I was the one who usually beached and bonked the fish that were caught by our group.

You can see all the people in some of the pics. One of the pics shows perfectly the mayhem that can occur while fishing the Russian. One of the girls in our group, Janell, got into her first Salmon, and didn't quite know how to handle it on a fly rod. The fish took off down river, tangling in the gauntlet of lines already in the river. Most people are inconsiderate and refused to reel up and get their lines out of the way...so Janell had to work around them. Her husband, Aaron, had her climbing over and under lines to get untangled. There was an easier way to deal with the mess...but we won't go there.

While fishing, we saw yet another bear. This was a smaller Black bear that was across the river from us. He popped out of the bushes just below us (on the other side), and then came walking up river, towards us (on the other side) and just meandered up the river. Kade videoed it, but I didn't have a chance to take a pic. I had The Bug with me, and was watching to see how he responded to the bear. He just watched it...no other reaction. Like he would know how to react. Black bears are a lot less aggressive, and much more timid than the larger Brown bears. So...we never felt uncomfortable or threatened in any way. It was just cool to watch him checking us and the river out. Gotta love the Russian River! You're almost guaranteed to see a bear in June/July when you go there...almost.

The Bug is such a little trooper. He very seldom complains when we take him places. He loves to just watch what's going on around him...and sleep. :) There were quite a few people amazed that we had brought him with us...probably b/c of the bear infestations...but we like to think it's b/c we just love to take him with us. :)

Anyway...sorry for the bajillion pics again, but the pics of that Brown bear fishing were just too cool to not post. I'm just about caught up on our summer happenings. My goal is to be completely caught up before The Bug's B-day...which is at the end of the month.

Kade & Ashley

So, I'm going to upload a pile of photos and pretty much document the whole week Kade & Ashley were here in one post. I don't have time to do multiple posts. Seriously...they came up from July 27-August 4th...6 weeks ago!! So behind!! The story is below all the pics...sorry. Grab a drink some snacks and enjoy the gajillion pics!! :)






























Anyway...here's the story behind their week visit:

Kade(my brother) and his wife, Ashley, came up for the second time to visit us. They came up with 2 other couples; Aaron & Janell Bowman and Adam & Jacqui Johnson. The Bowman's are in Kade & Ashely's ward and they are good friends. The Johnson's are good friends with the Bowman's and they all wanted to experience Alaska. When Aaron (who is nearly as fanatical about fly-fishing as Shayne), heard Kade had a sister who lived in Alaska...and not just Alaska but Soldotna...he freaked out! He then informed Kade that if Kade provided the lodging and fishing hook-ups, he would cover the airfare (he had a lot of airline miles to use.) Kade was quick to agree...Hello?! His sister lives there, how hard was it to find lodging?! Yeah...they made these plans back in October of 2008. So...up they came the last week of July to fish and check out Alaska.

We got them into some good fishing, even though we had a glacier dam break and flood the Kenai River. They were able to fish the Russian, Kenai, and Kasilof for Red Salmon and then out of Deep Creek on the ocean for Halibut. One of the days they went out of Seward for the Kenai Fjords Tour...which they loved. They saw lots of bears during their week long stay...brown & black. The girls and I (with Lachlan) did a fun hike over looking Skilak Lake...the girls were able to pick Currants and Wild Raspberries to their hearts content.

The boys were able to rescue two scouts that had fallen in the water after their raft overturned while on a scouting activity floating the Kenai River. You do not want to fall into that water...it's glacially fed and is VERY cold. They had life jackets on, but still...you freeze to death pretty quickly. Anyway...our boys were floating the river, Shayne was rowing, when they saw the cata-raft overturn. Shayne managed to get the drift boat they were in to a back eddy and pick up two of the boys who hadn't been picked up by other boaters. They were cold, but very glad to be out of the water. The Emergency services were at the pull-out when they got there to make sure everything was ok. That was a pretty exciting day for our boys. :)

I'm going to post all of the pics, but w/o the explanations for each one of them. It would take WAY too long! I am going to do a separate post for the Russian River trip, b/c it was a pretty cool trip. You'll see why when I post those pics.

Lachlan, as usual, was such a good little boy. He was hauled around all over the place in his backpack and in the carseat. He usually fell asleep when you hiked for very long in his backpack. Was pretty funny. He's pretty much good to go where ever you take him. So nice!

This was a very fun group to have. They were all our age and fun to hang around with. I especially loved having Kade and Ashley here to visit. I don't get to see my family very often, so when I do I love it! It was so nice to be able to leave Lachlan with them for a bit while I went with Shayne and not feel at all like I was imposing on anyone. Ashley was a HUGE help with Lachlan, from feeding him to putting him to bed for me. It was so nice to have her here.

I enjoyed Kade too...but he knows all to well what things bug me. That's why I have the random pic of the foam letter flooring in the pics. He knows that if I can't have a pattern or symmetry in things then I need to have randomness...and since it's very hard to get any sort of symmetry or pattern in this foam flooring, I have it random. He thought it would be funny to mess up the letters and make same colors touch, turn the letters backwards and so one and so forth. He even thought he would put the finishing touch and spell his name on the side. Just so I would know who had done it...like I wouldn't know! I had to deal with this most of the week...thought I was going to go crazy. I had to fix the floor the day after he left. At least it made me pick up all those letters and clean the back of them and vacuum my floor! Thanks Kade! The only reason I would invite you back to visit is because I enjoyed having Ashley here so much! Good thing you're married to her! :)

Anyway...we loved having them. But...we were even more excited these were our last guests for the summer!! We now had the rest of the short summer and beautiful fall to ourselves!! Yeah for us!!!

Day Off...

Shayne works a week on and a week off. Today is his first day off. He's fishing. Shocking...I know.

You know what I'm gonna do?

I'm taking a day off too.

I went to the library yesterday!! I love the library.

I'm gonna read to my hearts content...minus the playing, feeding and changing of the Bug.

Confirmation...

Phone call this morning: "Pepper, this is "Stan"(not his real name) from River City Academy (another type of alternative high school in our school district). I'm looking for a substitute. But...why didn't you apply for the half-time position we had posted here at the school? (He knows me from the Alternative High School, and knows I like to teach those types of students.)

Me: "I didn't know you had a position open.
Stan: Would you have applied if you had known?
Me: I don't know. What are the hours, what would I teach, what is the pay...etc..."


Shayne hadn't come home from work yet, he had a staff meeting. When I run it by him, he asks me what I want to do. He's that sort of awesome husband.

I'm seriously considering it, b/c I find I'm having a harder time than I thought with being a full-time mommy. I do miss teaching my students, and getting immediate reward for my work...being praised verbally and in their actions and school work. I miss getting dressed in nice clothes, and doing my hair and feeling pretty. I miss conversation. I think I'm in a bit of a funk and I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to climb out of it. Maybe this is the answer. Maybe.

Shayne & I talk for a bit. He asks me if it's worth it for the money and being back on a schedule. This conversation is taking place while our little Bug is toddling around the room, getting into the dog dishes, attempting to climb the stairs, dragging his toys all over the house, falling and hitting is head on a toy, etc. But every time he falls and he gets back up, he looks over at me and smiles the most heart warming smile you've ever seen.

Nope...not worth it.

After Shayne goes upstairs to sleep, Bug has had his breakfast, and I'm fixing mine...I pull out the new Ensign we got yesterday in the mail. I pull the plastic off, turn it over and you know what the cover story is? "The Influence of a Righteous Woman."

Confirmation of my decision? I think so.

So, my house is always a mess. My hair is never done. I'm always wearing scrubby clothes. I very seldom have adult conversations. But...I get to teach my little boy every day. I get to see him learn all sorts of new things. I get hugs, smiles, squeals, giggles, and looks of complete and udder adoration.

I know not every mother can stay home. Which is why I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to do so.

My Heavenly Father really does know who I am, and what I need...right when I need it.

11 Months!!

Ok...so before I finish blogging our summer, I had to post Lachlan's 11 month pics. Yup, on Saturday, August 29th he turned 11 months old!! He is growing up so fast!

Here's some interesting things about Lachlan at 11 months I want to document to share with him later:

~Truly started to crawl just after his 10 month mark...he had been doing a funny one-legged scoot/crawl thing previous, but finally figured out how to truly crawl. However, it didn't last long, b/c...
~He started taking steps on Wednesday, August 12th!!! He was only 10 1/2 months old!
~Started pushing his walking push toy all over the place on August 15th.
~Started walking half-way across his play mat on August 18th.
~Is now walking wherever and whenever he wants! This makes is difficult to get very much of anything done! He thinks he's so smart. He started walking all over on about August 27th, just before his 11th month mark.
~Took his first real tumble down a couple of stairs on August 17th, where he cut his frenulum labii superiorisis (the skin between your upper lip and your gums...I'm a science freak I had to look it up!), it bled quite a bit and bothered him for a couple of days, but he didn't cry for very long after doing it. He is seriously one tough cookie!
~I finally noticed on August 19th that he had his 4 top teeth coming in all at the same time. I thought the bumps were from his crash initially...it was Shayne who truly thought they looked more like teeth than bruises on his gums...I guess an ER nurse would know things like that. For having that many teeth coming it, he's been a very good baby.
~His his top left eye tooth broke through on August 20th...ya, not his main front tooth, but the one next to it.
~He decided to climb all the way up the stairs on August 29th...hadn't really tried it much before this, and then all of the sudden was half-way up the stairs hanging out at the window.
~His favorite toys are his stacking cups, which is the first thing he grabs every morning to play with and hauls them all over the house. He also loves balls of all sorts. Loves to carry them, throw them, roll them, and especially watch you catch them. He's mildly entertained by noisy sorts of toys, but usually wants to be in a cupboard pulling out way more interesting stuff.
~He loves his books, and loves to be read to...will sit forever if you're reading a book he likes, and he definitely has his favorites.
~He loves grapes cut in half, carrot chunks, mango chunks, cheese sticks, banana's, cheese crackers, animal crackers, whole wheat bread, among the other foods he gets fed, and still loves, loves, loves his cottage cheese and yogurt!!
~Has figured out how to drink from a straw...and not just a straw but a CamelBak mouthpiece/straw. Yep...he quickly got his own CamelBak b/c mom didn't like what he was leaving in her water bottle. :)
~Still loves his binky, but only gets it in the car seat, and when he goes down for naps or bed time.
~Takes two naps a day, which mom loves!
~Sleeps about 10-11 hours a night...which mom and dad love even more!!
~Says "Mamamamama" and "Dadadada", but doesn't really associate them with us yet. He also says "Wassup?" Too cute.
~Is a very smiley and giggly boy.

We are so enjoying every moment with Lachlan. He amazes us every day with how much he learns and is aware of his environment. Even his messes aren't so bad, b/c we know he's just exploring his world. It's so much fun for Shayne & I to just watch him experience it all. His smiles and giggles are the best things ever!! We so love this little boy!!

p.s. Do you know how hard it is to take a pic with an inanimate object when you have a very animate object walking away from the inanimate object you are trying to both get in the picture? Not so easy...as the pictures show.