Camping at The Russian River

Jeff's first Alaskan Rainbow on the fly...or bead (if you want to be technical) :)

So, The Williams' family invited us to go camping overnight with them to the Russian River. Seeing how that's one of Shayne's favorite rivers we couldn't pass them up. :)

We had most of the campground to ourselves, b/c the Red Salmon run was done, and the Sliver run hadn't started yet. So, the kids could ride their bikes around, the dogs could run around, it was nice. We used our truck tent to sleep in, and that was a whole lot of fun. NOT!!

The Bug doesn't sleep under blankets normally, so me trying to bundle him up under a bunch of blankets didn't go over well. Neither Shayne nor I got much sleep that night. We now have a serious goal of getting a pop up camper trailer next spring...so we can have some heat and not have to worry about our kid freezing to death. :)

Annie and I took the kids down to the river for a bit. But, we mostly just hung out at our campsite and ate food. It was nice to not do much of anything but talk and watch kids and dogs run around. And...b/c there weren't a lot of salmon in the river, we didn't have to worry nearly as much about bears, which is almost always a concern at the Russian.

The Bug became fascinated with one of the kids' bike helmet...is it sad is fits his big head? He also had fun running around with George, Charlie, and John.

Shayne didn't really do much fishing, but he was able to participate in one of his older passions. Shayne and Jeff went on a mountain bike ride up to the Russian Lakes...which about killed Shayne. It was a tough ride, no real up and then down. Just a lot of up and down and then up again...and it was like this both ways. They did fish the river for a bit on the way back down. Jeff had never fly fished before, so this was a new experience for him. Shayne loves to show people how to fly fish and how to catch the fish. So, while Shayne only fished for just a bit, he was plenty happy when Jeff caught a nice Rainbow on Shayne's rod and reel.

So...the first pics are ones I took while at camp, and the last pics are ones Shayne took on their ride.

We had so much fun, and hope to make this a tradition.

We love the Russian River!!

Picking Blueberries

This was a sow track...we saw a smaller cub track with her. This track isn't nearly as big as some we've seen...but it was still cool to take a pic of it.

See the red colored salmon in the water? The Bug had a blast throwing rocks into the creek.

Actually, I've learned we are probably picking Huckleberries. Because they are up higher and they are are knee/waist high bushes instead of ground cover, they are huckleberries. But, they look like blueberries to me, and that's what everyone else calls them.

Anyway, there's a place near Seward we learned about from one of Shayne's co-workers that has awesome blueberry picking. We went last year, and were able to get about 2 gallons of blueberries, which has been able to last us a full year.

After finally getting some sunshine, I'm excited to get out, so I wanted to pick blueberries. It was a BEAUTIFUL day to pick too. It was just Shayne, The Bug, and I. This year was a little harder to get as many blueberries, not b/c there weren't any, b/c there were a TON, but b/c The Bug wasn't as content to hang out in the back pack. He wanted out to walk around whenever we would stop to pick. So, we only got about a gallon, but that's better than nothing. We finally just decided to head back down the mountain with The Bug walking for most of it. The view from this mountain is gorgeous...but so are most of the views in Alaska. :)

We only had to worry about the bears. They are just as excited as us to get out and get the blueberries. Thankfully, we never saw any bears, but did see some good tracks.

After picking blueberries, we decided to stop at Quartz Creek again to eat lunch and see how the fishing was going. The lunch was great...mostly b/c we could eat outside next to the creek in the SUNSHINE!! It was pretty cool b/c The Bug could see the red colored salmon in the water, and there was even one (nearly dead) next to the bank he could poke with a stick and throw rocks at. :) We never did fish, I think we saw more people fishing this spot than I've ever seen before. Which kinda sucks that more people are fishing this creek. This particular spot is where I actually learned to site cast to Dolly Varden, but we like the fishing up higher. Hopefully the upper portion of the creek won't be fished as hard as this lower part. Hopefully.

Anyway...this was a very good day. It was good for my mental stability to finally see some sun...and it was good for our poor little boy to be able to go outside in a short sleeved shirt to play.

Hmmm...yeah for sunny days in Alaska.

Progression of Brownie Batter

He started out all nice and clean, chillin' in one of dad's hats. That all soon changed. :)

Ever wonder about the progression of brownie batter on the body of a near 2 year old licking the beater?

No?

Well, no matter...here's a picture documentary of the process. :)

Enjoy...though I'm sure it's impossible to enjoy the pictures as much as this little Bug was enjoying the chocolate batter on that beater. :)

Yum!!

Ugh...

When you've had at least 31 consecutive days of rain (I talked to a guy/farmer today who said it was actually 33), you don't do much.

You don't go outside much.

You don't see the sun much.

You don't blog much.

You know when the last time South-Central Alaska had 31 (or 33) consecutive days of rain?

NEVER!!

The last record was 27 consecutive days in 1951.

We are now officially the 7th coldest summer on record.

2008 was the 2nd coldest summer on record.

Two out of our last three years are in the Top Ten for coldest summer's in Alaska.

And...we've had 31 (or 33) consecutive days of rain.

I AM SO READY TO MOVE!!

You don't do much with 31 (or 33) consecutive days of rain.

Did I mention we've had 31 (or 33) consecutive days of rain?

FYI...We did NOT have any rain today!! We had a FULL day of sun! The first time in 31 (or 33) days!!! Hallelujah!!! Maybe now I'll start blogging. :)

Quartz Creek

I love this pic. I think I might just have to frame it. What a look of sheer joy. LOVE it.

We have a much better pic of this fish, but I forgot to upload it while creating this post, and I didn't feel like going back to find it and up load it...sorry. :)

Pretty much every year since living in Soldotna, Shayne & I fish Quartz Creek after the mad rush of July is over. It's probably one of my favorite places to fish in Alaska. There aren't as many people on this river, which is the best part. But, it's also where I learned how to site cast to Dolly Varden who have followed different salmon up the creek. I've always done really well here, and Shayne has caught some really nice fish here as well. Anyway, last year we had someone watch The Bug for us when we went, and it was an epic day...for me. :) So, I love it when it gets to be August and we can fish Quartz.

Well, this year with like a record of consecutive days of measurable rain it's been hard to find a day to go. However, I needed to go (for my own sanity) so we just decided to go, regardless of the rain. We have all the gear to deal with the rain, so why not? In fact, we had just gotten the coolest rain suit for The Bug and needed a good excuse to use it...and his super cool X-tra Tuffs. :)

The Bug LOVED the puddles. He thought it was awesome he could jump in the puddles and mom didn't stop him. I just loved the huge smiles on his face. He did so well hanging out in the backpack...just checking it all out. He loves to fish with dad like this. In fact, he was so content, he ended up falling asleep. And...the rain gear worked GREAT!!!

The rain did let up for a bit, and it ended up turning into an ok day. I was the only one who caught a fish. There weren't a lot of salmon yet up this high in the creek, so there weren't as many Dolly Varden. But...it was all good. I caught a fish, and Shayne's ok with that. He always says, if she is catching fish and having a good time, then that means we'll get to come back another day.

So, we'll definitely be back for another day.

Dad's Chocolate Cereal...and other randomness

So, when mom happens to be gone or gets to sleep in and dad gets The Bug up for breakfast, guess what he gets for breakfast? Ya, chocolate puffs cereal. And as you can imagine he LOVES them!! Now all he asks for for breakfast is chocolate cereal. Lovely. :)

He also loves blueberries, which I like to add to his cream o' wheat or yogurt in the mornings (notice, I don't feed him coco puffs). But while he's waiting for the mush to cook, he likes to eat his blueberries right out of a cup. The blue mouth and fingers crack me up.

The last pic is what he does with a good book while riding in the car. He was pretty mesmerized by this book for about 30 minutes, which is like an eternity with nearly 2 year old. We weren't complaining...just cracked us up.

Meet The Pilot - June 25th

So we flew out for our Idaho vacation late June 24th...or early June 25th. Depends on how you look at it.

Anyway...we let The Bug walk the concourse to the airplane, seeing how he was going to be sitting in one spot for awhile. When he got to the plane, he walked on, looked at the flight attendant standing there, looked right down the long aisle of the plane, looked left into the cockpit, and decided he liked the cockpit option better. Who wouldn't?! It was full of lights and fun things to push and play with!

So...he turned left and walked into the cockpit before Shayne could stop him. The pilot was there and thought The Bug was pretty dang cute in his dinosaur pj's, started talking to him, and invited Shayne and The Bug to sit down in the co-pilot's seat, so the The Bug could get a good look at all the lights. Who gets to go into the cockpit anymore with all the security since 9/11? So I thought this was way cool.

I, of course, stopped all traffic boarding the flight, to bust out the camera and take a pic. I gave the camera to the pilot and he took the pics. He was such a cool pilot. He was having fun talking to The Bug and watching his reaction to all the stuff.

I posted both pics, b/c I thought the one with him looking at all the lights was funny. He looks totally in awe. Wouldn't you?!

Anyway...before I jump into the GAZILLION pics I have of our va-cay to Idaho...I thought I would post these fun pics on the plane meeting the pilot.