Fishing out of Seward...Montague Island

Me attempting to NOT puke by focusing intently on the swaying mountains....ugh.

Sorry...not sure why I didn't have this pic rotated the right way...just tip your head and it should work fine.  :)

Shayne's Dad, Dana, wanted to do some different fishing and try and target some fish other than just halibut. So, he decided to get a charter out of Seward towards Montague Island where we would be targeting halibut, rock fish, and Silver Salmon, with the possibility of Ling Cod.

We dropped off the kids at the Pugh's around 5 in the morning...man, that's early, especially for my kids that like to sleep in until 9.  We made it to Seward by 7:30 but nearly missed our boat, b/c we couldn't find the right dock...they were terrible with directions and nobody on the docks could tell me where exactly the dock was.  But...we made it.  Did I mention that it was also down pouring rain the entire drive, and was raining even worse in Seward?  Ya...not a good sign.

Well, our captain decided to try to get to Montague, but the seas weren't pretty.  What should have taken like maybe 2 hours, took almost 4 b/c of the rough seas.  We never did make it all the way out to Montague, but kept to some shoreline to help ease the massive waves that were out in the open ocean.  Thankfully we were on a catamaran type boat so it was a little more stable than a regular boat..

We fished for halibut first...and that was not fun!  I don't normally get sea sick...but with the waves rocking the boat the way they were it wasn't good.  I spent most of my time staring intently at the mountains in front of me trying to focus on NOT puking...I never did puke...but I was VERY close more than once.  Shayne's dad who pretty much always pukes when we go out on the ocean had a scopalomine patch and never had an issue...I was sure wishing I had one of those for this trip.  Shayne was a little queezy but I don't think he was as sick as I was.  We did catch our limit of halibut...but they were tiny chickens.  Definitely not the biggest fish I've caught...but most of us were so ready to move to a calmer spot to fish for rock fish we kept almost everything we caught.

We then moved to a cove to fish for rock fish, and I felt MUCH better.  Fishing for rock fish was fun.  They were hitting hard and fast and our entire boat quickly caught our limits.  Dana was the first to catch his 4 rock fish so he went inside and bs'd with the captain and ate Twinkies.  :)

We couldn't get to the good ling cod hole, so we started heading back to Seward and on our way stopped and tried to a spot for Silvers.  It didn't go so well.  It think out of the 10-12 people we had on the boat actively fishing we only caught 4-5 Silvers.  It would have worked better if we could have trolled a bit, but there was some dumb guy who couldn't figure out how to fish it right and kept getting his line tangled with everyone else's line...seriously annoying.  At that point our captain was done dealing with sick people, dumb people, and poor weather, so we headed back.  I wasn't complaining too bad b/c it was down pouring rain again and it wasn't a warm rain.

On the way back I don't know why, but while sitting inside the cabin I all the sudden about threw up and frantically raced for the door to stand outside.  I ended up feeling better and went back inside but only lasted about 5 minutes before I had to get back out.  I ended up staying on the deck watching the deckhands fillet out all the fish for the entire trip back.  Thankfully we were going with the wind at our backs so the trip back only took 1 1/2 hours.  I was fine while I was on deck with the fresh air and rain pelting down.  What a nice day.  Bleh.

We did see some whales but it was so cloudy and rainy I couldn't get any pics of them, which was a bummer.  It was fun seeing them though.  That's the nice thing about going out of Seward and Resurrection Bay...you always get to see some great wildlife.

We were all glad to be back on land after a long day on the water.  It was nice to go out and fish somewhere new and catch some different fish, but man...I would much prefer to do it on a sunnier day.

Maybe next year we can do it again and have some better luck!

Swimming Lessons - Part II

Shordy NOT jumping into the pool...but he walked out further by himself than he had in the past.

Shordy still NOT jumping into the pool even with his instructor helping him.

So this was the last day of Shordy's 2nd session of swimming lessons.  He did so well!!  He progressed a lot, much faster than the first session but he still needs maybe one more session at this first level before he's ready to move on, but that's ok...he's not a water-loving kid...but he's getting better.

This last day they are supposed to jump off the diving board to their instructor who's holding a life preserver.  Last session the girl helping them walk to the end, pretty much picked them up and dropped them in.  Not this time, they expected them to actually jump off by themselves, and it didn't work as well.  Shordy would walk out on the board further than he did last time, but as soon as he got to the end he would chicken out and they didn't offer much "encouragement" in jumping off.  So, he never jumped off.  I tried to bribe him with the candy they get afterwards, but it didn't work.  However, he still wanted the candy, but I told him he couldn't have it b/c he didn't jump off...that was a hard lesson for him to learn.  (I think it was harder for me to not give him the candy as he was pretty heart-broken he couldn't have any.)  Papa Pond was able to come and watch and that was fun and hopefully made up for the fact he couldn't have the candy.

Anyway...we are done with swimming lessons for this year, but are looking forward to it next year!!

Playin' in the Kiddie Pool...outside!

We FINALLY had a super warm day...warm enough to fill the pool with water and play outside in it!!  Woo Hoo!!

Shordy, Malia, and Tyler were LOVING it!!!  Tiny was taking a nap so she wasn't able to partake, but the rest of the kids definitely did partake.

Shordy was much more adventurous in trying different ways to go down the slide into the pool, which was very entertaining for those of watching...and taking pics.  :)  Malia got wet once, when she went down the slide on her knees and couldn't get her feet out to catch herself...she did not make that mistake twice.  :)  She never got water above her knees after that.  Tyler played a little more in the water, but Shordy was all about going down the slide, and wasn't afraid to get wet.  It was so funny!

It's also so sad, that it's the middle of July and this is the first time I've felt like we could get out the pool and not suffer from hypothermia as a result.  Why do I live here?  Oh ya...b/c I love my husband and if we didn't live here we wouldn't have our two miracle children...ok...I guess it's ok to live here.  :)

We were actually helping out the Pugh's...we were entertaining Dan's Dad, Pop-Pop, b/c they had a gap of a couple hours where no one would be home to watch him, and he's older with some dementia so needs someone with him pretty much all the time.  Anyway, he came to hang out at our house for a couple hours, and completely entertained me.  We hung outside the whole time b/c it was so nice.  He helped hold the hose and fill the pool for the kids, and then would laugh at them as they played.  He told me some pretty funny stories.

I soooooo hope we have more days like this, b/c I love days when we can spend the whole day outside, play in the water, get a little pink from the sun, and just enjoy our life in Alaska.  But...I'm not holding my breath...it is Alaska.

Lovin' the Reds

Shayne and his dad went out fishing for salmon and caught their limit of Sockeye which they brought home to process.  Of course, our Tiny girl had to get her hands on the salmon.  She has to get her hands on everything.  She was loving them..if you couldn't tell from her HUGE grin!!  She had to hug them, poke their eyes, feel the slime, etc, etc, etc...we did however, stop her from licking them like she had previously.   :)

Shordy and Malia quickly joined in on the fun inspecting their eyes and teeth and then watching dad fillet out the fish.  It was a fun learning experience for everyone!!

Dipnetting...Tiny Style

So it's the week of craziness at our house...yup dipnetting on the Kenai.  This year the Tuia's and another couple friend of theirs came down to stay at our house while dipnetting.  Shayne's been busy with work, and his dad being here (he got here yesterday) so couldn't go dipnetting from the beach with them, but one afternoon I decided to take the kids to the beach where the Tuia's were just to see the madness.

Shordy fell asleep in the car, but Tiny was awake (of course) so I got her out to check stuff out.  After watching some of the people dipnetting in the water she immediately walked over to some of the nets out of the water and started to try and pick them up.  It was pretty funny.  Then she decided to pick up a fish bonker and see how'd she do being the "bonker-girl".  :)  Of course there were fish carcasses everywhere from people processing their fish on the beach, so I had to constantly keep her from poking, squishing, and playing with the carcasses...fun.

She was just loving it all...If she's outside exploring new things she's loving it!

Playin' With Reds

Yes...she's licking the fish...ick!

It's that time of year when the Red's are running thick in the Kenai...and this year is no exception, especially since they shut down the commercial set-netters along the beach because of the really small King run this year.  So, b/c there isn't anyone commercially catching the Reds along the beaches the run in the Kenai is huge!  But, that makes for really good fishing for us!

So...Shayne went fishing after work one day and when he brought them home to fillet and process he wanted to take pics of him and the kids with the fish.  We have the cutest pic of he and Shordy last year with their Reds, so this year Tiny had to join them.  Shordy has no problem grabbing a hold of a fish and holding it...he thinks they are pretty cool.

However...Tiny didn't exactly cooperate with the picture taking.  Not that she was afraid of the fish...exactly the opposite.  She was completely fascinated with them!  She is such a tactile/hands-on sort of kid...she loves to touch and taste everything and the fish were no exception.  So, we gave Shordy his fish and dad was holding his and we tried to get Tiny to stand by dad and face the camera, but all she wanted to do was grab the fish and feel their slimy bodies...and then she had to lick them!  Yes...lick them!  Shayne thought it was hilarious and I have to admit I thought it was pretty funny, but I was a little bit worried about her ingesting some sort of crap in the slime she was licking.  Yuck!!  She would grab them and hug them to herself, b/c she was so excited about them.  She would squeal and laugh and just smile at these fish as she was hugging and touching them.  It was so funny!

Even after Shayne put them down, she kept going back over to them and just rubbing up and down them playing in the slime and then poking their eyes and sticking her fingers in their mouths to feel the teeth.  She was so completely fascinated.  I usually love that she likes to get into things and touch them and figure out how they work...I'm a little bit like that.  I sat with her for awhile and talked about what she was touching and how it felt.  It was a definitely learning experience for her...makes me smile when she does such funny things like this.

So...I'm glad she's good with touching the fish, b/c there are going to be a lot more of them this month!

Devil's Pass Trail...

Ok...not Devil's Pass Trail...but just a funny pic of my Tiny girl not happy with me b/c I wouldn't give her my camera.  :)

So on a Saturday, when we finally had no plans, we decided to try and hike at least part of the Devil's Pass Trail.  It's actually part of a trail that is a big loop...it's the Resurrection Pass Trail and we'd love to be able to hike the whole thing someday.  It would take about 4 days to hike the whole thing, so it's a goal that might not happen for awhile.  :)

Anyway...we started up the trail and had to have Shordy walking on his own, b/c it would be way too hard to push them both in the Chariot up the hill.  Well...Shordy is not a huge fan of hiking...he's definitely not one of those kids that will run circles around you while hiking up the hill.  He's a thinker...definitely not a mover.  So about a mile up the hill he decided he was done hiking.  We tried to talk him into going farther, but you can only take so much whining before you decide to turn around.

So, we took some pics, but he wasn't so cooperative for those either.  But when we stopped at Crescent Creek campground to check out Quartz Creek, he was loving running around with Dad and Tiny...and boy was she loving the freedom to run down that really long road.

So, even though we didn't get very far on our hike, it was very nice to get out and do something outside.  Our 4 day hike completely Resurrection Pass is just gonna have to happen a little later than maybe we had planned.  :)