The 4th of July weekend Derek took Kael on an adventure deep sea fishing. They stayed the night in Whittier and left early in the morning for an all day excursion.
Halibut, Lingcod, and Rockfish!
The deck hand made Kael feel good catching his first halibut and the smeared blood on his face.
Definitely a manly thing.
The Charter Group they went with.
The boys had so much fun. It will definitely be an adventure to do again and again.
Halibut Tacos! Derek's newest creation of deliciousness.
Derek got hammocks for the kids and we are enjoying spending time in our backyard during these beautiful summer months.
Silly Titan pug.
Our first primary activity since covid. We had a water activity and games to help memorize articles of faith. It was so fun to have a big activity with lots of the kids.
The kids were naughty and thought it would be fun to make bubbles in the hot tub, and put in dish soap..............
Walking in to swim lessons one morning we caught site of a friendly moose near us. It is becoming a regular experience for us.
Derek had a mass casualty training exercise at work one day and got to dress up as a victim.
Pretty Alaskan flowers
Eden caught a dragonfly.
I accidently hit Eden in the eye with a frisbee. I felt so bad I let her get a beta fish.
The kids are getting good at catching big dragonflies.
Derek's office had a work party we all were able to attend.
The next fun adventure was to Hope, Alaska to fish for pink salmon with our friends the Keller's.
In Eagle River every July they have a festival called the Bear Paw festival. The city has a parade and carnival rides and games. It was fun to go to the parade with our new friends the Janjua's.
Poor Connor got into Devil's Club while we were at Hope and got huge welts and blisters all over his arms and legs. We turned most of the salmon into dog food for the dogs mixed with quinoa and broccoli.
We got so much pink salmon.
Fishing the Eklutna River. We really had no idea what we were doing, but we sure love being out in nature trying to catch some fish.
Connor playing with something he shouldn't be. Probably meal worms or something.
Pyra's Peak Farm is a pick your own veggies farm in Palmer, AK. It was so beautiful and fun to pick some veggies.
Our next big Alaskan adventure was Dip Net Fishing! We were so happy we made the one year mark to become residents of Alaska to get to do this experience. Our good friend and neighbor Vicki Otte took a big group to learn how to dip net. The Arner family was with us as well and fun was had by everyone.
We only lost Connor once. He would take off to bonk everyone's fish they brought in. Everyone thought it was cute and let him bonk their fish.
Everyone had the opportunity to catch a fish in a big 5 foot net.
The hardest part was cleaning up and trying to get the fish ready to get processed.
It was a long and exhausting day full of adventure and fun. We didn't get home until around 2 am. We know we will forever be in love with dip netting and are hooked. So much fun fishing on a beach.
Eden's new Beta Fish she named Eithan from the Cradle Book series.
Kael bought himself a 3D printer with his hard earned money from lawn mowing and has made many new fun creations. He wanted to make decorations for his upcoming birthday cake as well and created the cubes from a game called Beat Saber with some light sabers. It was so well done.
Bart and Sandy Quimby invited our family to their home for a family home evening. It was so nice having such good friends.
Summer is exhausting. We play so hard for really long days in Alaska.
Getting rid of the girls old bedroom furniture. I wanted to remember the original layout of their room. They outgrew it very quickly.
The girls room was so crowded with their twin beds, we decided to find some bunk beds for the girls and new chest of drawers. I found a few projects on local sites and went to work because they needed a lot of love and work to look nice.
BEFORE pictures
Kael celebrated his birthday a little earlier by a week as we had plans during his birthday. He invited Joseph Arner, Will Curtis, and Rinaldo Janjua for his party.
The boys "hung out" and played video games.
I can't believe I have a teenager in the house.
Dear Kael,
13! My how the time has flown so quickly. You worked so hard during the summer earning money and mowing lawns and picking up people's dog poop. You have grown into a remarkable young man. You are adventurous and love the outdoors and fishing especially. You always try to do the right thing and you always do your best in all that you do. You're going into 8th grade and are ready to take on whatever comes your way. You are improving your swim times and love being on the swim team. You are so capable and Mom and Dad are so proud of you and all that you do. We love you so much!
Love,
Mom and Dad
The weather is so beautiful in July. We decided to take the dogs for a car ride and go for a little adventure. I don't know who had more fun the dogs or the kids.
What a fun way to end the month of July.
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