North

My little nephew, North, got two new puzzles. He will do them several times a day. He would pour both of them out on the table and keep them separate, do one of them, and then the other. They are made my the same company, so the pieces are interchangeable. He was away from the puzzles for a little while, so we mixed them up. When he came back, he was quite distraught.

North trying to figure out the what is wrong.

Examining the puzzles - a little confused.

Telling us his puzzles were not supposed to be like this.

After this incident, we did help him put them back the right way.

The Huckster!

Huck's truck with his license plate.

Huck and Elmer.

We Got Shrimp, Too!

After the crabs, we went out to pull the shrimp pots, that we left out way too long. They were dropped on Friday, and you should only leave them out for a day or two. It was pretty windy, so the boat was parked until halibut fishing on Monday, and halibut fishing was the other direction from the shrimp pots. Huck took the boat out with my parents, Joslyn, Joy, and me.

Dad and Joslyn on the ride out.

Some random thing on the boat.

Huck pulling the pots.

One of our finds.

Prepping the shrimp - grab the body right by the head, and then pull and twist.

Huck, Joy, and me de-heading the shrimp. Huck was much faster than we were. He was doing two or three for every on Joy and I were doing (collectively).

The sun out on the water.

Another beautiful sunset.

We Got Crabs

...or at least Mike and Cody did. They went out halibut fishing and pulled up the crab pots that were left from a couple of days earlier.

They brought home a bucket full of crabs, and Cody set up the stove outside to cook them.

He set up the pot, and we boiled them in salt water.

After they were done, there was a party in the garage eating crabs.

Then the next day we had to crack open the rest of the crabs and pull out the meat so that we could save it.

They also brought home some halibut, so my sister Heather made a superb halibut lasagna. In the Alaska book we read, it said that there were restarants that served sourdough bread that used starters from the early 1900's, and Brett was very excited about that. So, while we were at the grocery store, we found some sourdough, and I had Amber write "made with a starter from the early 1900's." He appreciated that, but asked if I had someone write it on the package.

Up, Up, & Away

Monday afternoon we took a flight seeing trip to the Misty Fjords. It was a bit pricey for each ticket, and we were not planning to take the children with us. The boys came down to the dock with us to see the plane, and while we were standing there the lady asked Caleb why he wasn't going. I told her it was because of the cost. She told him that he could go for free. He was elated, and Eli was standing behind the lady. His little face just sunk. We couldn't pass up the opportunity for Caleb to go for free, but we couldn't leave Eli. We also couldn't ask for another child to go for free. I asked her (it was her private, family owned business) if we paid for one extra if we could take both boys. She said we could. So, she took the deal. Eli didn't hear the deal, so he was still a little down. Finally, Joy told him what was said, and he got very excited.

Brett got the co-pilot seat.

Eli and Caleb in the back seat. Eli loved the microphone, and he asked a bunch of questions.

A picture from the plane.

The rock mountains are about 2000 feet high.

This is a beautiful waterfall. These two sites were the most spectacular.

Some mountain goats.

This is the group of us that went on the trip.

We landed on a lake and were able to get out and stretch our legs. It was such a beautiful place. The sites were incredible. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Fishing for the Halibut & Walk-Up Window Service

On Monday morning Brett was unable to go out fishing for the halibut with Huck and Mike because he had a business call he had to make.

After his meeting Brett decided to make an omelet for breakfast. He asked me to be his sous-chef. I didn't realize that meant I would be making the omelets. I ended up making them for Brett and my sisters. Then the children came in and saw that we were having omelets, and they wanted them. We sent them back outside and told them to come to our walk-up window service, to order, and then to stay outside until their food was finished.

Placing their orders.

What kind of juice did you want with that?

When we were ready to start serving them we had Eli say the prayer. He was thankful that we could have breakfast in such a fun way.

My niece S ordered just orange juice, and my other niece April ordered cherries with her meal, without anyone prompting her), and we forgot to put them on her plate. Then, when she got her plate, she asked for her cherries, so we quickly took them to her.

I was able to make omelets for all of the children, and they will hopefully remember they got to order their own omelets with what they wanted on them.

A Hiking we Will Go

We went on a Sunday evening hike. We had to start by walking up this flight of stairs.

It was an amazing trail. It was made so that there are stones that make steps up and down, It so fun to hike it.

We got to look down on the waterfront.

My father decided to stay down, so he walked down the sidewalk a little bit.

This is Mike the Pensive.

Some interesting stumps.

Another beautiful sunset.

Thanksgiving

On Sunday, after all of our family pictures, we had a Thanksgiving Dinner. We didn't take any pictures of it because no one thought of it. We all pitched in to make a fabulous meal. We did keep it kind of simple, though. Here is our menu..

turkey

stuffing

mashed potatoes

sweet potatoes

corn

rolls

gravy

I may be forgetting something. It was a great dinner, and even better time being together.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

The beloved family pictures. We grabbed someone to snap a few pictures of us after church. This is the whole group. All but 4 of us are staying in one house. It is quite the adventure.

The whole family

My little clan.

My sister Heather's family.

My sister Amber's family.

My parents.

Sunset on the Beach

We went to a beach to have dinner and let the children run around. They were excited to be in the water. We only let them go in up to their knees, and of course that ends up being higher than the knees. Then we said only up to their ankles, and that seemed to work pretty well. The children were jumping over the waves as they came in. Also, the children were collecting shells and treasures on the shore.

We lit a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. We threw rocks into the water. We skipped stones. We had a great time being together. I spent the first little while with my youngest nephew picking up rocks and letting him throw them into the water. He loved it.

It was an excellent evening to be out on the water. The temperature was beautiful. It was a picture perfect evening, and the sunset added a perfect end to our evening.

Caleb wanted some pictures of the sunset so that he could paint them. We truly enjoyed being together.