Ayakulik River Day 1 & 2

In August our family had the incredible opportunity to go to the Ayakulik River Lodge which is on the other side of Kodiak Island.  My sister Michele's father in law Vic, had some connections to the people who run the lodge and really want to take us and Michele's family there before we move back to the CA.  He said it was probably the most beautiful place he'd ever been and I think he might be right :)  The only way to get there is by helicopter or by a small plane with tundra tires on them, which we took.  The little fixed winged plane landed on the beach next to our little piece of paradise for the next few days.  The picture above shows the back side of one lodge, in the distance to the right is a fish and game cabin, and to the left is another lodge.  The Ayakulik River runs right into the ocean just to the right of the picture.

The fishing was amazing.  I was fly fishing and flossing red salmon... and I don't fish well.

Michele and Vance took their three oldest kids and we took Lane and Estelle.  The little ones stayed back which I was very thankful for!  Estelle and Hazel did lots of creative things.  Picking wildflowers and arranging them in a Miller High Life can was one of those things!  The staff at the lodge was so great!  One of the guys Dennis, made the beer can vase for them, as well as helped them pick the flowers. :)

There was a family of bears that came around atleast once or twice a day.  A mama and her two (2nd year) cubs.  Right after we flew in they came down the river right in front of the lodge.  We were so excited!  They are not real aggressive bears and they are used to the people there and mostly that those people do not try to hurt them.  One day Michele and I were walking down the trail to the other lodge and we spotted them walking toward us on the same trail.  We slowly turned around and walked back up the way we came, just to give them their space.  And then we quickly got our cameras to snap some pictures!

The 2nd day they started fishing by the wier (the wooden structure in the background, used to count fish).  It is amazing to watch them fish and run and play with each other!

Lane caught a nice red!  We have salmon coming out our ears!

I think Reese liked that I was fishing with him and actually having fun!

These girls... they had a lot of fun together, and Hazel was quite patient with Estelle's shall we say "moments..."

Where the river runs into the ocean, just as the sun went down.  Pictures do not do this place justice!

One of the cubs playing with a buoy.  It was so cute, reminded me of a puppy playing with a chew toy.  Only much bigger...

Got some good, up close shots.  They are amazing and full of personality!

Mama got a fish.

Our haul one of the days and our fun group!  Vic was such a great sport to hang out with all those crazy kids!

Willem got to be a pro at netting those fish!

Lane loved hanging out with his cousins and doing lots of fishing!

This place was amazing! All the food was provided and prepared for us.  3 meals a day and yummy snacks.  The food was so incredibly good too, and best of all, Michele and I were pretty happy that we didn't have to prepare it!

Bear Viewing Trip

We had an amazing opportunity to go bear viewing in August.  We have lived here for almost 3 years and I had only seen one bear and the kids hadn't seen any.  We left Ingrid with a babysitter and we headed out to the Katmai Peninsula on a float plane.  The flight was beautiful.  We were flying over a beach and I looked down and there were two bears running along the beach.   I was a little nervous that when Estelle saw bears that she would get scared, but she really didn't seem to care.

 The first bears we saw were the two behind us in the picture below.  The one bear next to the seagull was the laziest little fisher.  He just hung out on the shore and watched the fish swim, his head moving back and forth, back and forth.  Every once in a while he'd take a swipe at one.  The other bear was running all over the river catching fish.

 They were so close at times.  These bears are quite used to human just standing there taking pictures of them so they could care less that we were there.  Of course we respected their space, but if they came nearer to us we just kind of hung back and let them do their thing.

 This mom and her first year cub were my favorite!!  Look at that little one standing!! It was the cutest thing.

 This guy was quite the fisherman!

 We saw a total of like 12 or 13 bears the 2 hours we were out there.  It was amazing, I really don't have the words to describe it.

 It started raining quite hard toward the end.  Estelle doesn't really like to be wet or cold.  But we all had a great time.  It is certainly something I will remember for the rest of my life and hope the kids will too!

Our Annual Summer Trip to WA: 2015 Edition

I took the kids by myself to Washington this summer.  The flying was tiring, but it went smoothly.  Ingrid for the most part was good, busy, but atleast she didn't scream.  Our time there was packed full of events.  One of Reese's cousins got married in Seattle, my Grandma's 80th birthday party, and we headed over to Moses Lake for 3 nights too.

Girls picking blackberries at Grandpa Jim's

Before we went to the wedding we met Kelly and family at Chuck E. Cheese.  Good times!  Those two boys have been friends since preschool and I'm so thankful that I got a great friend in his mama out of that deal!  Kelly loves my girls and my girls love her too!

 Ingrid is the selfie queen, we totally practice at home.

 Later on that day we headed to the wedding.  I am so happy that my kids have so many cousins on both sides!  Grandma and Grandma (aka Mop and Poopa, aka Papa and Mimi) loved having those kid there I'm sure!

 Abby, Estelle, and Raylan

 My Grandma's 80th birthday!  She is amazing!  What a wonderful example she has been to us all.  So thankful for her!

 Those boys... 12, 11 and 10 what in the world?  And where did that 9 year old Will run off to?  They have so much fun together!

 I got a good one of these two!

 Daniel, Lane, Merit and Will (there he is)!  Kelly's family also met us in Moses Lake!  Hanging out at the arcade and in Vance and Michele's yard was a fun time!

 The water park the next day!

 The cousins!!  Kinda hard to get all 10 of them to cooperate.  But a great picture none the less!

 My three munchkins!

 During our down time, which wasn't much, we enjoyed hanging out in Grandpa's yard.  After Ingrid would go to bed we would sometimes take an evening golf cart ride around the 40 acres I grew up on.  Good times.

One of the last days we met Mop and Amanda and kids out at Beachwood to swim.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of Ingrid in the water.  She loves it!  I also wish I would've taken more picture of my girlfriends and their kids!!!  Anya, Lindsey, Kyrsten and Joelle.... we didn't take any "usies"!!!!  What in the world were we thinking!  I think every year this trip gets a little harder to accomplish, especially when Reese doesn't come.  But the memories we make are worth it!  Someday we will look back and think we were crazy for taking a million kids to an arcade or waterpark, etc.  But it was some good times anyway!

Ingrid's 1st Birthday!

 Ingrid turned one a while back.  But since August was probably one of the busiest craziest months on record, I am just now posting some pictures!  We had a little party for her and a boy who was turning 5 with a couple other families here.  It was fun, Ingrid seemed to like the attention, presents, and cake.

 We decorated cupcakes,

 Hung out with our friends,

And opened presents.  We had a pinata too but Ingrid didn't feel like doing that, she didn't want to be too much of a show off with her mad pinata beating skills.

 Estelle always enjoys decorating for a party and just parties in general.

 Ingrid's first birthday cake!  And we had to do it up right "Natasha style" with some cupcake sugar cookies!  Happy Birthday Ingrid!  You are pretty much the sweetest baby girl I know!