Glorious!

Sarah’s Thoughts:  The weather has been incredible this week. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s every day and nothing but sun sun sun! This was one of those freak weekends that comes along once every 6,000 years... The weather was gorgeous, I had 4 days off in a row, we had no other commitments and Luke didn’t have a single fishing trip booked, so realizing we needed to take advantage of this rare opportunity, I forced Luke into camping. We love the camping experience, (minus the mosquitos and minimal sleep) but its the suffocating amount of stuff required that almost makes a person opt for a ho-hum weekend at home... However, we powered through the food preparation, extra clothing packing and gear-organizing and made our way over to Shelter Island. It was Owen’s first tent-camping experience, although we took our wall tent and brought Owen’s porta-crib so I'm not sure that counts... We ate junk food, collected rocks, waded in the ocean and walked barefoot on the beach. It was everything that summer in Alaska is all about.

Low- Owen’s red and swollen face due to the impressive number of mosquito bites he received. Please don’t call child protection services! We really are good parents!

High- Glorious sun and time off work with the fam

Luke Update: Luke still has the bug for going after salmon. He did some Dolly Varden fishing on our camp-out and then took us fishing for Kings today after church. We have yet to catch a King Salmon but Luke has plans of filling up our freezer and I’m totally in support. In addition to the salmon, he plans to add a mountain of moose meat. He is heading up to western Alaska to guide moose hunters this September. Since the hunters are mainly in it for the trophy, the guides usually get to take home as much meat as they can transport. We figure that even with extra luggage fees, we’ll end up on top. Add a little deer and we’ll be sitting pretty! My Luke is such a provider for his family AND he can back a boat into the driveway like nobodies business! That’s a real man!

Owen Update: This week has been all about getting wet in the sunshine. I came home from work one day to find Owen running through the neighbor’s sprinkler. He was ordering the sprinkler around with a outstretched palm and a firm “Stot!” (stop) and then squealing with delight as it showered him! We went to a picnic at Sandy Beach one afternoon and introduced Owen to wading in the ocean. He’s never been shy of cold water and he was wading up above his belly-button. He loved it although we did decide that he needs a life jacket for future wading expeditions. He also got to do some wading on our camp out. His little feeties took a beating because it was more of a rocky beach, but he didn’t seem to mind. He’s saying more words then I can keep up with. I remember one night last month laying in bed and thinking that I could probably make a list of all the words that Owen knew, but that’s no longer the case. He’ll be two years old next month and will probably talking in sentences by then!  

Wading in nothing but a diaper and lifejacket!  

Kids today have no shame!

Luke's boat 

Sink bath

The moment Owen discovers that wading is SO much fun

Next year's Christmas card-

Check out our sweet digs!

Land Ahoy!