big boy

Sarah’s Thoughts: We have been blessed with incredible weather this summer so as a result, my house remains a disaster area and every day, Owen has new bug bites. This summer, I’ve watched my baby grow into a little boy. He’s so much more independent, sometimes preferring the company of other people over me, which has been a little bit heartbreaking. Though summer’s not over, I’m realizing that August is right around the corner and soon fall will be upon us again. I think for the first time this year, I’m O.K. with that. Summer is such a busy time of sporatic fishing trips and all-day beach adventures, there’s no routine outside of work. We know its the one chance we have to see the sun and we better take advantage! By the time the last cruise ship leaves port and the leaves begin to fall off the trees, we’re ready to pull on the pajama pants, start a fire in the wood stove and dive into the inside projects that have been neglected all summer. I'm not quite ready for the wood stove, but I wouldn't mind trying on those pajama pants...

Low- Saturday morning- Tired, mosquitos swarming, and pounding headache while trying to wrangle a whiney 2 year-old and schlep our mounds of camping gear down a steep bank and across the rocks and seaweed to the boat.

High- Berries! We have strawberries growing on the side of the house, blueberries in the back yard and found nagoon berries on our camp-out!

Luke Update: Its official. Luke’s super secret go-to spot X is swelling with pink salmon so the nail-biting weather days are over. Thank goodness! However, Luke better not catch any of you crowding in on his humpy bounty when he’s pulling up to shore with a boat full of eager beavers or heads will be rolling! Since we’ve been home, Luke has had trips for the past 20 days in a row, with only 3 days off. Needless to say, this weekend, when we both found ourselves with time off, it was a welcome and much needed break! We headed out camping on Friday night and attempted a little halibut fishing, but with no luck. We did get to see a family of marmots, lots of eagles, sea lions, a doe and fawn and a group of on-duty coast guard members chasing chum salmon in the stream where they were trying to spawn. Ah, nature!

Owen Update: Like his mama, Owen has been loving berry season. He tends to get quite frantic, demanding “mon pick, mama” (translation, “pick more berries and feed them to me immediately, mama”). His hands down favorite is the strawberries and while my little crop is doing quite well, its definitely not enough to satisfy his lion-sized hunger. I had visions of storing up a healthy harvest of strawberries, but I can already tell that’s not going to happen. I’m continually amazed at the rate with which his vocabulary and memory is increasing. He knows that when we go to “chuch” he gets to play on the “wee” (slide) and see his beloved “Abby” and “Uke” (Luke). Gone are the days that I can momentarily distract him and cause him to forget about whatever fixation had him on the verge of a meltdown. He’s running and jumping and becoming more and more an independent little boy.

swimming in the water-filled rubber raft on the lawn.

Who needs a fancy kiddy pool?

Owen discovers that he loves ice cream

(it was suppose to be mine!)

strawberries in our yard

nagoon berries

posing at the glacier

high and dry at low tide

rubbermaid totes work for swimming pools too!

who knew?

ready for school with his dino lunch box

first fishing pole

fire

vacation report

Sarah’s Thoughts: Its been 3 weeks since my last post and I have a lot to report! I had two weeks off of work, so Owen and I kicked off the vacation with a surprise 9 day visit to Washington to see my parents. My sister and her kids were already there visiting from Minnesota and so my dad got to spend Father’s Day with 2 out of 3 kids and all of his grandchildren. We did lots of swimming, playing and Owen got use to always having someone at his beck and call. When we flew home, we brought my sister’s oldest, Bailey, to Juneau with us. He’s visiting for 2 weeks and headed out to Echo Ranch Bible Camp tomorrow. Needless to say, we’ve been showing Bailey all the Juneau sites and he’s rolling right into the rhythm of life in Alaska. We’re thinking about keeping him and signing him up for football this fall... Yesterday, we celebrated the birthdays of Owen and the USA, starting off with fireworks and ending with a beach BBQ picnic. Its been a busy 3 weeks and I’ve got the pictures to prove it!

Low- The never-ending guilt-laden list of things to do (laundry, clean house, blog, fix food, clean house, clean house...)

High- Beautiful sunshine, incredible family and friends, time off work, and a precious 2 year old boy

Luke Update: While I’ve been enjoying vacation, Luke’s schedule has been the exact opposite. If he hadn’t taken Owen’s birthday off, he would’ve worked nearly 2 weeks straight. Thank goodness the fishing has been hot! The 2009 season is nearly home free as, I’m happy to announce, the pink salmon have returned to most of the streams making the ever-iffy weather less of an issue. Despite his busy schedule, Luke did get to do a little personal fishing, scoring a nice king for our freezer and has plans of a sockeye slaughter later on this month. Until then, you’ll find him net in hand, giving personal tours of humpy heaven... living the dream. ;)

Owen Update: It seems like whenever I get time off work, I am way more in-tune with Owen’s latest skills. Since my last post, he has graduated to 2 and 3 word phrases and has developed a deep love for dinosaurs. We had a pre-birthday dino-themed party for Owen in Washington with dino party hats, balloons, games, presents and even a cake. It was such a hit, I copied some of the same ideas for his birthday beach BBQ yesterday and he loved it just as much the second time around. This birthday was the first time he’s been excited and focused on presents, although the mere suggestion that it might be easier to open the next present if he let go of the previous one sparked an instant loud and tearful protest. Luckily his shorts had lots of pockets.

INTERMISSION- Take a potty break, get a snack, and get ready for 30 pictures... ready?

Owen and Yia Yia's rocks

Yia Yia loving

bowling for Father's Day

Owen's cousins worked and worked for

hours digging a "hot tub"at the lake.

This is the results of their efforts moments before

Owen destroyed the whole thing.

doing the doggy paddle

"Make a crazy face" I said

So happy at the toy store...

taken just prior to throwing a colossal tantrum

when I took the stroller full of rubber snakes away.

sisters

sisters

windy group picture

shredding it up at the skate park

parker

decorating the skate park with Auntie Erin

(or "Mama" as Owen likes to call her)

my dad, the mowing machine

too many kisses!

checking the mail with Grandpa Roger

blonde-haired, blue-eyed boys

Owen and his Parker (and a dandelion)

feeties

Auntie Erin's sweet dino birthday party hats

circle of cousins

goodnight kisses for Emma

Juneau skies just before dark

lunch on the beach

Ebner Falls on Perseverance Trail

Walking Dolly with Bailey

(Owen is SO excited to have Dolly on a leash)

Bailey and the Mighty Mendenhall Glacier

Pre-fireworks explosions

the excavation site

(digging for dinos)

One happy two year old

showing off the birthday loot

Cuddling with his dinos at the end of a long birthday

Reprieve of the clouds

Sarah’s Thoughts: To us poor Southeast Alaskans, sunshine for 2 weeks in a row is like a giant shoe sale to a shop-aholic with a shoe addiction. The practical side says, “Eveyone needs shoes and I’d be crazy to pass up such a great deal,” but then after buying 50 pairs, its obvious over-indulgence. Sadly, as long as the sale is going on, those shoes keep flying off the shelf. Finally when there are no more shoes to buy and our poor addict returns home, she realizes she haven’t done laundry or dishes for the past 2 weeks and her son is covered in sunburn and bug bites. I have to say, I was a bit relieved to see the clouds roll in and we finally have clean clothes and dishes again. Phew! We have a very busy week ahead of us, which I’m a feeling nervous about. Knowing this, you’d think I’d take advantage of the cloudy weekend to get my life in order, but alas, I spent most of my free time on Facebook and thinking about making a list.

Low- While dog-sitting, 2am Thursday morning, I checked to see if prodigal Chachi found his way home. He was no where to be found.

High- My snuggly boy

Luke Update: Poor Luke has had a disappointing week work-wise. This time of year, his trips are especially weather dependent due to the limited numbers of streams where fish can be found. Too many times, Luke has seen the weather report has call for high seas while the water remains flat calm. Because of this he feels obligated to try to do trips even when the marine forecast is less then optimal. Sadly, this week he’s had 2 trips that he’s had to turn around and cancel due to uncooperative seas. This means finding daycare for Owen, spending at least 3 hours getting there and back, and at the end of the day, feeling like he accomplished nothing. This week he has 5 trips booked so we’ll be praying for calm seas. Early July, marks the massive flood of pink salmon returning to the streams. The pinks relieves the pressure of traveling long distances in search of fish, but they return in such large numbers, they remove the challenge of “pursuit” and turn Luke’s trips into a brainless work.

Owen Update: The flowers in our yard are blooming like crazy and Owen is very very slowly learning which flowers are O.K. to pick (dandelions & buttercups) and which are not O.K. (everything else). Every day it seems like I have a different illicit bouquet of flowers courtesy of my little gardener. He’s also been quite excited about balls lately and has a surprisingly good arm for a nearly 2 year old. An old baseball found its way onto our lawn and Owen wanted me to catch it, however, he wanted to be about 12 inches away when he threw it. Needless to say, I was quite nervous. Whenever I’d try to back up, he’d just come closer. I’d say “stop!” and he’d say “Stot! Stot!” and keep right on coming. It was quite comical and I managed to catch the ball a few times so I guess you could say it was a successful game of “catch”. He was also the recipent of two small soccer balls which he’s insisted on having close while eating/napping/bathing... Maybe that’s just part of being 2?

Mama and her snuggler

Owen and his friend Gabbie

Kissers

Watch out for that fastball!

chasing bubbles...

...thanks to Daddy

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!