Six Chicks Fish

So we had our all girl's fishing trip to Seward this weekend and we had a blast! Carri, Shonda, Trina, Jessica (all from THD), Colleen (formerly of THD), and I headed south on Friday morning with positive thoughts, coolers full of beer, Hard Mike's, and tons of food. With the weather being iffy and none of us having fished out of Seward before, we were a little unsure. But the weather was not too bad when we woke up Saturday morning and it was even better out on the water. Our charter, secured from The Fish House in Seward, left at 7 am and it exceeded our expectations. It truly was an "all girl fishing trip" with a woman captain and a boat to ourselves. She took us out a couple of hours and set anchor to start fishing. Before all of us even had our hooks baited and in the water, we were catching fish! In fact, the only time you could take a break was to actually take your line out of the water!. We limited out on Halibut, plus caught our limit of Yellow-Eyed Rockfish, and even caught a bunch of Ling Cod. I caught the first of those, and it was massive! It ended up being 38 lbs!! We probably threw more Halibut back than we ended up with, so it was an awesome experience. We already have plans in the works for next July. Watch out Seward, here comes the Home Depot chicks!!

Back to life, back to reality....

So 3/5 of the family is back from Montana. Tim came home on Saturday, and Kyle & I flew back on Monday. The girls will be home Sunday. Lucky them, they get another week of sunshine while the rest of us get water-logged and pruney from all the rain. We're hoping the weather changes for Pam and Trace and their friends coming up here in a couple of weeks. Rain, rain, go away!!

Oh well, we had a wonderful time. It was perfect weather, low to mid 80's, sitting on the dock, swimming, fishing, tubing, knee-boarding (and yes, even I got on the knee-board this year!). Kyle has been dubbed Bubber the Butcher, of fish that is. He caught a bunch of perch, a silver salmon, and even speared a pike! Huckleberries were just getting ripe, so we all had a little taste of those yummy little berries. I promised Syl I'd trade her Alaska blueberries for some Montana Huckleberries later this month. Maybe it'll stop raining long enough for us to go up and get some next month!!

Anyway, here's a look at some of the 233 photos I took last week. I even have some video of Sara getting her first try at water-skiing with Daddy, but I'll save that for another day. Enjoy!

Just call me Mrs. Fix It...

So one of the things moms are always doing is telling their kids to "Shut the door!" or "Don't slam the door!" and I am NO exception. With all the kids and their friends around all summer, I say it at least 10 times a day. The door into the garage is a fire door to prevent the spread of fire and it has a spring door hinge, but the spring part got broken and lost, so the door won't close itself the way it's designed. And with the front door always open on the summer weather, we have a screen door to keep out the mosquitoes and flies, but the door closer doesn't hold the door back anymore, so I bought a new one and it actually slows down the door so it doesn't slam anymore! So from now on you can just call me Mrs. Fix It. Now let's see...what else needs a little maintenance around here?

And they're off...

The photo's a bit fuzzy, but Thursday night/Friday morning Tim and the girls flew out to Montana. It's sure been a quiet week so far. And the weather is back to being cool and rainy, so it's even more quiet outside. I've only got three more days of work this week, and then I'll be heading down to the warm (I've been hearing it's in the 90's!) weather. I'm not sure I'll be able to adjust to having hot and dry weather, but I'm sure willing to try! I can't wait to get out of jeans and sweatshirts and put on a tank top and some shorts. Hopefully I don't blind everyone with my white, Alaskan legs.

Other than working and doing some stuff around the house while it's empty, I got together with all the girls (Melissa, Kari, Tammy, Kari's sil Kris, Tracy, Denise and her mom, MarthaAnn, and Trish) to scrap and eat lots of wonderful snacks and drinks. Everyone was here for about 5 hours and then Kari and I continued Saturday night and part of Sunday. I actually got a fair amount done for hosting it here.

Monday I went and got a long overdue pedicure on my dry, calloused feet. I actually can stand to go barefoot now. I've got to try and do it a bit more often than once every 6 months!

Tomorrow I have a chiropractor appt with a massage beforehand. I think I'll probably just come home and ice down, take some ibuprofen and sleep about 10 hours. I can't believe how much pain comes from something that should be so relaxing. It just goes to show how physical my job is and how much it is reflected in my neck and back. Even my pecs are sore after I get done with everything.

Thursday I plan to clean the living room carpet, finish my hair color process (Kari's going to help me highlight it) and pack up to leave on Saturday morning. That way I have Friday after work to just relax (hopefully it will get nicer by the weekend) or mow the lawn if the weather clears up.
So, it's a quiet week, but definitely busy! I probably won't get a chance to post again until I get back from Montana, but I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to share.

70 degree weather

What a gorgeous day we had yesterday! I had Wednesday off (because of the 4th of July holiday) so Kari and I planned to take the girls, plus their friend, Ashlyn, to the movie, but since the one we wanted to see was only playing in Anchorage, we decided to head to McDonald's for lunch and then to Wonderland Park for the afternoon. We could not have asked for better weather - sunny & 72 degrees, slight breeze, just wonderful.



After that, we came home and girls all ran through the sprinkler for a bit and then lay their towels out in the sun. Alex got ready for her last soccer game and she & I went over the the Sherrod Soccer Complex for it. It was the first time all season that it hasn't been freezing with the wind blowing. She did really well this season, though I think we need to work on her endurance a bit!



When we got home, I made the girls (and Ashlyn, who spent the night) their favorite, Cheesy Noodles for dinner and ended a great day.

Today it's cold & cloudy again, but Tim and the girls are leaving tonight for Montana, so they'll be in the heat and sunshine soon. I'll just have to wait another week before I get to enjoy some more summer!

Summer Fun

So we're finally getting some nice weather, though it's only supposed to last through Wednesday, and we decided it was time to enjoy it. We ate dinner outside on the deck, then Tim started up the fire pit and we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores. Alex was so happy, she had to do a little dance :)

Tomorrow is supposed to be even better, and I actually have the day off. Kari and I plan to take the girls to see the new American Girl movie, then we'll have the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine again.

Thursday night I'm taking Tim and the girls to the airport for their trip to Montana and then I'm a free woman for a week. So far the only plans I have are to enjoy the fireworks with the Ahumada's on Friday night and on Saturday we're having a big Scrapping/Tastefully Simple party all afternoon at our house. Hopefully I'll get a bunch of pages scrapped and back into a groove again. I also need to back up all my photos for safe-keeping. Other than that, I just plan to take it easy, visit my friends, eat when and what I want, and not feel guilty for any of it! And the following Saturday, I'll leave for my "vacation" to Montana, where I'll join up with Tim, Kyle and the girls.