Hunting and Fishing w/Travis

Travis came over from Ketchikan a couple weeks ago to try a hunting spot with Stewart. They hiked a lot farther than planned but did eventually find the deer. Travis got a four point and a two point. And Stewart got a three point. Travis had a decent pack but even after boning out his two deer he had plenty of weight to pack out. Stewart went in with only a day pack, planning on minimal hiking, so packing his meat out was also quite a chore. They shot the deer between 8 and 10 am and didn't get home till about 10pm. They were sore and tired but very pleased. Travis even ended up with one more little spike right before going home.

They didn't do a lot of fishing, but Stewart managed to catch this monster silver salmon on a quick stop to see if the silvers were running yet. They weren't really running but apparently there was at least one hanging out.

My crazy kids

I just found these two videos on my computer. Sammie loves to play on photo booth and she's getting ready to start reading. So this is her version of reading you a story, with a lot of personality on the side. The weird color is Sammie's doing.

This one is Josh. Apparently he's in a boxing match with himself.

I love seeing what my kids do to entertain themselves when I'm not looking.

G-ma and G-pa Hughes visit Alaska

Grandma and Grandpa Hughes came and spent a couple weeks with us. We had a very good time. We walked out to the totem's. I made the kids stop running wild long enough for me to get this picture in front of one of the totems.

Then on the way back to the house, we stopped to show Grandpa this giant log. The kids love it!!
Stewart took his dad and Caleb fishing almost every day. On one trip out in the boat Grandpa caught both these great fish. One is a silver salmon and the other is a yellow eye (red snapper).
On one great day of fishing, Stewart, Caleb, Grandpa, and me walked down to the beach at 7am to catch some pink salmon at low tide. Our goal was to limit out - 6 each. We could have caught that many very quickly if they were all keepers, but some were past their peak of freshness (they are getting ready to breed and then die). So, we were picky and only kept the good ones. I only fished for about an hour and then enjoyed beach combing and being the group photographer. The starfish were piled up everywhere.Caleb's reel gave out on him, so he would just hold on and haul the fish in over his shoulder.
Grandpa was freezing but couldn't resist the urge to keep fishing!
As the tide was coming in, Stewart had to keep finding new boulders to stand on to keep him close to the fish.
Everyone was a little wet and chilly but having a ball. Caleb and Grandpa were enjoying their perch on this boulder, but they didn't want to give up when the tide came in. Pretty soon Caleb was up to his knees and when he caught a fish he had no where to land it. So Grandpa bent down to pull the fish out of the water and lost his balance. He fell in and lost his glasses. So Stewart handed me his glasses and jumped in to help his dad find his glasses. I managed to drop Stewart's glasses too. Before long we decided to give up and come back at low tide to look for both sets of glasses. But I couldn't resist a good picture of Stewart and his dad swimming in the rain in the ocean.


We took home ALOT of fish. Before long we had all the fish neatly packed away. And we all felt better after hot showers and putting on dry cloths. This is our display of fish from that 3 or 4 hour fishing trip.



Later we went back and found both sets of glasses without even having to get wet. Here's a view of the beach from where we found the glasses.

On the way home we stopped and made Grandma reel in a salmon, just so she wouldn't miss the experience.
And just because I like to share the scenery, this last pick is a stream right in front of our house. This is actually the stream that all those salmon are waiting to run up, but there hasn't been enough rain, so they're stuck down at the beach. I like it because it shows what the area looks like.

Utah trip 2010!

We made our annual summer trip to Utah last month. Normally this is a 2+ month trip with plenty of time to visit all our family and friends. This year we cut it down to three weeks - three very very busy weeks! I managed to leave my camera in it's case the whole trip, so I have no pictures, but here's a bullet list of highlights.

• Hughes family reunion - another great one! Thanks Phill and Melissa!
• 4th of July - Could only get better if we weren't torn between our two families who were almost all in town for the party!
• Double date to Durango with Becky and James. I loved having time to just hang out.
• Trip to Salt Lake - school shopping was good, but temple square was great!!
• Stayed with Regan and Mori, there home has become our favorite bed and breakfast.
  
• Richmond family reunion - good camping trip; hot, lots of bugs, but good company!
• Pool party at Robby and Laurel's in Phoenix. 114 degrees!! Loved the pool, food, and hosts!

We met two new nieces and a brand new nephew, went swimming a few times, and never had a chance to get bored. And the good news is, we are extremely close to having enough miles to fly the whole family for free next year :)

Grandpa finally gets a Salmon!!

We've taken my dad to some beautiful fishing spots! We've tried every trick and tip people have shared.

But the Salmon just aren't running right now. My dad has caught a couple trout that were big enough to eat, and he's eaten crab every day (9 days in a row) until today. But he really wanted a salmon. So I was really excited for him when I came home from a trip to town today and heard that he got a big silver salmon.

Then I found out that he bought it from a big commercial fishing boat down at the dock!! Oh-well, he was obviously very proud of his salmon anyway. And he ate it for lunch and dinner, even though it ruined his run of none stop crab.

Liz's Birthday and kid's fishing day

This year Liz agreed to a smaller (mostly family) party in exchange for her getting to help with all the party preparations. She helped make mini cakes for everyone to decorate. She made and filled the pinata. And she blew up the balloons and put them all over the house. We had a great time. Everybody's cakes turned out great!
The pinata survived all the way through round one (everyone from Sammie to Grandpa took a turn), then we started over. It didn't make it through round two though. I thought this was one of the better looking pinata's I'd seen lately. And Liz loved making it!!
The next day was the Kid's fishing day put on by the forest service. It's a great carnival type event where every booth is somewhat educational and free. And they had great prizes and a free lunch. Everyone enjoyed the fly tying booth- even Liz and Sammie.
The casting game was a favorite also. It's kind of like a bean bag toss, but you cast a little plastic fish into a big wood fish's mouth. Dylan and Chase even enjoyed it.
Sunday afternoon Liz did Dylan's and Chase's hair. They were great sports. Liz loved it!

I love summer vacation so far! I just wish I had a maid to take care of the house while I'm playing with the family.

My Dad and brothers visit

My dad and the boys are over halfway through their visit already so I decided it was time to post some pictures of the fun we've had so far. Unfortunately they had to time their trip around sports seasons instead of around fishing seasons. So we haven't been doing so good on the fishing but I think they are all having a good time. The first day they were here we all got to the house around 8pm. But we were all hungry so Stewart took the boys to check the crab pots and brought home dinner. Dylan and Chase ate quite a bit that night but then Liz stepped in to help Grandpa finish up.
The next day we had to take care of business before we could get into the vacation. I took my dad and some kids to Craig to pick up their luggage (it wouldn't fit on the plane when they flew over from Ketchikan). And Stewart took the boys and Caleb to Thorne Bay to turn in a bunch of school stuff. We all saw a few of the new fawns but these pictures are ones that the boys took.
Later we took my dad out to find his dinner. He enjoyed pulling up his first pot to find his very own crab.