First Fish

We have been waiting and waiting for some fish!

And did you know that Ben is a certified fish whisperer?

He is amazing and to the frustration of any fellow fishermen... just ask my Dad!

Right now the Reds (otherwise known as Sockeye) are running.  Saturday we headed out fishing on a whim.  I mean at 10:00 I said, "Hey high tide's at 10:20, let's go!"  We went to the local hotspot, paid the $10 to park there and ventured out into the cold, drizzly wind, wondering why we were even there (an hour after the tide).  But Ben went out and I got the boys and myself reasonable comfortable.

It ended up being a wonderful experience.  Eagles were flying by 30 feet from my head to deliver their fresh catches to their families in the nearby trees. 

And an hour later, Ben came back with this:

Look at the proud fisherman! 

This beauty weighed 8.5 pounds when we got him home.

We couldn't believe he got one, because plenty of people left empty-handed.

Ben decided to go back at low-tide and came back having caught his limit for the day (5 more)!

Including two 7.5 pounders.  He even gave one away that got tangled in another guys line.  I am just amazed by nature's bounty here.  That $10 to park got us at least $100 worth of fresh, wild caught sockeye salmon in one day.

We prepared it with some S&P, some fresh thyme from our window box herb garden and mayo.

Mayo is the secret to grilled fish my friends.  I learned that thanks to my Daddy-o.

A feast!

Haha, Russ was so excited.

But then he ended up not wanting to eat any of it and we forced the salad and rice down him... dang.  Would someone tell that kid that he lives in Alaska and we'll be eating salmon at least twice a week now?  We love that crazy boy.

I feel more like an Alaskan after that trip

Two weeks ago, right after all of Russel's birthday festivities, we went on what I think was an

Ultimate Alaskan Experience

So right now, I'm sure you're all thinking something like, "Oh wow, they must have taken a float plane to a remote cabin on a mountain lake" or maybe, "Did they scale a glacial peak and live with the big-horn sheep?" or even, "They must have won a lottery spot to go see grizzlies feeding on salmon at McNeil River"

No, no... I'm talking about if you have a family and are living in Alaska under ordinary circumstances, this might be what you would do!

We met up with our friends the Berry's and piled 11 people in this rig and drove 8 hours straight through to this house in Nenana (60 miles south of Fairbanks) arriving at 2 a.m.

 Now let me tell you all a little bit of the details that make this all so Alaskan.  This RV is the cab of a 4-wheel drive truck with the back cut out, jimmy-rigged to the RV part with the front cut out of it.  The house is in the middle of NO-WHERE with NOTHING to do even close to it.

So we pulled in at 2 a.m. and the crazies were asleep, so Ben and I decided to spend the night out in the camper.  We were soon joined by all 4 youngest Berry children because there was only wood floors to sleep on in the house.  Ben and I laid up in the top bunk sweating and staring at the ceiling vent illimunated by a dusk-like light, sung to by a chorus of giant mosquitoes with the backdrop of hands slapping against skin.  Also, a random 4 a.m. "SHHHHH, everyone can hear you!!"  Everyone can hear who?  Hilarious.

At 5 a.m. Tannen, the Berry's 15 yr old cracks the silence announcing he got 20 minutes of sleep.  I roll over and hold up a big zero with my hand and everyone starts laughing in their sleep deprived, delirious, mosqito driven paranoia.  Soo funny.  Well, the kids moved inside the house and we bug-bombed the camper (setting off a hidden smoke detector we never could find) and ended up getting 4 hours of sleep.

Ok, now check this out:

 Have you seen Into the Wild?  Yeah, there really are old busses all over the place in Alaska.  We ate hot-dogs and s'mores by the fire right next to this bus.  Later we heard stories about their family's many trips down the Al-can (Alaska-Canada highway) with that bus.

We also went to Fairbanks... hmm.. hot, dry, not much to see!

We stopped by the location of the off-the-grid cabin the Berry's lived in for 3 years.  We hiked the 2 mile trail back to see it and the owners even gave us a tour of the inside.  That was really neat because we've heard so much about their struggle to survive out there with 6 and then 7 kids and no money.

Really, most of the trip was just driving in the RV.  That's just life in Alaska, you have to drive and drive to get anywhere.  But it was SO fun.

Oh and did I mention we decided to go on this trip about 3 hours before we left?

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In other news, I just want to congratulate my brother and sister-in-law's family.

Stacey and Ryan, Raef and Brynn welcomed a new baby right around the same time as our trip!

They adopted little Beckett Michael, who was born early because I'm sure he just couldn't wait to join their family!

Congratulations and we love you already little Beck!

He Made Me a Memorial Day Mama!

Our big guy Russ just turned 4 on Saturday!  My-oh-my, I can't hardly believe it!

He had a great day, kicked off right with a donut breakfast.

DONUTS!

 Hahahahaha, look at that face!  He's thinking, "Ok, now that I've nibbled on that huge one with sprinkles, I need to start eating another one!"

Then it was on to some iPhone games to ward off any over-excited-but-having-to-wait-for-birthday-fun tantrums.

Next we had a play-date with Russel's friend Ronan.  They all watched some Bolt, played with creatures and superheroes and ate lunch, then played outside at Ronan's.

After Ronan went home it was present time!  Thanks to all who sent presents and cards!

Russel's alien cake.  He designed it himself.  Can you see the glasses?

Tucker was ready and waiting to help blow out the candles, lol!

Happy Birthday my beautiful boy!  I'm glad you had a good day and you are so big!