memorable memorial 2011

This weekend was our annual camp at Ninilchik.  We have several friends from our ward who all have cabins in the same development down there and every year we pitch our tents in their yards and use their firepits and outhouses. Together we all play hard and even take a minute to honor our veterans for Memorial Day.

Here we are on our way to Ninilchik. In fact we haven't even left the driveway.  Buckwheat did not get to come. He was left at a friend's house so he wouldn't be eagle bait.  You think I am joking but we seriously know people who have lost little dogs to eagles and since we camp right under an active nest we thought best to leave him here.  Take a good look at Olivia's pants too...they are the only ones I managed to pack for her for 4 days.

Mt. Redoubt: one of several active volcanoes that we can see on our way to Ninilchik.  This is the one that erupted when we first moved here.  It is 100 miles south of us, but here we are right across Cook Inlet from it!

Ethan and Olivia and I had a great afternoon to our selves.  Carter and JaDee went fishing for halibut Saturday afternoon and we stayed behind.  Ethan got to go target shooting with some of the other men that did not fish that day too.  I am told by all who took him that he is quite a good shot! After shooting He built me a great big fire and we had roasted marshmallows before dinner...shhhhh!

Saturday night (and I use that term loosely since it stays so light this weekend that we didn't even pack flashlights) we had a campfire/potluck dinner at the Herberts.  Josh F. and Amy H. are here with Carter.

Olivia made friends with all the girls that Carter flirted with.  Keep in mind all the girls were in college or seniors in high school, but Carter aims high none the less!  Here are Ashley and Kristin M.,  Shelby R., Erin C. and Amy H.

Here is JaDee with our hosts and next door cabin neighbors and long time friends Jason and Mike.  JaDee was one of 4 speakers at a Sunday night devotional held at the Herberts for Memorial Day.  We had 32 people from the surrounding camps with us for the evenings.

Ethan with one of the camp dogs...this one will most definitely not be eagle bait.  Koda is such a good boy.

And here is our buddy Champ.  I gotta tell ya, he has been giving us quite a couple of scares...He has had 2 major seizures in the past couple of weeks, one of which was Saturday morning at camp.  He bolted after a rabbit and then lost all muscle control mid- leap.  The seizure lasted almost 5 minutes.  We had taken him to the Vet for the first one but short of a $1500 MRI there is little we can do to tell what is causing them.  It was pretty scary for me and the kids to see this one, as just JaDee was around for the last one.

JaDee and Carter joined Stu, Jason, Shelby, Jeremy, and Jason's 2 little grandkids for an afternoon of halibut fishing. They could each catch 2 halibut and I think made it home with 14 and one large cod.  They also caught Skates, which are like a stingray but without the poisonous tail. They do however, have a mouth full of teeth and Jason got his hand bit up pretty good trying to remove its hook.

Here is Carter with some of the days catch. All were right around the 20 pound mark.

Here is JaDee with Carter and the other side of the days catch. Did you know that halibut are two different colors? And they only have eyes on the dark side.  The light side stays on the ground of the ocean and the dark side blends in and looks around.  They are weird, but oh so tasty! The boat behind them is Jason's and that is what they went out in the Cook Inlet with.

Just what you always wanted to see.  A fish cleaning station. Well Mike has quite a set up in his front yard.  Tables, bins for guts, and all you would need to fillet some halibut.  Both my boys got a good lesson in dissection and loved to open the fishes' stomachs to see the crabs and shrimp and bait that were left inside.  They even brought me one of those huge creepy eyeballs.  Aren't I lucky.

Sunday we went to Homer for church and then down to The Spit where the land ends and Katchemak Bay  begins.  We also walked around the slips in the boat yards and I found this one.  The book nerd in me thinks it is quite clever to have a boat docked in Homer, AK named Odysseus!

And here we are at the Homer beach.

Here is the view from where we pitch our tent in Ninilchik.  Not a bad way to spend a weekend. A huge thanks to the men who took my boys fishing, showed them the internal organs of a fish, took them shooting, and are such great examples to them.  Another huge thanks to the women who kept sharing food with us (we may have forgot Olivia's pants and all of our church shoes but we did have food!), answered Olivia's questions and visited a way the afternoon while the men went fishing.

Don't forget...I saw moose 100 (and 101-109 on this trip) so stay tuned for the promised give away! I am babysitting 3 extra boys while their mom goes to Girls camp all week so it may take a minute...but I am going to find some awesome stuff for you all to comment on...