Random Glimpses of July

 July finds Cory fishing with Benny and Danny. The boys earned their trip with good behavior...a good time was had by all. 

What? Great, big pockets but on the FRONT of the pants...like they would ride on your stomach. Things that make me go - hmmm.

Stacia saw this little size marker on the floor at Target...she immediately quipped, "Look, there's a small medium at large."

Millie is becoming quite the emotional support dog. If she finds me crying in the morning, she sits down and begins to bark...then she jumps in my face and tries to lick me. She's also known to act out big if one of the girls is having a panic attack...she knows how to get our attention. It's endearing and maddening at the same time. LOL 

I enjoyed a fun walk with Joelle and her kids along the river. 

Josi is a trickster. 

So slyly pulling sis's hair

 GG and I had fun driving out to Sutton with Krista to pick up Reno. Reno was determined to drive.

I was surprised to find traffic directed to detour to our driveway. LOL 

My guy!

I am being intentional to pick things NOW and eat them - rather than letting them grow and grow! 

It's salmon and salad season! Check it out - everything on my plate was grown or caught by us! 

Finally beat the birds to the strawberries! 

Stacia joined a couple of family friends for a hike up Hatcher's Pass! Enjoying the summer. 

 The chickens LOVE watching me weed the garden...could be the green they know they'll get. 

Jared wore out his boots walking through his district knocking on doors. I wonder if he'll wear out two pairs? 

Unexpected Meet ups!

Without a doubt the highlight of this "catch up at home" day was our unexpected meeting with Breanne and the kids in Wasilla.  I picked up meds, did a tiny bit of weeding, did laundry, put together and delivered a care package, checked on FAFSA's ....Allie worked and did some course work...Stacia ran Millie, met with a couple she is house-sitting for in the near future, dealt with a few college details, and ran across to Wasilla with me...Michael took care of some paperwork and began mowing the yard. Unfortunately, we sidetracked him with dinner, tomorrow will be full of appointments for him and the yard may look odd for the rest of the "summer." 

Bre sent these photos from the end of summer party at our local library. Check out this face painting - wow. This lady is good. They were the last ones at the party and got to take all the balloons home. Score!  I ran into them buying school supplies....yikes....school begins in two weeks. 

Gideon

Annie

Transporting those balloons is exciting. 

Trudy doesn't need face paint for it to be a party. 

Josiah - Jojo 

Bella

Gideon 

Just as Stacia and I pulled into the driveway I found out we WERE meeting for dinner with Nolan and Krista and the kids after all. Another unexpected meeting with adult children.  A HUGE group of about 20 ordered right before us...and the restaurant was out of bread, pesto and their grill didn't work....so we settled on pizza and calzone and a nice long visit. Life is good. 

GRACE NOTES
I am aware of the gracious gift of living in the same general area as adult children. It was such a joy to run into grands and Bre across town and to enjoy dinner with other adult children. 

I enjoyed sitting in a park-like setting and soaking in the peace and beauty while Stacia learned about her upcoming job. 

Dip Netting 2024 - WE'RE HOME!

We had a rough end to Fish Camp this year. Stacia and Danny had been sick...but by this morning Arielle and Ellie or Lyra (could see either name in the future....Elleira  is her full name) weren't feeling very well at all. In fact, Arielle has run very high temps - higher even than Danny's previous temp. We changed driving assignments. Cory would drive our van home with Arielle and the kids, Stacia and I would drive the truck home with the dip nets and Michael and Allie would follow in the RV.  CoRielle left camp first! 

Stacia and I left camp next!!!! Keep this in mind.  It was a lovely drive. We did stop in Girdwood at a little place KrUke has introduced us to - I must stretch and enjoy the journey when I am in the driver's seat. That is the ONLY stop we made.

Michael and Allie started AFTER us in the RV and got home before us! This same thing happened on the way to Kenai. I can only think two things.... 1. Michael doesn't stop when he starts and that makes a difference, and/or 2. Michael drives the RV like a sports car. It's honestly most likely the first option but that won't stop me ribbing him about the 2nd option. ::snort:: 

Cory and Charles were helping Michael and Allie unload the RV when we got home. They had the salmon divided and out of the RV and had moved the freezer. While Michael and Cory continued to work with RV and FISH "things," the girls and I unloaded all the food, clothes, supplies, put them away and began the great post dip netting laundry catch up. 

I took a few minutes to peek into the garden. Lots of rain...lots of weeds. I need time to escape to the garden. 

Pesto in the future

Potatoes!!!

GRACE NOTES

• All the salmon we need.
• Safe travels home for everyone.
• Alex taking good care of GG while we were gone. 
• Connections. 

Note: something odd happened to my phone and watch when they were thrown into the wet bag - they were slighlty wet before they were thrown in. Anyway, my phone now watermarks my photos and the photos are odd sizes. I'm working on finding the settings but nothing is helping. 

Dip Netting 2024 - Day 5

It's a quiet day here at Diamond M. We are down to "us 4" and CoRielle's family. There was no need to catch an early tide. Michael stored most of our gear last night. We set out to explore Kenai. 

I LOVE how Arielle and the boys explore public libraries in every town we visit. I thought the Seward library was great - but the Kenai Public Library? Fantastic. I was surprised to discover Kenai's population is only 1,000 more than ours. We always see it full of tourists and Alaskans  - fishing. 

Cory and Charles, Benny & Danny 

Papa likes a good library!

Silent Book Club - it's a thing and I'm going to start one! 

Never too young to visit a library! 

We miss having a public library with fun nooks and reading areas...and books...lots of books to browse through. Our current library lost its roof. Our librarians are wonderful. We have a couple of rooms of books on display...but one's best bet is to order your books ahead of time from the online catalogue, librarians go across our town to the storage area and collect the books, which can then be picked up. I appreciate the system. It works. I miss a REAL library. We DID check out books. 

Our next stop was to Old Town Kenai. The hit of our wandering was the time spent with an Orthodox priest in this church...built in 1894 it is one of the oldest standing orthodox churches in Alaska. A congregation of about 45 still meet weekly here at the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church. 

All candles!

I was sad this coffee shop was closed - maybe next time. 

CoRielle went back to their cabin for lunch and quiet time. The four of us checked out a few campgrounds. While we found a sweet spot we'd like to visit in the future - it's not great for our crowd or for cleaning fish. We found another that has great potential. We'll have to keep our eye on it and see if they end up adding a bathhouse. We do like our current spot, but we also feel we are nickel and dimed here and we do NOT like having to book FIVE NIGHTS....BUT for young moms who may have to stay at the campground with little ones this place is hands down the best we've found. Maybe worth the nickel and diming for families with young ones. Even for those without young - neither of the other options have nice bathhouses and showers after fishing all day are dirty. I'd rather have folks running to the bathhouse than the RV shower. LOL Eventually, the 4 of us also headed back to the RV for lunch. 

Who wouldn't want a campsite with this view? 

Around 2 everyone met back at the RV. Arielle wasn't feeling well, and we were all content to hang around Diamond M. Arielle and Stacia rested in the RV (Ellie stayed with them)...the rest of us braved the winds to visit the playgrounds. 

Benny & Allie

Cory and Benny

RV crew

We ended our trip by taking the S family (minus the girls) to dinner. We've brought our expectations down considerably. The first year we scouted out a seafood restaurant which disappointed us. This year we simply went to Arby's -which is a dip netting tradition. Arby's must be visited at some point, and we hadn't done so yet. 

Michael and Cory loaded the nets into the truck. It was too windy and rough for Benny to go back out to try again at catching a salmon. We'll save that for another trip. We'll all head back to the valley tomorrow. 

We have spent some time remembering past trips in previous years.  I remember our chase for salmon in 2017...Josiah stayed with us in a parking lot in Soldotna one night and we met dip netters. He commented we needed to try fishing that way at least once as it seemed to be a culture. We did try it in 2018. Walking the road from the bathhouse to our site always reminds me of walking behind Josiah and a young Benny (maybe 18 months) in matching blue checked sweatshirts. This place...Diamond M and Kenai North Beach are connection points with Josiah...and have provided such good family memories. I'm happy Josiah had a vision of this being more than a work trip - but a mini family reunion. I'm glad he sold us on the vision. ::snort:: Five nights in one spot is a long time when we'd like to be "going" and "doing"... however, five nights allows for us to set up camp and for the older kids and their families to drop in and out as they can over the weekend. This will most likely be Krista and Luke's last trip with us for some years. That makes me sad - and yes brings tears because tears are my superpower this year. This was Krista's 5th year with us. It was here Luke drove down for a couple of hours in 2020 to spend some time with Krista and we began to think just maybe he saw her as more than a pastoral contact.  It was also here when Carrie and Liv joined us, and it was apparent a new family was forming. We brought dad one or two years before getting in and out of the RV was simply too difficult and the logistics of caring for his needs in the RV was daunting.  Most years we've had others with us...chaplains, airmen and their family, my brother, "family" from past assignments... Fish Camp has a special place in our hearts.  Dip Netting fills our freezer and pantry shelves with salmon - but more than that it's filled our hearts with amazing memories and provided opportunity for family connection. It's a good thing. We are blessed. 

GRACE NOTES
A place to come and remember and celebrate family. 

Fantastic memories of past years and new memories made.

A safe place for grief's emotions to rest. 

A GOOD Shepherd who is always with us and always comforts and restores.