June in Unalakleet

 Got Crab?

 Fresh crab is one of my favorite things about Unalakleet!

Very fresh... notice how he's holding a pencil in his claw.... he's still got some fight in him!

Crab vs. Faith.... crab wins every time.   She runs away from them screaming!

Log wars at the beach

 playing at the beach

time out at the beach

 pouting at the beach

 getting hugs at the beach

getting over it at the beach

 Something else I'll never see anywhere but Unalakleet.

Notice the little Eskimo boy riding in the boat, on the tractor, down the street.

Brent wants you to think this was a terrible day fishing (like 24 trout or something)  

Really they had a good time fishing with our friends the Egli's.   We do realize that this would be the worlds best fishing day in Utah.   But they really are junk fish here in Unalakleet.  Why eat trout when you can have salmon?

Mmmmm..... pizza sandwiches

I've been trying to let the kids to be a little more independent.  Faith was hungry so I told her to get a piece of bread and the jam and I would come help her.  

I go in and she has not jam but pizza sauce.  Brent thought it was funny and opened it up so she could smell that "yummy jam" surprisingly she said "mmmm! that smells good!"    I told her it was pizza sauce not jam.... but she still wanted it.   Now she has a new favorite sandwich.... pizza sauce sandwich.  That's one way to show your independence sweetie!

The house that Brent built...

Well it's a little log fort really.  He built it last year, but now the roof is missing.   So he's been taking his ax out and building it up again.   The kids think it's good fun. 

This is what happens when Gracie watches Ninja Warrior....

Almost there baby girl!

Happy Fathers Day!

On Father's Day we headed back out to work on the fort and spend some time at the beach.

Then we headed up into the hills to enjoy a world that is finally green and starting to flower. 

Unalakleet really is a beautiful place.

And I really have some beautiful girls.  Here they are getting flowers in their hair so they can look pretty for a picture.  (never mind the soot on their faces)

Awww.   They're adorable and the soot is oh so charming.

This is one of my favorites!

TJ is such a free spirit.  He's so uniquely expressive and full of life!

 I love this picture of Brent and me.   Father's Day isn't the only day I'm thankful for him.  I still remember that 13 year old girl who was so madly in love with him,  Now we've been married for almost 13 years and I love him so much more than I ever did!   He's such a wonderful husband and father.

Brent took these pictures of me and the girls and his future daughter.   Boy that's a whole lot of women in his life!

 King Salmon!   Brent is so excited to have caught his 1st King this year.... he's having a good year!    He went fishing with a buddy and they got these. 

 The next day he and TJ got this one. 

Brent hooked this King and TJ reeled it in.   TJ informed me that Dad's the best hooker ever.... in any other situation that comment would be offensive but in this case it's true.   TJ makes me laugh.

Brown bears in Unalakleet... (5/25/11)

Grrr...

One thing Brent really wanted to do before we leave Alaska, is get a brown bear.   He and TJ took the boat up river hunting and wouldn't you know....  

Brent was floating down the river, the bear was headed away up over the hill and Brent shot it from behind.  

Brent told TJ to stay in the boat while he tracked the bear that had run off into the trees.  About 5 minutes later Brent turns around and sees TJ standing in the trees looking lost... "What are you doing!!?" Brent asked, "I thought you I heard you call me."  TJ says... (Mom says YIKES! I may never let TJ go bear hunting again!)

Luckily Brent found the bear before the bear found TJ and they ended  up having a pretty good camping trip together.  

TJ had a blast too, he was really excited about getting to drive the boat.

Brent called me and told me to bring the 4-wheeler and pick them up.   When I got there he said, "Well I got a beaver!".....

Then he asked me to grab the bag under the tarp.... I picked up the tarp and see a bear looking at me.... I screamed.  ha ha ha he's so funny!

Well actually it was pretty funny once I recovered from my heart failure.  I thought this picture was funny too.  The Flying Wild Alaska crew was still renting our truck so we took the bear and camping gear home via 4-wheeler.

You just wouldn't see this driving down the street in Vernal.... but that's Unalakleet for you.   

May in Unkalakleet

Poor little Faith.   I wasn't home for this one, I was in Kenai at a Dr. appointment.   Brent told me a neighbor boy came in and said "Faith fell and she's crying!"  Brent asked if she was hurt and the boys said, "I don't think so."  So Brent told him to have her come in. 

Apparently when she got in the house she was bleeding all over the place and had this huge goose egg.   Brent felt this qualified as being hurt, but I guess the neighbor boy didn't think it was so bad.    Poor baby had a huge goose egg and ended up with black eyes before the swelling went away.    (On a side note, how awesome is it that I'm out of town and Faith's hair is in a cute little pony tail.   My husband ROCKS!)

Flying Wild Alaska.... Flying wild kites that is...

The kids got kites for Easter and while I was gone Brent took them out to fly. 

Early May, and we were still waiting for the sea ice to break up.

She's pretty cute even with a huge sore on her forehead (or her brain as she calls it)

Last Day of School!!!

On the last day of school here in Unalakleet the kids walk across the street to the beach for a school sponsored picnic.   

The Kindergarten and Pre-School classes invite the parents to attend, so I got to go with the girls.  Even Brent stopped by on his lunch break.

This was a pretty big day for me and Brent.  We finally told the kids that we are going to be moving to Hawaii.   Faith looks pretty excited!   But they'll be so sad to leave their friends in Unalakleet.

Isn't this the cutest trooper picture you've ever seen?   He's such a good daddy!

 

There are a lot of good things about moving, but we sure will miss the school up here.  The kids love their classes and their teachers are so nice.  They sure have a lot of big changes in their future!

The Belly... So in May we found out that we would be having another little girl.  (The girls are sooo excited!)   We think we'll call her Hope Lela.  I think it's a pretty name and she'll fit right in with Gracie and Faith.   I don't think this picture shows my proper hugeness, believe it or not I think this photo might be slimming.  I need to be sure to get a few more belly shots, so I never forget why Brent refers to me as "The Belly" 

 Matt & Lauren are our good friends who where teachers in the village of Stebbins and would stay with us when they came to Unalakleet for School District meetings.   We were privileged to meet them through our church which has a phone branch for all the members in remote villages.   Most of the members of our branch we only get to speak to on the phone, so Matt and Lauren were really special friends and my kids love them like an Auntie and Uncle.  

We're here at the Era Hanger, visiting with them while they wait for their plane.  We're sad that their moving out of our branch.  But so happy that we were able to have such special friends in our lives while living out here. 

 Lauren, taking TJ's bike for a spin... it's almost the right size. :)

 More head injuries...   We've been talking to our kids a lot about the value of common sense.   Brent has tons of it, me well... that's another story.  But it's important to try to teach the kids.      Brent has a friend who says "If you're gonna be dumb you gotta be tough"    Which actually has a lot of merit if you think about it.  

TJ learned a valuable lesson about why it's not so smart to throw rocks straight up in the air.   He managed to hit himself in the head and it bled quit a bit. 

I have to hand it to him though... He was pretty stinking tough!

The good neighbor... So the kids were playing with the neighbors the other day, and TJ found these dead mice that their cat had left in the yard.   TJ asked our neighbor Carl if he could have the mice "to use to build a transforming machine".   Of course Carl let him have them and told him to run show his Mom & Dad.... thanks Carl!   It was pretty funny, although Faith wasn't nearly as excited about the dead mice as TJ was.   You can never underestimate the value of a thoughtful and sharing neighbor. :)