First Real Storm

The driveway after a big snow. The VW Syncrow Van made it up easier than the Land Rover.

Winter Solstice

The days start getting longer now!

Alright I know it has been a while, 2 months I guess but I'm here and I am updating. Winter has set in and we are enjoying the snow. Sailey doesn't last a long time outside when it is like this but Alec is really getting into it.
Here she is sitting on the heater warming up after some time outside. We had a really cold November with temps in the single digits and below for about 3 weeks. Then December came and it started snowing. This is what the road to town looked like one morning when we had to go.Now that we are at the winter solstice I can say that we are really enjoying hauling water in the winter and going to the outhouse when it is 10 degrees out. Actually it is amazing at how well the kids do, they don't seem to mind at all. Sailey even wants to go by herself now.
Alec and Sailey are getting into the christmas spirit, well at least the gift part, and are having a hard time waiting for the big day. We are busy putting the finishing touches on this years DVD and can tell ya that it won't be there before christmas. With that I must go. Happy Solstice.

Alec's Birthday

It's been over a week now so I thought I should get something up about Alec's birthday. We had a small party at our house on Saturday with 6 kids and Alec and Sailey, BBQ'ed some burgers, had some beers, and watched Alec tear through all his presents.
Alec seems to be popular with the girls already.



Mom made a great cake. Alec couldn't decide between a monster truck or a nascar. Who would have thought you could get this out of a toaster oven.

Alec had a great time as did the other kids and adults.

Seasons are changing quickly!

How fitting that I finally get around to updating the blog and it is the Autumnal Equinox. It wasn't that long ago that we were out on our boat in t-shirts. There wasn't many days like this one this summer, it was a pretty wet one. One of the wettest that I can remember, more like what I remember from when I first visited up here when I was a young lad.

We took a camping trip up north into Denali State Park, it borders part of the national park to the south. It was already fall up there and that was a couple of weeks ago. We camped at Byers lake and took a 4 mile hike up to a ridge with a view of the mountains at the base of McKinley. The kids love going camping and sleeping in the top of the bus. We love our Vanagon!

Out on a recent science cruise we went right by Augustine Volcano. It was steaming pretty good earlier in the day, but in this sunset picture it had calmed down.

Back from fishing, were did summer go?

Just before I left we moved into a new house. April has turned it into a cute little home and has become an expert at hauling water. That's right no running water and an outhouse, winter should be fun.

I'm finally finished with the IPHC halibut fishing charter. It took a little over 2 months to get it done, here are some stats from the fishing-
Amount of Halibut caught and sold to market - 250,000 pounds
Miles of groundline hauled - about 300 miles
Chum Salmon used for bait - about 20,000 pounds
Total distance traveled during the charter - 6000 Miles

April and the kids came over to Seward to visit during one of our off-load breaks. Alec wasn't to happy about daddy leaving again.
I got a week off in July and we went up to the Forest Fair in Girdwood. Lots of good music and food, and I got to see some old friends. It was also our first camping trip in the bus.
That's it for now, we're getting ready to go camping for a couple of days, taking the bikes and hitting the road. More to come later.

Dance Class and Spring Snows.

While we are still waiting for some real spring weather to get here the kids have started going to a little dance class once a week. April took a little video of it the other day.


Last year at this time we were packing up and getting ready for the big move north. I was checking the weather up here while we were still in Bend and the last week of April they had temps in the mid 60's. This year winter seems to be holding on as long as it can and we keep getting these spring snows. As you can see the kids had been enjoying the deck the day before. Not to worry though it melted by the next day.

Is Spring Here?

The beginning of this past week we had a tast of spring. Warm sunny days that were melting the snow like crazy, and light until 8 o'clock at night. The kids were having a blast going to the beach everyday. They even got two bike rides in. But it seems like winter wants to hang on a little longer. Strong winds finally gave me a day off and it has been snowing all day with the forcast saying snow all weekend. Oh well that's Alaska for ya.