The Crab Shack

For one night, our cabin became the crab shack.
Earlier in the day we had been at the docks and heard people talking about "the crab guy". He fishes for crab during the day, and then sells them out of his boat--$5.00 for an entire dungenes crab. Kristen really wanted some, so we bought two. You should have seen the look of horror on the kids' faces as they watched the man kill the crab, making it ready for cooking. It was pretty rough and cruel. I think it was traumatic for them.
So we went home and cooked it up. The kids tried it, but I'm not sure they loved it. I'm not a huge crab fan, but thought it was pretty good. Kristen was in heaven!
Three days later a man in Haines died from crab poisoning. GULP! Fortunately, we were all OK.



















Move over Freddy Krueger

Wild Life Preserve

Just outside of town is a wild life preserve. The owners not only take care of the animals, but they train them to be in movies as well. It's usually pretty expensive to go there, but one day they opened it up as a fundraiser for the Allgood family, with all proceeds going to them. So Kristen took the kids, and they spent the day playing with the animals. Here is some of the wildlife they got to see...

Big Sister

We all love our new baby girl, but no one has been quite as excited about having a little sister as Katelyn. If we would let her, she would carry her all day long. She likes to sneak in and wake her up, then come running downstairs screaming, "Mom, Kylie is awake, can I get her out?" She wants to change her, feed her, give her a bath, put her in her car seat, or anything else she can think of doing with a baby. She plays with her like she's a little doll (and unfortunately for Kylie, she sometimes carries her around like one). I don't know how Kylie is going to survive her big sister.
Maybe we're mean parents, but we have learned that the best punishment (or threat of a punishment) for Katelyn is to ground her from holding her sister. Is that horrible, or what? But it works. But no matter what, that baby girl will always know she is loved by her sister.

MOOSE

We haven't actually seen any moose around the cabin, or even driving to and from town. I'm not sure if this area just doesn't have them, or if the bears keep them out. They are little more aggressive than bears, so I guess we're glad we haven't had any confrontations with them.
However, on one of my work trips I was able to catch a glimpse of a few moose. We even saw one swimming across a small lake. It was pretty cool.











this moose crossed the street in front of us, then walked up a small hill and then just stood there for about 10 minutes and watched us.







moose swimming across the lake

Mosquitos & No-See-Ums

They are horrible creatures! And they are everywhere. When we go out to the car, they are waiting for us. When we come home, they have brought their friends too. You've heard it said that everything is bigger in Alaska, right? Well, that includes the bugs. I've never seen mosquitoes so big. In fact, we have what we have lovingly called the mosquito highway, just outside the back windows. Seriously, it's like those old futuristic highways from Back to the Future. You can sit there and watch as thousands of them fly, in a perfectly straight line, down their own sky highway. And the no-see-ums, well, we haven't seen any, that's how they got their name. That is, until they are biting us. Mosquitoes leave small, swollen bumps when they bite. No-see-ums leave flat, red spots. And they both itch like crazy! I try to tell the kids to not itch them, and the itch will go away. But they don't believe me. Fortunately, the bug population seems to be getting smaller. I'm sure that's because they're squished all over the walls in the house and the windows in the car!





Not sure if you can see these, but i've got about 12 little no-see-um bites on my hand. While we fish, they bite the hand that holds the pole







Caleb got several on his hand too







They also land on the bill of my hat, then crawl over and bite my forehead. I have the record with about 16 bites on my head at one time.









Here's a mosquito we somehow killed without squishing it all over the wall







the boys modeling the latest fashion in mosquito net head apparel

NOISE MAKERS

We have ALL become noisemakers! That title used to be reserved for Caleb, who is always singing or banging or yelling or squealing (I think he gets that need to be making some sort of sound from his dad). But now we're all getting in on the fun. Katelyn has especially picked it up a notch in her ability to magnify the sounds that come from her mouth. And it doesn't even bother us! Why? One simple word: BEARS!
You see, bears don't like noise. The noisier you are, the less likely you are to encounter one of these soft, snuggly, giant, fang bearing, claw yielding creatures. And since they have started making a few more appearances around the cabin, we've decided that we like noise. It's like music to our ears. Now if we can only get them to keep it outside!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN

On July 14th, Mr. Kaden turned 9. Here are some things we love about him:
--His very carefree nature
--His self confidence
--His love for his mom
--How whenever he sees mom and dad hugging, he runs over to be a part of the group hug
--His ability to completely tune you out (ok, so we don't really love this one, but it definitely is a skill of his)
--His ability to make friends
--His humor (he says he's the second funniest person in the family, after dad. And did I mention how smart he is?)
--His adorable smile

Alaska Resident

On July 7th, Kylie turned 2 months. She has spent more of her life in Alaska than she has in Utah. I wonder if that gives her dual residency?
She is changing on a daily basis. There are so many cute little things that she does that are her own unique traits. She loves to grunt and arch her back when you pick her up (or try to put her in her car seat, which makes it a little difficult). She does what we call her "O" face--she puckers her lips and just stares at you. In the mornings she's an angel, as she smiles and talks to you with her facial expressions.
I can't believe how fast she is growing. Like a weed! Actually, make that an Alaskan wild flower!

The 4th of July--Alaska style!

It was a great celebration--like only can be done in a small town. The kids were asked to be in the town parade--in the library's "float" (which was just an old Ford truck with a sign on it). They were going to play their ukuleles, but fear of rain kept the ukuleles inside. Instead, they just sat in the back and through out candy. They didn't care, they had fun just being a part of it.
Next we were off to the community park, where we participated in all kinds of activities. Nail hammering, relay races (foot, team, crawling, crab-walk, and cartwheel races), a money search, and face painting were just some of them. Even mom and dad got in on the fun (and I might add, were sore for a couple days afterward).
The night ended with fireworks over the bay, which didn't start until after 11:00 pm, when it was finally getting dark enough to see them. They were beautiful, and a great ending to a wonderful day. The drive home provided us with a nice discussion on gratitude for the blessings of living in a such an amazing country. Thanks and God bless to all who help keep us free!







The Haines library "float"












"Hammer the nail" competition























Katelyn and Caleb in the races













OK, I can't lie. I didn't really win. The guy who just BARELY beat me is just off the screen to the right. But the pic looks good. :)




Team Races



















Katelyn dominated the cart-wheel races










The boys doing the wheel-barrow











Kristen making sure everything gets caught on video













Face painting








Hmmmm. I wonder who the "K" stands for?
Kristen? Maybe Katelyn? How about Kylie?
I think it's all three!








Kylie was there too, she just slept most of the time. But she woke up for the fireworks.








The clouds were low so you can't see the mountains in the background, but the fireworks were still great.