Where in the world are Darwin and Melissa

15 August 2009

Playing with angles...look up!

While my brother and his family were here, we went out to visit the Shrine of St. Theresa. It is always beautiful out there. We were playing with our cameras and Micah has some video of Cori and I taking pictures of each other and a lot of laughing! We decided to take pictures of everyone from up high. They turned out to be pretty fun pictures.

Micah and Teagan

Cori

Aria

Darwin
He and Brooklin stayed behind, so we took theirs at the house.

Me...and my camera! =)

Brooklin

Caleb

London

Isaiah

06 August 2009

East Glacier Trail Hike

We went on two hikes yesterday! The first one was the East Glacier Trail. The East Glacier Trail is a loop trail starting at the back of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors center. It is 3 miles around, and it took us about 3 hours to hike it...with stopping to eat, rest stops, taking pictures, and waiting for those who lagged a little. (we were all guilty of this!)

I am really scared of bears, so I made sure to let the bears know we were coming...I wore a set of bear bells on my backpack! It worked! The only bear we saw the whole trip was a small bear sticker on the ground. Isaiah took a picture with it, and pretended to be scared. =) This hike is really beautiful, and took us up right over the top of Nugget Falls.

One of the last pictures is of Isaiah and Aria at AJ Falls. Micah and Cori thought it was pretty funny...AJ...Aria Joye Falls! They said she does fall a lot. =) Aria and Isaiah were just the cutest on the trail. They held hands most of the time and had on matching hiking boots. They really are a lot alike in many ways, and have been playing and talking each other's ears off! If you know either of them...they both have A LOT of really interesting things to say, and it was funny to listen to their conversations. Micah said at one point on the fishing trip yesterday, Aria had gone on so long, Isaiah was just kind of at a loss for how he was going to break into the conversation! They are quite the pair!

Hike to Boy Scout Beach

We got to rest for about an hour, and then we got back in the car and drove out to the trail head for the Boy Scout camp. The trail to the camp (where Brooklin is attending Girl's Camp) is 1.5 miles out...so we hiked another 3 miles this evening. Brooklin was in a skit with some of the other girls. She was the "star" of the skit. She was the new girl at school and was trying to figure out where she fit in. She played the part well, and it was cute. We gave her a few hugs and then hiked back out to the car.

On the way out, we got to see two porcupines. They were kind of cute. They heard me coming (bear bells again) and were scurrying up a tree. They sat still so I could take their pictures. A little further down the trail, Darwin started pointing and waving us over. He had spotted a bear out in the water catching fish. I really didn't want to see the bear, but he was a good 100 yards and a river crossing away, so I took his picture too, but it was a little nerve-racking. Then I decided that since we were close and it was 9 pm...we should try to see another bear at Eagle Beach. We drove another 2 miles down the road and parked. Within a minute we spotted a bear jumping around in the water. He was also quite a ways away, so none of the bear pictures are very close up...but I did not want to be any closer to them! I just wanted Micah and Cori to be able to see a bear.

When we got home, we were all completely wiped out. We had ice cream for dinner (since we didn't eat lunch until 4:30 pm because of the first hike) and then we all crashed.

04 August 2009

Fishing with the Strassers

Darwin took Micah, Cori, Aria, and Isaiah out halibut fishing today. They caught 10 halibut and 3 quillback. Aria caught the first halibut and also the biggest halibut. While they were out they got to see tons of porpoise and a pod of 12 or so killer whales came right up to the boat (within arms reach) and gave them a show! Micah, Cori, and I bagged the fish after they got back, and they ended up with about 40 lbs of halibut!

While they were out fishing Caleb, London, Teagan, and I went to the park, to Costco, and later on...out for a walk. We had fun being outside in the 80 degree weather.

If any of you were wondering where Brooklin is in these latest two posts...she is enjoying herself out at Girl's Camp. She left Monday morning at 7am, and will be out there at the Boy Scout campgrounds until sometime Saturday afternoon. Darwin hiked out last night and tonight to sleep (the program requires a priesthood holder to stay in a seperate cabin over night...incase anything goes bump in the night) and told us she is having a lot of fun. She is a little bummed that she is missing out on visiting with her cousins and aunt and uncle, but she will get to spend some time with them this weekend.

Caleb liked to make Teagan laugh but making funny noises and faces.

Teagan swingin'.
He was a little nervous about the swing, but he had fun.

I took these off of Micah's facebook...

Micah fishing.

Cori fishing.

Aria with her quillback.

Aria trying to lift up a halibut...too cute!

Most of the days catch

03 August 2009

Visiting DIPAC with Micah's family

Micah and his family are here visiting for a week. They arrived this afternoon and after moving all the suitcases into the house, we drove down to the DIPAC (Douglas Island Pink and Chum) fish ladder. The fish ladder is 450 ft long, and is the longest in Alaska. Most of the salmon that return to the hatchery are Chums (or Dog Salmon) and Pinks (or Humpey Salmon)...although they do have a few others. Chinook (King Salmon), Silvers (Coho Salmon), and Reds (Sockeye Salmon) also have an occasional appearance. It is really amazing to see the water literally boiling and jumping with that many fish all in one spot.

Many Chum