In The Big City

Let's see... Today is Tuesday. Bryan and I flew into Kodiak (aka The Big City) Sunday afternoon. The weather has been beautiful here which usually isn't the case whenever we come to town. It was a spur of the moment trip. We have done this for a couple of years now though when there isn't any fishing. No fishing means no tenders to and from town which means no supplies or groceries. So here we are armed with everyone's lists and shopping away. There is a small Wal Mart here which really is the only place to get the things you usually buy at Target, Fred Meyer, Bartells, etc... It is either Wal Mart or Safeway. I think last year we made almost 10 separate trips to Wal Mart! One nice thing about being here though is that we get the shopping done for Emmett's birthday. Got some gifts and the party favors.

So when we do come to the "city", our highlites are usually good beer, a shower, and eating foods we don't normally get out at camp. Bryan made an awesome stir-fry our first night. We realized yesterday though how our brains are still in "camp mode". We took a walk in the woods last night and I kept thinking the pine cones were otter or fox doo doo. Bryan saw a clump of fur on the trail and was looking at it hard trying to figure out what animal it came from. It came to us both at the same time - it was DOG FUR. We were on a city park trail where many many people come with their DOGS!

The boys are faring well at camp. They are staying in their own cabin and Bryan's sis and parents switch off staying with them at night. The first night Bryan's sister Terri stayed with the boys. They watched an episode of Monk (funny huh?) on the computer and then watched some X-Men in their beds on G's iPod. Terri said she got them all tucked in around 11:30 and then her oldest (Steven) and youngest (Chrissy) came over. They ended up sleeping on the couch bed. Sammie came over too a bit later and slept in our room with Terri and Lucy. Garett tells me that "All of the Barbers except Dan stayed the night with us!" They had a lot of fun. I guess last night it was Nana and Papa's turn. I'm sure that was another fun (and late) night. They love to hear Papa's stories and Nana makes sure every one is comfortable and tucked in and taken care of.

Well it is time to take another glorious SHOWER! Then it is off to Wal-Mart. Hoping for more good weather and an easy flight home.

What do you like to do at camp, Emmett?

"I like going to the boat house.  I usually ride inside of the jeep and go on Garett's swing things and go on my swing there.  Ummm...  I like finding sea creatures, going down on the beach.  Yesterday I found lots of stuff and I found some starfishes and Dad found an orange sunburst and put it inside my bucket.  I put the starfishes inside my bucket too.  I like going on the swings outside behind the main house.

We have the main house, the east warehouse, the boat house, the smoke house, the wood house, the main house, the east house, the banya, the warehouse, the outhouse, the little cabin house.  I don't know.  And inside the east house upstairs there is an attic.  Me and Garett play there sometimes.  I live at Seattle.  I come to camp in the summer.  And usually in 

the summer at camp we find lots of starfish on

 the rocks.

I like transformers and I also like bionicles and that is what I want for my birthday.

  And my birthday is in August and I'm going to turn 5.  I am already 4.  I want to say good bye."

Wednesday

Today was bath day - yay!  Even Lucy got a bath.  There was a really low tide this morning so we got up and found all sorts of fun things.  I'll write more about that later with some pictures.  The other day we took a boat ride to the Lagoon which isn't too far from us.  Our neighbor in Seattle, Bob, used to live there when he fished with his dad many years ago.  We actually made a dining room table out of the door on his cabin last year!  It is funny how connected things can get.  

So anyhow, back to the Lagoon.  We did a lot of beach combing and walking.  The wildflowers are blooming now and they looked so pretty:  lupine, wild geranium, shooting stars, violets, forget-me-nots, wild iris, and of course the dandelions!  On the way back to the skiff, there was a seal in the water checking us out.  They are so curious :)  Other th

an that, we saw no other wild life.  Lots of bear trails, tracks and poop though! 

Garett's Words Pt. 1

Hi, Garett here...  A few days ago we rode the punt.  I call it the Maggot Toe Invader.  It's a small little boat with a small engine.  Today, Lucy was under the main house for a long time.  You could hear her barking and otters growling.  So I got a balloon and a dog cookie, I started making that squeaky sound with the balloon, and no luck!  After a few more minutes we heard that she was really close so I made the squeaky sound again and said, "Lucy, num nums!"  So she ran out and was yipping and barking because she saw the balloon.  So I let her inside and I let her have the balloon.  After she popped it I lured her into mom and dad's room with a dog cookie.  And she is there sleeping right now.  

When I was driving Emmett and Papa in the punt, Emmett kept on yelling, "To Wallace's house!  To Wallace's house!"  So I drove it close to Wallace's beach and then Papa said we couldn't go any farther or we could get caught in our net.  So we went back home and got out of the punt.

Family Walk

We had beautiful weather yesterday.  Took a walk to the end of the beach last night - braved the bugs!  Leon put this little skiff

 he has in the water and then took the boys for 

a ride.  Garett got to drive :)  What an experience and another example of how cool our kids' lives are during the summer!

Encountered Wildlife

Living where we do during the summer, we encounter wildlife everyday.  There are fox, eagles, ravens, and land otters on our beach regularly.  Lucy chased a land otter from under one of our cabins all the way down to the beach and into the water!  I think she knew that she was up against a formidable opponent though (the otter is 3x as big as her at least!) because she was holding back a bit by a couple of feet.  

A week or so ago we spotted a beaver in our creek.  He had somehow ended up in the ocean and was trying to find his way back into fresh water.  Bryan's dad said that when they are in ocean water too long they get kind of "loopy".  The beaver was real lethargic and just trying to find a good place to hide.  He was gone up the creek by morning.  Amazing creature though!  Tons of fur and the tail was incredible.

Yesterday the boys and I were in the village so that they could go to "Salmon Camp" which is a summer camp basically put on by the Island Native Refuge or some such. 

 They go to all of the villages as well as town and do a 2 day camp.  Anyway, while we are at my friends house, she looks out the window and says, "There's a bear!"  So in true Alaskan style, we load our 6 kids into the back of a pick-up truck and ride over to where 

the bear is.  A Kodiak Grizzly mind you!  I had the prime spot of being IN the truck on the side where the bear was so I got a few good pictures and a video :)  I have tried to upload the video but it is taking WAY too long with the type of connection that we have.  So t

he pictures will have to suffice...

Our Summer Begins

The family is once again at our summer home - a 1/2 hour skiff ride out of the village of Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska.  Bryan, Emmett, and Lucy got out here first and Garett and I (Lara) arrived on June 2nd.  I swear it felt like we had never left starting with the landing in Kodiak.  Very strange.  It has been the easiest transition in years which I take to be a good omen :)  Let's see if that transfers to the amount of fish we catch!  Unfortunately, we have only had two 1 and a half day openers and there might not be another one until July.  The weather has been really decent though which is awesome.  The boys are outside right now at 9pm yelling and playing in the yard.  What's not to love!

So as an introduction, this is our (my) first venture in this type of thing.  My vision however is for both Garett and I to do posts so that we can give both perspectives of what life is like out here.

I was working on the beach this afternoon doing net work and had such a clear awareness of how our life out here is so similar to how it has been for almost a hundred years.  In the sense that everyone is working.  There are nets on shore to be mended.  Boats on the line.  A fire in the woodstove with someone preparing food for dinner in the kitchen.  A child runs down the path to the beach as a boat approaches with news from the "outside" and gifts from the store.  You take away the fact that we have a generator, a radio phone, and satellite internet, and you'd be hard pressed to guess the present year.  I love it!

I look forward to sharing more of our experiences with you and thanks for your patience while I learn all this "new fangled" stuff - ha!