Goodbye!

Summer is over. School has started. We are back into the swing of things here in the city. The transition home this year has been a strange one. Bryan is with us which is unusual. (He was able to take Emmett to class on his first day of Kindergarten which was really important to him and was totally awesome.) Both boys are in school now so we are getting used to 2 lunches, 2 backpacks, 2 sets of paperwork, 2 packets of homework, etc... The strangest thing for me is that I don't feel like I have missed 3 months of time here. It honestly feels like I went out our back door and a few minutes later, entered our front door. Everything is the same - including the pace of life that we left. That's probably what gets me the most this time around. I TOTALLY appreciate the life we have at camp, the pace, the routine, the ease, the time with family. The boys are happy to be back but overwhelmed at the same time. There are night time fears that weren't there before and tears that come on all of a sudden. All in all though it is good to be home and everyone is rested, happy, and doing well.

Goodbye East House! We love this cabin and will love seeing it again in the spring.

Goodbye guys! You were awesome and we totally miss hanging out and talking with you. Good luck adjusting back into the "real" world and with the rest of the year.

Hello school!

Thank you so much for reading this blog. It was a lot of fun to do. Hope you enjoyed yourself and check back in with us next season. Have a wonderful year and we'll be back in 9 months!

A Side Note

In between Kodiak and Home, we made a pit stop in Anchorage to visit family. The weather was beautiful and we managed to make it to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. This was our second time to the fair and the kids just have a blast! Here are a few highlites. I went with the theme of "Everything in Alaska is Bigger!" (Texas, eat your heart out!)

My sister says that this Ferris Wheel has one of the best views in the world - on a nice day.

This cabbage ended up breaking the world's record if you can believe it!

Miss Piggy was overdue the day we were there. About 3 days later she finally had 11 babies!

The trip home

1. Push the skiff into the water with the tractor.

2. Load luggage into the skiff and hope it stays dry on the ride into the cannery/Larsen Bay.

3. Take the van up to the landing strip. Unexpected situations may arise: high tide, bears, forklift stuck in the only road, etc...

4. Fly to Kodiak on a small bush plane, weather permitting. Flight takes about 30 minutes.
5. Fly to Anchorage and then wait for another plane to take us HOME.
6. It is the middle of the night and time for the last leg of the trip. The shuttle ride!

Wrapping it up!

The end of the season arrived earlier than usual this year. After waiting for more than 2 weeks for Fish and Game to make a decision on whether or not to open again, we made the decision that it was time to go home. Part of the packing up process at camp includes putting the nets away, cleaning out the boats and putting them in the Boat House, winterizing the cabins and engines, taking inventory on any foods or goods that are being left behind for the next summer, pulling up the lines and anchors that are still in the water, and boarding up the cabins. I helped with the inventory and getting our cabin in order. The rest of it falls on Bryan's, Leon's, and the crew's shoulders. They pretty much worked full force after the boys and I left. These are some pictures to give an idea of some of the things that we do to get the camp ready for the winter. As you can see, during the summer the Boat House doubles as an indoor play ground for the boys.

Road Trip!!!!

Before the boys and I left camp, we took a day trip with some friends to another bay. We had beautiful sunny weather the two days before hand but on this day it was grey and damp! Oh well, such is Alaska...

We all met up at a friends cabin and took two skiffs up the river at the head of the bay (Zachar Bay). We went at

high tide since it is marsh land. The skiffs were tide up down

stream a bit and then we walked farther up the river to do some fishing. There were signs o

f bear EVERYWHERE! Bear trails, footprints, scat, half eaten fish, etc... Amazingly we saw no bears the whole time we were there. The day was fantastic! I haven't been up a river for a million years so I was totally enjoying the moment. Everyone caught a salmon including the kids. We had a great picnic with cucumbers from the garden, homemade cookies, smoked salmon, and deer sausage. Definitely a day that we will remember for a long time!

Net Mending

Once the nets are cleaned, the next job is to "mend" them. That means we fix up or patch any holes or tears in the web of the net. To do this we use a special twine and a mending needle. You start with making a granny knot at the beginning of the tear/hole and then with a few more knots, twists, and flicks of the wrist, you end with another granny and cut it loose.

This is probably the job that our crew likes the least (well besides emptying the outhouse - but that goes without saying...)

It is tedious and can be trying for some people. It can be hard to see where to start or sometimes how to finish a mend. In the pictures below, the lighter colored twine is where we fixed a hole. I actually like mending and it is one of the jobs that I always help out with. Once the nets are mended, they are then ready to be put back into

the boat for the next opening.

Fishing for Fun

Sometimes we are able to take a little time for fun.

Leon gets his "fun" boat, Lakota, ready and takes everyone out to do a little sport fishing.

This shot is of Steven and, what looks like, a heavy halibut.

Garett is the king of sea bass fishing.  Every time he goes, he knocks 'em dead!

The last time they went out they got a BIG surprise...

This enormous Cod!  The tender weighed it at 46lbs.  The funny thing is that Leon reeled it in because it was eating the Greenling that he had originally caught!  Wish I had the picture of that fish because it was a good sized one itself!

A close up of the beast from the deep!

Our Gardens

This is my garden this year.  Sweet Peas and radishes.  It isn't doing very well but I tried.

This will be my garden next summer.  Right now it only grows fishermen who carpenter. 

This is Judy's green house.  Inside is a lush forest of zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, lettuce, and tomatoes!  It is also a favorite place of the bears because the compost pit is in the back.

This is Judy's new raised garden at the back of the house.  She started everything in the green house and then transplanted it here last month.  The peas are out of control.  They are huge and have only just started flowering!  There is broccoli, lettuce, brussel sprouts, potatoes, radishes, peas.

The satellite dish up above is what allows us to have internet.  

That pesky bear!

He was back! The one night that Leon wasn't waiting for him of course. The darn thing broke into our warehouse and ate up ALL the salmon that Bryan and Justin had put on the racks to smoke. As Bryan put it, "It was a stealth job!" It was like he was in and out. Every piece of salmon is gone and the racks hardly disturbed. An entire bag of garbage - GONE! No trace of it. Bryan remembers locking the far side door which he must have because the ramp leading down from there was broken. The bear must have gone up it and tried to force the door open by standing on its back legs. Bryan isn't certain if he locked the other side door. That was most likely the point of entry .... it left out of the swinging double doors at the front of the warehouse. So Justin and Bryan were very depressed to see that their fish was gone, and everyone helped take down the busted ramp.

This afternoon the bear came out of the wood down onto the beach. Everyone was warned and Papa and Bryan took off on the 4-wheeler, shot gun in hand. Leon managed to get a shot off but the bear was a little far so don't know if he got stung or not. I think the doors to everything will be shut and locked tonight! Hope that bear enjoyed his salty salmon!

PS. I finally figured out how to answer comments that some of you have left. So check it out!

Bear Pics

*pictures by Leon

Bear Encounter by Garett

Yesterday when me and mom were down on the beach, Paul came out of the cabin of the Lazy Bay and says "Your neighbor said that there is a bear coming your way."  Mom looked to the end of the beach and saw the bear crossing the creek toward us.  Me, mom, and Emmett ran home.  Later the bear got to camp.  

In the middle of the night he broke the screen door in the Main Cabin and ate all of the chili that we had set out from dinner.  He also tried a few potatoes but didn't like them that much.

*pictures will follow

Fun facts...

1.  Our electricity comes from a generator and solar panels.  The solar is fairly new.  We only turn the power on in the evening.  Generally between 5 and 10 pm.

2.  We do have a washing machine.  It uses the water from the creek so there is no HOT setting.  There is a dryer but it isn't very good so we hang our clothes out on the line.

3.  I mentioned before that we bathe every 3-4 days.  We wear the same clothes for that time period too.  Changing underwear and socks is purely personal - ha!

4.  I also mentioned that we deliver our fish in slush ice.  We have two ice machines down the beach in our boat house.  They make ice chips from the water in the creek nearby.  The ice is stored in totes so that it stays ready.  These machines are also run by generator.

5.  There are bathrooms in the main cabin and in our cabin.  The crew (for the most part) uses the outhouse.  That's right - outhouse!

6.  We heat the cabins with either a wood stove or a propane or oil stove.  The stoves we use to cook with, as well as our refrigerators and hot water heaters, are also run on propane.

7.  Fresh produce is really hard to get out here.  It also costs and arm and a leg.  Judy has a nice green house that she grows, tomatoes, peas, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini in.  She also grows lettuce, string beans, broccoli, and potatoes.  We are both trying radishes this year and she's doing brussel sprouts.  Nothing is ready to eat though usually until August and later.

8.  We pick fish 3 times a day.  The guys leave at 7 in the morning for the first one.  They have breakfast when they get back in - no matter what that time may be.  The 2nd pick is at 2 and the last one is after dinner at 7.  We deliver our fish after every pick.

9.  When fishing, breakfast is one of the following:  pancakes and bacon, french toast and sausage, eggs and hash, or hot cereal with toast.  So far Adam is the front runner with the most pancakes eaten!

10.  We do have internet (after 5 when the power is on) but NOT when it rains.  For some reason, we cannot get a signal in the rain.

That's it for now!

Sea Life

The guys found an octopus in one of our nets yesterday.  Today they found a giant sea cucumber.  It is amazing really how many strange and new sea creatures 0ur boys have been able to see and experience out here.  The octopus I think is one of the most unique.  They are really strange creatures.  For those Seattlites that are reading this....no harm came to either the octopus or the sea cucumber.  Both were released in their natural habitats - after we snapped a few pictures of course :)

* photo by Garett

Banya Day!

Yay! Yay! It's Banya Day!  

For those of you who don't know what that is or why it is so exciting, it means a BATH!  

The top picture is of our banya.  This is where we scrub ourselves clean every 3-4 days.  The picture on the right is inside the banya.  There are two rooms.  One for dressing/undressing, and one for getting clean.  We heat water on a wood stove as you can see in the picture.  There is also a tub of cold water.  You mix the two levels of heated water in smaller buckets and ..... you have it!  Warm water to bath with.  The water comes from a creek that runs nearby into the ocean.  So yes, it is bath day and we are all feeling fine!

Cast of Characters #4

This is Nana and Papa.  They are the most important people at camp.  Without them there would be no camp!  Leon is Bryan's dad and Judy is his mom.  My sister and I spent every summer with our grandparents so I love that my kids get to do the same.  Plus who else is going to give the boys grape pop and cookies when I tell them no more sweets!  haha

*pictures taken by Garett

Cast of Characters #1

This is the Francisco Family.

Top left is Garett.  He's the older brother.  Top right is Emmett.  He's the younger brother.

Daddy (Bryan) is on the bottom left and Mommy (Lara) on the right.

**All photos are taken by Garett

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...