Mom and Dad's Visit

Mom and dad were here for a visit last week over Memorial Day. Brant and I both had 4 day weekends, so it was the perfect time to have visitors! We went out to eat at all of our favorite restaurants in town and the weather was nice almost the whole time! Mom and dad got to see a moose on the way back from dinner on Thursday night - the first day they were here! On Friday, we left for Seward for the weekend and had planned a fishing charter for all day Saturday. On the way down, we got a call and our charter got cancelled due to bad weather, so it got postponed until Sunday. On our way down to Seward, which is about a 2.5 hour drive south of Anchorage, we stopped at the Conservation Center and saw a bunch of wildlife, including black bear, grizzlies, a porcupine (that was a first, and they stink like crazy!), moose, caribou, and some other animals as well. We got down to Seward and went to dinner at Ray's - a restaurant that Brant's parents recommended that they went when they were here on their cruise last summer. It was on the water at the marina and had a beautiful view of the mountains - and was really yummy! Since our charter was cancelled on Saturday, we had the day to fiddle around town. We went to the SeaLife museum, which is kind of a rehabilitation center for animals. And I was excited we got to see Puffin! After we left the SeaLife museum, drove to Exit Glacier. It's a huge glacier in Seward with lots of trails you can hike to the foot or all the way to the top. We took the hike to the foot of the glacier as it was getting to be dinner time :) We hit the hay early as we had to be to our charter at 6am the next day. The weather was not good again on Sunday, so we didn't get to go out as far as we wanted for King Salmon, but luckily we still got to go out. It was a long fun day. Dad was the only one that caught a halibut. Mom, Brant, and I all caught cod, and then mom caught a rockfish. There were 5 halibut caught on our boat total and the biggest one was 90lbs!! We got our fish packaged up and headed back to Eagle River. Monday was Memorial Day, and Brant wanted to take our salmon rods down to Ship Creek to fish for king salmon, as they are just starting to swim into the rivers this week. Mom and I dropped of Brant and dad to fish while we took Duke down to splash around in the river. He had a blast and good thing I had him on his leash - he's not quite big enough to fight the current on his own yet :) We went back to pick up the guys and our first sight was dad climbing up the hill with no boots and mud up to his knees, holding his fishing pole. Apparently, they got in a pretty mucky spot, and he sunk into the mud and got his boots stuck. Brant tried to help dig his boots out, but they were too stuck. So, he had to crawl out of his boots and leave them. We found a hose to hose him off, and Brant rode home in the back of the truck with Duke because he was just as muddy. Brant and I had to go back to work on Tuesday, so mom and dad were on their own to explore. I got a text message at work on Tuesday afternoon from mom that said "moose in your yard." I gave her a call, and she said there were two moose in the neighborhood and they were currently in the front yard, one was sniffing our trash can, and dad was hiding behind the birch tree to get a closer look! I told her to remind him that they WILL charge you if you get to close. He risked his life, but got some pretty good pictures :) We've never seen moose in our neighborhood before...maybe we should start staying home from work a little more :) We had a great visit with them and are looking forward to other visitors this summer!!

DUKE!!

Brant and I have a new addition to the family :) We got Duke last weekend from a breeder in Eagle River. We had been looking to possibly get one this summer, but we found him, and he was the last puppy left out of a litter of 7 born on January 29th. He's 14 weeks old and growing like a weed - he already weighs 35 pounds!! He loves his kennel at night, which is good - not much whining...until anywhere between 4am and 6am. He follows us around the house, including sitting on the rug just outside the shower! I take him on a walk every morning before I get ready for work, and then Brant and I both take him on a walk after dinner. We are very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors that offered to help us out during the day. Thea and Lily come over at lunch time and let Duke out to the bathroom, feed him, and play with him for awhile. Lily is 3 and was mortified that we were naming our puppy Duke because "that's a silly name for dog poop - Poopie Dookie!" But, I think she's gotten over that! This is his favorite toy - his hedgehog. He cuddles with it every night :) My friend Suzanne has a 7 month old black lab, Harley, and they are training him to be a hunting dog. She invited us to a "Fun Duck Hunt" this weekend in Wasilla where Harley was competing. They had blinds set up in the field, they would shoot into the air and slingshot a frozen dead duck into the sky. They did this three times for each dog, and the dog was supposed to retrieve the duck and bring it back. It was fun, and we took Duke so he could be around some other dogs and see what the Fun Hunts were all about. We love him!