Skip navigation

Tag Archives: Family

Sixteen years ago, on a hot humid Kansas day, in a pool full of warm water, a baby boy was born.

Isn’t he just the cutest??

Doesn’t seem possible that 16 years have passed. Now my “baby boy” is taller than I am.

He’s starting his sophomore year. He still likes LEGOs, some things never change! He has great taste in music and a wacky sense of humor. He’s a whiz at history, especially relating to WWII. And he likes to make goofy faces when I take his picture.

Goofy face number one.
Goofy face number two…
Number three…
Finally got a good pic of him!

He’s a handsome dude under the goofy faces.

Big fish = big smile

Happy birthday to my faithful Little Buddy.

Salmon is life.

Fresh catch, ready to snip tails, head and gut, then into the ice slurry.

A major part of our diet is salmon.

Mo’s salmon in jars ready to be processed.

Salmon burgers, salmon salad, salmon patties, salmon pasta, salmon noodle casserole, salmon enchiladas, smoked salmon on bagels with cream cheese, lazy sushi bowls with smoked salmon on top, salmon jerky, candied salmon…. You get the picture?

Are you hungry yet?

#aklife #lovealaska #salmon4life #livingofftheland

We started our Personal Use Fishing season with a bang. First tide out, three nets set and within 12 minutes we had fish in all three nets.

Net in the water.

We pulled 34 fish our first tide. Needless to say fishing has been good so far.

I’ll check in later, I’ve got fish to process.

#AKLife

#lovealaska

#subsistance

#salmon4life

#salmonlove

My baby girl passed her provisional permit exam and will be driving the snowy roads of the Kenai Peninsula.

Her introduction to filling out govt forms, which require legible script.
All official with her document. She’s so cute.

It seems like only yesterday that she was my little Curly Girlie playing with her dolls.

My cutie patootie around 2-3 years old.

Whelp, before I turn into a sappy mess I’ll cut this short. I’ll save the really sappy post for her 18th birthday later this year.

#AKlife

#lovemyfamily

#studentdriver

#shellalwaysbemybaby

@thelowestpickle

Four years ago my Seester came to visit me. Seems like yesterday and yet so long ago! I told her last week that it’s her turn to come visit me!!

Tu me manques.

Since I never made that follow up post about their visit, I thought I’d share a few highlights.

Waiting for them to come through the gate.
Our first meal together at Kriner’s in Anchorage.
A pit stop along the way home.
Photo op near home.
One of my favorite memories, seeing Papa and the kids walking hand in hand along the beach.
Had to stop in for a Salty Dog at the Salty Dawg.
Had to host a cookout for our friends to meet my folks. The weather was right for a bonfire.
And another salty dog. Someone forgot the salt tho, so I guess it’s a greyhound.
These two…
So long, farewell, adieu, until we meet again…
And they’re off. Love you! Come back soon.

Last October we began the process of buying the house we’ve been living in since 2014. It was an exhausting task to be sure. We had some things to do to satisfy the lender but we finally closed in late January 2020.

After signing our life away, we began the process of renovating to suit our large family and our lifestyle.

In no particular order…

We had our driveway regraded as it was super steep and on icy winter days our vehicles would slide right down to the bottom of our property.

We took out the large front window to create a main entry.

Girl’s room, they picked the color and scheme.

The main bath was a blank slate.

Framing the front entry hall/master bedroom wall.

Jake grading the driveway.

Dean moving the improperly installed gasline in the kitchen ceiling. There was a lot of this sort of thing. Major frustrations.

More wall framing.

We took out the side entry door and put in a window.

Added a front window, and my new bedroom will be bright and cheerful!

Flooring going down in the girl’s new room.

My new front door.

Painting prep in the girl’s room.

The inside view of my new bedroom windows.

Girl’s room, painted and ready for final trim.

The beach themed bathroom coming together. I built a linen storage, installed beadboard wainscoting and picked some cheerful colors!

Thing 2 doing some painting.

Getting ready to make the first cut.

Pocket door in the bathroom.

Drywall going up in the kitchen.

My new vessel sink for my beach bathroom.

Tile backer board around the tub. A whole lot of prep work.

We’re no where near done, but we’ve got a good start. After winter sets in and our outside work schedule slows down we’ll start working on the master bedroom and front entry again.

Since I took a posting sabbatical for most of 2018-2019, I thought I’d dedicate a couple posts to catch y’all up.
Some highlights from 2019.Outside the Salty Dawg Saloon, Homer AK, after our kayaking trip.Playing our grown up dreidle challenge game at Hanukkah.He said he could eat the whole 5# block of cheese!My little flower.Visiting my Rickerd in the hospital after his aneurism surgery in August.Pesach.My holiday wreath at the office, Central Peninsula Advocacy Center.Mark enjoying his 2nd, or 3rd? Childhood. What a sport he is! Lil Bit and the star of Willy Wonka.Lil Bit & Lil Mister playing at Little Puffins.Me & Lil Bit. She sure is growing up.Our kayaking trip out of Homer.Lil Bit and her violin instructor at Odies Deli, for a recital.Thing 1 and her boyfriend at Pesach.Her first formal recital.Shirley Mae came to visit me! What a special treat!Yom Kippur with Mark & Laquita.Pirate’s 23rd Psalm driftwood art. Gifted to me by my fellow piratty dreadie at heart. Pesach flowers.All spiffy!Me and my girl at Salmonfest. Our violins.Thing 1’s art entry for the Nenana Ice Classic.Pretty lil butterfly at Mom’s house.He wanted to be in the picture too.Fishcamp sunset.These two…Lil Mister’s new Play-Doh set, he said look Mom, it’s you, she has dreadlocks!Glorious cheese and fruit trays made by Mo.Sukkot campfire.Thing 1’s first multimedia art project.Just us gals at our holiday party.Hanging with my chicks at their birthday party.Working on my copper salmon for the Kenai River Festival recycled art show.Thing 1 helping my on a tile job.Thing 1 with her new bunny “Francis” Franny, or bad bunny as I call her.Solstice Sister’s dinner at Princess Lodge above Cooper Landing.A glorious fire at Mo’s.Miss Jane trying to infect Lil Mister with the bug.Fun at Salmonfest.Solstice Sisters dinner at Shawna’s before Niki leaves.Wine & paint for Elaina’s birthday.Fierce ninja warrior. He cracked his head open roughhousing with his brother. This child goes not do well with blood.She wanted to try curly hair, so her sister put her up in rollers. Cute, but too much work.Passing the time before our plane arrives. Our family trip to Kansas & Georgia to see family.Epic ice unicorn. We had some killer icicles this winter.Practice makes perfect.Rock climbers out at Gray Cliffs.Truth!Dean’s siblings & Lil Mister in Georgia.Solstice Sisters Fourth of July cookout. Photo bomber Thing 2.Thing 2 learning to tape & mud. Working on the girl’s new room.Whew, what a upload of photos!

Yesterday we were preparing for our Rosh Hashanah service, and having all these fresh local apples, we decided to make some apple prints!

Painted apples

It was chaotic, messy fun. In other words, normal arts and crafts time around here.

All the things.

Each kiddo, and me too of course, printed two cards. We had fun being creative. And it’s always fun to see how each of the kids has a different interpretation on the assignment.

One masterpiece.

For my student taking botany (Lil Bit) this is her instruction on how to do specimen prints (with ink instead). I’m sure she’ll have an entire notebook filled with leaf prints by the end of the school year.

We went on to create some delicious salads to share at our service. I made this one because I love quinoa salads and this salad with kale instead of spinach (because that’s what I had!). Both were delicious and will be added to our regular menu.

Our service was lovely, adorned with beautiful sunflower bouquets! And delicious food of course. And we begin another year! L’Shana Tova!

Mo’s homegrown sunflower bouquets.