No, I would not jump off a bridge if all my friends were doing it....

...but apparently I will start a blog. I admit it; I have blog envy. Seriously, I have enjoyed my friends' and family members' blogs SO much, that I hope you will enjoy ours even half as much; it would be worth it.


OK, as a likely presumptuous and conceited addendum to WHY I am now a blogger... we just flat out do some really cool stuff! In fact, this is what we did this weekend.
We left Friday morning at about 7am and we went fishing. And camping. In the boat. With a four-year-old and a 16-month-old, the youngest of whom is still in diapers. We fished for about 12 hours each day, probably more. The girls did so great! Gwen can reel up a silver salmon (as showcased above) almost all by herself now; Greg is so proud. Today, as the girls were napping, Greg and I talked about how much fun it is to be out there, just the four of us with no cell phones, no iPods, no electronic devices at all (except of course for the USCG-approved and mandated VHF and our nifty GPS/chartplotter/fish finder combo deal) in this day and age when most kids need at least some sort of hand-held video game and maybe even a portable DVD player to avoid being BORED all dang day long and a royal pain in the rear end. (Wow, did I say that out loud?) Not our girls. I kid you not, they played with these items for almost two hours:

1. empty cardboard tube from paper towel roll
2. empty cardboard tube from toilet paper roll
3. three hootchies
4. five rocks

First the hootchies got married, then they all loaded up in the cardboard tube to go to a doctor's appointment, then they took turns sitting on the various rocks and riding in each of the girls' hoods, which should have been snug upon their little rainy heads. These girls have such an amazing life and they don't even know it yet!

Earlier, I mentioned diapers, and I'm gonna have to revist that topic. Have you ever changed a soiled (not merely wet) diaper while baby is perched on a cold, slimy cooler on the deck of an open skiff at 22 knots? Bracing! Exhilarating! Nerve-wracking, knowing that at any moment you could feel the warm slap of an air-born poopy Pampers smacking your cheek. It's a skill set I never dreamed I'd employ. I must be getting used to this crazy life though, because all I could think of while I was making funny faces at Amelia and wiping things clean was, "Well, at least it's not raining!"

On another high note, I weighed in a 20.7 lb King salmon, and took the number 25 spot (top 100 get prizes or cash) in the 62nd Annual Golden North Salmon Derby. We didn't get any pictures of the fish, and I have no idea where we caught it, but it was a good fighter and a really pretty fish. We'll find out at the awards presentation on Wednesday evening what prize I get. Check back here to see what we won.

OK, I am still rockin' and rollin' from being on that blasted boat so long, so I'm hitting the hay.

You will enjoy your visits to this ALASKA blog, I gare-un-teee! So, bookmark us and come on back whenever you like; we'll be here!