Monday evening/Tuesday morning: picked up part of the family arriving from New Mexico. Stayed up till 2:30 am catching up and eating before bed.
Tuesday: Dad and the kids and I took them (5 of them) to the Anchorage Museum/Imaginarium and then to Ship Creek to look at Chinese tourists look for fish...Well, actually, we were there looking for fish too, but it turned out to be more fun watching the other tourists look for fish. :) Then, they did a little shopping at Walmart and then we went home for a wonderful moose roast dinner Mom made. Yum! Good job, Mom!
Tuesday night: Picked up Alene's daughter and her family who flew in from Virginia. They stayed with Dad's other cousin who lives in Anchorage also.
Wednesday: French toast for breakfast, and then more shopping (fishing licenses and hip boots), and, of course, a Costco run. Deep fried halibut dinner - thank you, again, Mom!!! And homemade ice cream (good job, Bonnie) and Costco cake for dessert. Here's Dad about to enjoy dinner...
Then the real fun begins....
Thursday: Dad and Mom had pre-op appointments to attend during the day so they couldn't come until later in the day. Out of the house by 9:15 (8 of us), pick up other cousins (+3), pack up in the motorhome and my truck and head to the Russian/Kenai confluence where we take the ferry across the river for COMBAT FISHING!!! YAY! After a short tutorial on how TO and NOT TO fish at the Russian River, my cousins made their way (carefully) into the river looking like old pros! We had (took over) five spots all together and they all did wonderfully. That was until it started getting a tad chilly, and windy, and they weren't having any luck. I even heard one of them say they were done. So, I decided to get out there and give it a try. I think it was my second cast (flip) and I got a fish on. That gave them the reassurance that they needed and I think they stayed out there for at least three more hours. I did get one fish - that almost got away, but I got in the river with it to make sure it didn't! - and only got in one altercation! This guy said he's also fished that river for 30 years, yet he STILL chased his fish down river through at least 20 people before finally having it netted. I told him he could bank it, but he didn't appreciate my friendly advice. Strange. He did, however, decide later to take my advice. I gave him the proper encouragement when he did by calling out, "Good job! You did it!" I'm such a nice person. :)
So, sopping wet (the water warmed up in my boots quite nicely), we headed back across the river to the rv. I gutted and cleaned my fish on the stairs since the cleaning table was full. It started to rain so we decided to head to Seward and eat our moose hamburgers there. The motorhome wouldn't start. Called Dad (Mom and Dad were still in Anchorage because of the highway closure) and he told me what to do to get the engine running. Something to do with the batteries...motorhome started, we left and headed to Seward.
Mile 14, 20 minutes from Seward - the motorhome looses power and quits - on a corner, up a hill. I drive toward Seward with three, scared little kids in the car and my cousin's wife, Meg. We called another one of my cousins who used to live in Seward and he found us a tow truck. Long story short (haha) we all - including my parents - made it to the Breeze Inn by around midnight where we rented four hotel rooms and ate deli food from Safeway warmed up for us by the wonderful hotel clerk at the Breeze Inn in their office microwave.
Friday: Motorhome fixed by my amazing Dad, breakfast at the Breeze Inn Cafe. Yum! Later, fun and pictures on the beach, moose hamburgers and then touring the SeaLife Center. I also had to play a little practical joke on the boys who sat in rear of the truck while the girls all sat inside the truck - on the way to the SeaLife Center. As many of you know, there is a giant waterfall on the edge of town. Since it was such a hot, Alaskan day I decided that the boys could use a fresh rinse so, being the nice person I am, I drove to that waterfall and the mist coming off of it was just perfect for a mid-afternoon cool-down. I parked the truck, with the boys in that cool mist - twice! They were slightly amused. (Insert evil laughter here.)
Cousins left on their cruise around 8:30 pm and we were so sad to see them go! It was fun waving to them from the beach, though! :)
Mom, Dad, and me and my kids stayed in Seward on the beach Friday night. The kids and I decided to go back to the Russian (one last time as Alaskans) for just a few hours. Bad idea. We forgot many things in the motorhome - among them, Robert's hip boots (he wore my big ones) and life jackets. But, I took the kids across the river on the ferry and let Robert try to fish for a while anyway. After a few minutes of nothing but snags, I decided to get out there too. Good thing I did. I told Robert to "get it out there further" - meaning his line. He thought I said for him to get out there further. For those of you who do not fish at the Russian/Kenai confluence, it is an unwritten rule that you should not go out too far. It is a very swift river and there have been lives lost from people falling and getting swept away. This happened to Little Robert and had I not been downriver and close to him...I don't even want to think about it. When he fell, his boots immediately filled with water and he couldn't get his footing, then he panicked and let go of his fishing pole while trying to keep his head above water. I calmly grabbed him and dragged him to the bank. No fishing pole, but Robert was safe. My lesson: don't try to do so much in such a short time. Stop when you're tired and not prepared.
Now to get ready for another busy week with my Dad's knee replacement surgery on August 9th, to be followed by Robert's sixth ear surgery on the 19th, to be followed by our big trip down the Alcan on September 18th!
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