Last Unalakleet Summer Picts

The view from our backyard July 5.

If you look closely, you can see a faint double rainbow in this second pict.

Alas, the days of our summer dwindle...

This season has been busy: moving into our new place, installing a new boat motor, fixing the pickup, tending to our wild backyard to create a usable space, and Jake working full-time. But even with all the activities, we've had a lot of fun just being a family together... lots of little hikes on the tundra & walks on the beach, boat and 4-wheeler rides, fishing and picnics, working & hanging out in the yard, blowing bubbles & throwing rocks into the ocean, playing ball, feeling Jonah kick more and more, and generally being silly to keep our often-goofy toddler company. We'll be heading to WA in a few days, and will see many of you (Yeah! We are excited to see you!!!), but it will be a fast trip, and almost immediately upon our arrival back home to UNK, the speed of our days will pick back up to a rolling boil. We'll still get in some good berry-picking, silver fishing, and outings... but they will be less frequent, and we'll have less time to post. Here are some of our last "relaxed" picts for this summer. Enjoy!

DJ taking a break from the hike to enjoy the wildflowersDaniel charming the camera
Dad & DJ working in the yard

DJ at the "summit" of one of our hikes. He's been a little trooper... making it up all the hills is actually quite a feat for someone with such short legs on very spongy tundra.
After a bath (to wash off all the dirt from a 4-wheeler ride).
Mom & Deej Hangin' Out
Janelle driving the boat (It's a little less scary to "read the river" with a more powerful, working motor.)
Daniel posing on a beach walk.
Jake & DJ tinkering around on a rainy afternoon

Hope you're each making the best of your summertime and having fun as well!

Never W/O The Camera Again

Up through Monday, June 30, we had taken our camera on every single outing. On Tues, July 1, we decided that we'd gotten enough picts for a while, and left the camera at home for the first time all summer. Never again...

It was early in the afternoon, (Jake's been going to work early and getting off at 3 P.M.), and it was sunny in the village but sprinkling showers upriver--the kind of day that makes rainbows, when we're really glad there's a canopy on our boat. Because of the time, weather, and the fact everyone else was still at work, we had the river to ourselves; Vance and Leona were the only other people we saw on the river during the entire outing.

I hooked and fought with my first king salmon of the season (woo-hoo!), but lost it close to the boat... got some more king strikes, but we only came home with humpies.

Done with our fishing, cruising back down the river, we saw a large shape in the channel just West of South River. Jake asked me what it was, and I joked, "A whale," thinking that it was probably just the roots or log of a large tree floating down the channel. As we got closer, it turned, and we saw an enormous rack in the water... attached to a moose! We know this is common. After all, we've found several moose and bear tracks along the banks every year. But we've never actually seen a moose fording the river before... we tend to see more around the Anchorage airport from the car or in UNK from a plane. We got to watch it swim all the way across, and DJ got a big surprise as it came out on the other side and became VERY tall. He said, "W-ow." It was a beautiful bull. Hunting season doesn't start until Sept. 1, and only 16 are allowed in our game unit this year... hopefully we'll see another moose when that time comes around too. But this was cool, anyway. Definitely a rarity for people from WA state who don't get a clear view of them in the wild that often. We're going out hiking, boating, or both every day now, and we'll be going out early again today--with the camera! Cross your fingers that we can catch one of the critters we've seen on camera so we can share with you.

Janelle