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

Fun In The Summertime

Got crabs? We do. Jake has been making a lot of Idaho jokes lately, saying that only there and in UNK would you bump into people and get crabs so easily... but I think we have the better end of the deal up here. They're not the biggest, but our Norton Sound Arctic King Crab are SOOOO sweet! Don't even need buttah. We don't have a crab pot, but we have a lot of nice neighbors and friends... our freezer is full of these guys (and they're fresh... they were still moving before we put them on ice). Mmm, mm, mmm!

On June 21, our friends Heidi & Herb tied the knot up on Army Hill. They had the best weather of the summer so far for their celebration, and we all had a good time.

A few of my choir girls from this year came to practice in our yard to get ready to sing & play a few songs at the wedding reception.

DJ with a bucket on his head. We don't do these things to him... he comes up with it all on his own.

Heidi & Herb saying their vows.

Everyone attending.

DJ taking a break up the hill with Jasmine and Carter.

A week later (as you've read) our boat motor came in, and we had great weather for both of our first two trips. Like normal on the Unalakleet National Scenic & Wild River, the water was clear, and we could see to the bottom all along North River, and watch the fish follow our lures to the boat as we reeled in. Sw-eet!

Jake & DJ ready to embark.

On Friday night we just took a ride. It was awesome. The motor was so quiet we could hear the water splashing, and the unsecured snaps of the canopy clicking against the boat (noises that have been constant but previously undetectable with the decibel level of our old motor) and we got on plane faster than we ever have before.






























Saturday was for fishing. We took our friend Reza with us, and although we didn't catch any kings, we got a few large graylings, some pinks, and a dolly... enough to have a great, fresh-fish dinner anyway. We also saw a river otter (sorry, wasn't quick enough to get a picture)... but it's always cool to see them--sooo cute! We caught some stick fish too :-) but had an overall good afternoon on the water.



















Can you tell we love our new motor? Woo-hoo! If you call and can't reach us from now 'til mid-July, we're probably upriver. :-)

Janelle

Boat Motor Installation

Our new Yamaha motor came in yesterday and I went to work on it as soon as I brought it back from the airport. The old motor was still hanging off the back of the boat, so I started off by removing the rest of the bolts holding the transom to the stern of the boat. These bolts hadn't moved in a long time so it took some elbow grease to break them loose. After that I called our friend Tim Daniels (airplane mechanic) to see if he could come over and help me take off the old motor. We took it off and placed it into the back of our pickup. After the big cage the new motor came in was removed, Tim came back over and helped put the new motor onto the transom (I didn't know how hard it would be to lift 236 lbs up 4 inches). We got it placed and to our surprise all of the holes for our old motor matched up with the new one.

I started to run the throttle lines when Janelle came out and said it was time for our evening hike up Army Hill. So Janelle, Daniel, and I took a break. We hopped on the 4-wheeler and cruised up to the trail at the base of the hill. We walked about 3/4 of the way up the hill, but the wind started to pick up and DJ was getting pretty tired of walking around up there so we headed back down the hill.
Halfway up Army Hill. Janelle bearing her 6.5mo belly. Janelle & DJ chillin on the tundra.

After we came back and put Daniel to bed I made the attempt to assemble the throttle cables, but there were no directions on where they hooked up on the motor. Instead of getting frustrated I just ran them along the side of the boat and came inside for the night. I finished the motor tonight when Tony can come down and helped me run the lines. More to come on our 2nd boat trip of the season, and first run with the new motor...

Jake

Baby, Baby!

Drumroll, please...

After much deliberation, consultation, and inspiration, we have finally picked a name for DJ's brother-to-be. On October 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, (TBA) Jonah Dathan Snyder will officially join our family. He is already making others aware of his presence by the size and movement of Janelle's midsection; everything seems to be going well.

We got the idea for Jonah from Daniel. Part of his bedtime routine is picking a book from the bookshelf in his room to read. When we started seriously discussing names, Daniel chose to read a children's version of the story of Jonah (that he had never read before). He chose the same book every night for about a week. We had asked Daniel about a lot of other names, and he said "No" to several, but he said "Yes" to Jonah.

For those of you who are so excited that you feel the need or desire to shop for Jonah: We just went through all of our boy clothes that have not been worn out, stained, or donated to the local church, and we know what we need and don't need. We could use a few newborn clothes, including a Halloween costume, and maybe a couple 3mo & 12mo outfits... but what we really need is 6mo & 9mo clothes. We don't need any winter gear (snowsuits, hats, mittens)... just regular clothes, sleepers, etc. for 6-9mo. We need socks for every size (they seem to get lost and/or wear out fast). Don't want to sound presumptuous, so don't buy if you weren't planning to... but we know some of you are already shopping, so we thought we'd let you know what would help the most.

Love you all.

First Boat Trip of the Year

I got the boat running yesterday, so we launched and headed up the river. Everything was running fine until we got almost to the mouth of the North River. Then the boat died. After working on the boat I realized that I had forgotten to open the vent on the gas can. The boat fired right up and off we went up the river again. After that the boat just didn't run right for the rest of the trip, but we didn't let it stop us from trying a little fishing at the mouth of the South River.



After Daniel's first cast (with the help of his mom) he hooked a grayling. He reeled it in and was very happy with himself for hooking the fish. Janelle and I asked him if he wanted to keep and he said, "No," so we watched it swim away.



After fishing for a little while longer we headed back to Unalakleet. The boat stopped a few times on the way back, so we decided to stop and fish in the mouth of the river. We fished for about 20 min and then decided to go, but the boat wouldn't start. After floating around the mouth of the river for a while, someone stopped and towed us home. This now makes 2 years in row that we have had to get towed home on our first trip out. As we were getting towed back Janelle and I decided that it is time to replace the motor. So Monday we're called Dewey's in Anchorage and ordered a new Yamaha 4 stroke motor.

Jake

In case you haven't heard, this is our latest news:

Janelle is about 23 weeks along... starting to look pregnant... feeling lots of kicks... strangely having some morning sickness (after an easy 1st trimester), but otherwise feeling good... and we know the sex, of course. :0) Everything looked good/healthy/normal at the 20 wk checkup.