friday was beautfiul. when eric got home from work, we loaded up the car and took off.
of course, we stopped for some cold tasty beverages.

we didn't get stuck in too much traffic, didn't have to pass too many rv's, and just had a lovely trip through the pass and down to the kenai peninsula.



the fine weather accompanied us to the north beach of the kasilof and
 i was first to strap on the gear and hop in the water

here's my first fish- she was a small one.
the chest waders didn't quite make it to my chest so some water splashed down inside.
i wonder if there is a market for maternity fishing gear?

we camped on the beach and our new air mattress held every drop of air we put in it. i slept very well for the few hours of sleep we got. the drunkards on the other side of us still had the country music blaring loudly at midnight, then turned if off round 3 or so, then had it blaring again at 4-5ish? it was nuts. regardless, i was evilly happy when someones car alarm started going off at 6-i hope they all had hangovers.
eric adjusted his fishing strategy since we were all alone and he had no fishing buddies. i had caught 3 the night before, and eric had caught 3 as well. instead of hitting the 1-3 am-ish tide, he slept in till he wanted to get up-around 8- and then he hopped back into the water. after the kids and i woke up, we walked the quarter mile to see how he was doing, and he had caught 3 more. we must have brought some luck with the tide-by lunchtime he had landed 6 more. our grand total was 15.

we were pretty determined to make this trip as easy as possible for all involved.
it was enough to call it a day. we had to get back to anchorage, and we had to take care of the fish and we didn't want to get home at midnight with fish to deal with.

we packed up camp, loaded the car-again, and took noah and selah to the boat ramp to have a little shot at rod and reel. they snagged a lot, lost a pixee and had a good time casting. then we really went home
[after a stop for coffee, donuts, and gas at the grocery store in soldotna]

now awaits the tedious though rewarding part where i chop fish up and stuff it in cans.
i am determined to not have as much sand this year.



did you want some watermelon juice?

eric was about to down a tall icy mouthful, but luckily he knew it wasn't really watermelon.
it's the water from the cooler. a viscously thick infusion of boughten ice cubes, melted and the slime and blood from, well, all the fish.

we decided to add it to the soil in the garden. it couldn't hurt, could it?

we had a wonderful time