Dude, is that a purse?

One last thought from the Mexico trip. It may seem a bit weird but the picture is a purse. With all of my camera gear stuffed in my backpack I had no room for my itinerary and a few magazines. I asked Angela if she had any little bags; she gave me a purse. I was a bit apprehensive about carrying a purse around, but I have to say that I love it. Now don't get me wrong, its only for travel and not everyday use. It is handy to have on the plane. It can be tucked right by your feet taking up very little space. I even grabbed a candy bar in the airport and threw it in the man purse for later. A pack of gum, no problem. To make the whole man purse thing work you have to sport it with confidence. Right over the neck and one shoulder and it doesn't look too girly. It counts as a personal item in addition to a carry on, and with the one checked bag rule it adds a bit of storage capacity. You probably shouldn't try to get away with a pink purse though. If you are secure with your masculinity, grab a purse and jump on the plane. ~Erik

Catching up

I needed to catch up. Last week Josh called and wanted to get some shots of Redoubt. He is going to try and climb it this spring and was looking at different routes to take. We flew around the mountain and it was amazing. The weather was great as shown in the pictures. On the way back we flew along the bluff and took a shot of a fellow co-worker house. It was a great trip. ~Erik

Say Whiskey!

I finally got home from my trip to Mexico. You will be seeing a few posts from the trip. I would have posted more while I was there but I we had too much packed into too little time. I was able to walk around Campeche for a few hours and take a few pictures the first day I was there. You can see the Campeche photo stream here. I will pull a few pictures from here and there on the next few posts. I asked Keith how to say cheese in Spanish so I could get kids to smile for pictures. I was informed that they say whiskey in Mexico instead of cheese. Hey, it seemed a bit weird to me, but as I was walking around the town square we saw some kids and they all started shouting "Whiskey!!!" So they got their pictures taken. Everyone was very friendly. Stay tuned tomorrow for "There be Pirates in them thar waters..."

Anchorage Trip

We took a trip up to Anchorage to help my sister and husband move. I suckered my little brother into coming also. We drove the truck up and pulled a trailer too. It was a bit tight in the truck and Owen kept kicking Matt's back. Matt had enough and said he just wanted to sleep in the back of the truck. I thought it was a bit weird since it was 35 F outside but he had been accommodating by helping with the move. So we threw him in the back. Kind of looks like a homeless guy that jumped in the back of the truck. I told Matt that if a cop pulled us over I would act really surprised like some homeless dude jumped into the truck without us knowing.
The second picture is showing some fall colors. The leaves are dropping fast. The first picture is a shot of the mirror on the truck and I thought it looked cute. Enjoy. ~Erik

Trip to Homer

We left the kids with the Grandparents and went to Homer this weekend. We had a great time. I will post a few other pictures later when I have more time. This was a photo shoot that we did at Bishop's beach in Homer. There is a bit of a story, but the image is just Angela and I acting very mature. ~Erik

Trip to the Park...

Here are a few shots from the Park. I also started posting a couple shots through flickr. It is a pain to get lightbox to work with flickr links. I think that I have it working though. I was using my 2 new flashes. I think that it turned out pretty nice. We stole the flying kid thing from Rach and Nick. As you can see the kids wore Angela completely out. Here is a slide show on flickr.

That was then, This is now...

We decided to go up Russian River Falls trail this last weekend. The kids did great - it's 4.6 miles round trip. We went last year around the same time with our friends, the Hansens. We took pictures last year at this bridge which is about the halfway mark. We decided to pose them again to see the difference. You can tell they are all braver or crazier than last year because they are standing on the rail this year. They all have grown up - Owen even joined in on the fun. Addy was sleeping so she missed out.

Here are the latest family shots for the Masseys and the Hansens. When we were looking out over this spot at the falls, we saw a small black bear, but that's for another post. I'll let you guess whether we are writing this from the hospital or not.

Is this school?

Kaitlyn went off for her first day of kindergarten this week. We're a little slower than all of our fellow bloggers getting the first school day pictures posted. I blame it entirely on Erik who likes to draw out our family trips into multiple posts. He thinks it adds drama or something (I just think he's weird). Anyways, she was super excited and was bouncing around the house all morning. She carefully chose her outfit and the contrasting bows in her hair. I did try to talk her into a different hairdo, but I decided not to push it and let her have her way if it made her feel good about herself. She ended up pretty cute all on her own. She is now a proud student at Redoubt Elementary (named for Mt. Redoubt, an active volcano here in Alaska) and has come home each day this week with a green paper frog, which basically means she did a good job sucking up to the teacher. Erik has asked her every day what she has learned. "Did you learn your ABC's? Did they teach you how to add? Did you do any work?" Kaitlyn responds by talking about the stories her teacher read to her and her gym class or music class. Erik then responds, "Hasn't your teacher ever taught anyone before? What are you going to school for?" I just laugh. I keep telling him that it's just kindergarten and only the first week. They are just trying to teach them how to follow rules and routines and such. Whether she's learning or not, she seems to love it and is getting a little more confident each day.

Pano mania...

Here are a few pano's I took during our trip. I am still working on getting a bit better. This is the program I use, and I have a pano head build like this one (mine is machined out of aluminum). I tried to post bigger pictures but blogger shrinks them automaticlly.

This is a shot looking at the landing by the cabin. The lake was good and calm, except during the downpours.

Here is an outside view of the cabin. It was in the middle of nowhere, quite nice.

This is an interior view of the cabin. Sorry for the mess, wet cloths and kids. What are you going to do. You will see the ghost arm by the bench, and another ghost up on the bunk bed. ~Erik

Dolly Varden Lake Cabin...

The summer is coming to a close in Alaska and we wanted to get the most out of it. Kaitlyn starts kindergarten on Monday and we wanted one last family trip before it school starts. We went to the Dolly Varden Lake Cabin last year with the Hansens. We had such a great time that we decided to do it again this year. I have gotten a few comments from some of my friends that the kids always seem so well behaved. As you can see by the pictures they are... Kali, smiling on the boat ride, Kaitlyn driving the boat and having so much fun. Kali gently helping her brother through the forest. Owen standing so reverently and obediently on the boat next to his sister.
The term still shot is very true in our family. For a brief second (usually less than 1/60 of a second) the kids are great. Kali really did have her arm around Owen, this was right before she tried to push him in the Lake. Owen was being obedient, right before he screamed at his sister, climbed on the seat and tried to kamicazi out of the boat into the lake. Kaitlyn was very independent driving the boat, until she almost ran aground.

There is always a tremendous amount of work to get all the stuff packed, the kids loaded and drive to our destination. The trip to the cabin was even more memorable (not a good thing) than normal. The drive to the lake is about 35 minutes on a bumpy dirt road. As luck would have it, it began to rain, not just a sissy rain but a downpour. Angela and I thought, hey maybe it will stop by the time we get to the lake, No. Kaitlyn started going into a panic about the road flooding. She had seen something on the news about China flooding, apparently the images were disturbing. The only thing that calmed her down was the fact that I said we were pulling the boat and we could all jump in if it flooded too much. The whole time Kaitlyn was freaking out Kali was sleeping. We finally made it to the lake, rain still dumping and Kali waking up. She caught the tail end of Kaitlyn's fit and was able to pick up the baton and run with it. She started wigging out about the rain and the fact that we were all going to die.
Usually I have my camera out for tender moments like this but I didn't want to drown my little precious (yes the camera, not Kali). You will have to use your minds eye to picture the scene. I would like to say that I acted compassionately and lovingly like a father should, but I was threatening to beat everyone. It was an ugly event. Don't be judgmental, if you have kids, you have dealt with something like this. Eventually (about 45 minutes later) we made it across the lake and into the dry cabin. Angela will fill you in on the ensuing events tomorrow night. Stay tuned. ~Erik
Here are all the Dolly Varden Cabin Posts... Post 2, Post 3, Post 4

We are being invaded...

You may have thought the picture of the outhouse a few posts back was bad, I think this is worse. For the last couple years we have seen a few carpenter ants scurrying around our house. Usually it was couple ants per week, the encounters would end bad for the 6 legged creatures. We would squish them and not think much of it. We started seeing the ants more frequently, so we decided it was time to call in an exterminator. The guy showed up expecting a routine outdoor treatment (where they spray around the edges of the home). I brought him inside to look where we thought the ants might be. He ended up in the basement pulling insulation out of the drop ceiling looking for ants. I had the girls in the front room to stay away from the pesticide. All of a sudden we hear the pest guy screaming, "there's even more over here... we have the source... I can't believe it... there's thousands of ants," etc. etc. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn is freaking out because a grown man is screaming and she thinks we're all going to die. Anyways, the guy goes home and the next day we have ants crawling on our walls, the floors, and falling off the ceiling onto our heads. We had been invaded. Erik called the guy back and, even though he thought we were being unreasonable, he came back over. He was shocked and said this was the worst invasion he had ever seen. He sprayed a few more gallons of pesticide and said they should be dead in 48 hours. Luckily, we had our Jakolof trip planned so we had somewhere to go for 48 hours. When we came home there were dead ants everywhere and we had our work cut out for us. We cleaned them up and cleaned up the pesticide and now we are officially ant-free! What a mess!~Angela

Jakolof Bay Part 2....

I will apologize in advance, I used my wide angle lens for most of the following shots. I just love how it gives an idea of the surroundings. Like I said before, Jakolof Bay is one of the prettiest places on earth. You may have surmised from the pictures that it wasn't overcast or raining, a rarity this summer. For 3 days straight, the sun was shining. I am sure that it is because my wife is living right. Anyways... you may ask yourself, what does one do in this so called Jakolof Bay. No Internet, TV, or running water (the tides don't count). Well, you have to spend time together as a family. Kaitlyn's favorite thing was fishing. There were small fish that hung out right at the dock and were just waiting to get caught. Kaitlyn had the knack and in no time had caught half a dozen (don't worry we let them go). She mastered the bait casting reel and didn't have a single backlash. I won't lie, I was pretty darn proud of her. Her only setback was when she hooked her hand, which caused her to tweak a bit. The world was brought back into order when we finally got a band aid on her hook wound. Kali's favorite activity was searching the boat for treats. The girl can eat a 7 course meal and still be hungry for snacks, I think she has a tapeworm. Owen just liked being outside with his uncle Matt. The whole trip he kept saying "DUDE....MATT", almost like someone with downs syndrome. Sorry, please don't be offended that's just what it sounded like. I tried to figure out what Matt's favorite part was. Through his grunts I surmised he liked helping Kaitlyn fish and sleeping. I had to post a picture of the outhouse because it was so nasty. The pooh was literally inches from the seat. Enjoy. I will be posting Part 3 tomorrow night so check back. I will give you a bit of a teaser-"Berries, aka crack"
Next posts are as follows Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Jakolof Bay Part 1...

We went on our last overnight family boating trip of the year. Sometimes I question my own sanity when it comes to bringing the family out on the boat. I have 3 hyperactive children (they get it from their mother) who don't handle confined quarters too well. Preparing for the trip is a daunting task in and of itself. It seems like I focus more on the mechanical stuff while Angela will take care of the accommodations (food, clothes, bedding and creature comforts). It seems like we drive each other nuts. In my head I think "Dude, if the boat doesn't run we aren't going on a trip... Dude, if we don't have a crab pot and fishing poles how will we kill critters...Dude, if the truck doesn't work the boat won't leave our driveway." Sorry for all the dudes, but that's how I think. I can imagine Angela thoughts....Well I don't have to imagine she just says it "Erik, what are you doing, don't you think its important that we have food and clothes... Erik, what are we going to sleep in... why aren't you supporting me...why don't you do something?" My general response is, as you can imagine is "DUDE..."

So, why do we go on these trips? I think you can see by the pictures, it was a beautiful night on Kachemak Bay. We got out a bit late as you can see by the setting sun. My parents are out of town and we have my little brother Matt with us. We set a crab pot the first night with hopeful anticipation that it would render a healthy catch. Visions of deadliest catch dancing through my minds eye (minus the freezing cold weather and nasty seas).

The kids are in heaven when the boat is running. You can see their happy faces and they forget the 2 hour ride in the truck they just suffered through. Angela can't help but smile also because, for a little while, it's all worth it. The last picture is a pano of the dock that we stay at in Jakolof Bay, quite possibly one of the prettiest places on earth. Tune in tommorow night for Part 2 of the story.

P.S. A few people have asked if we own a boat, the answer is yes. Its a 1994 24 ft Bayliner Classic. That's right its a classic...
Next posts are as follows Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The Faceless Family...

Well, I need to catch up before I post pictures from our boat trip this weekend. Angela and many other blogging women have been caught up in this vampire book series. Don't know what it's all about but I know Angela likes reading the books. The new book came out and Angela's was out of commission, yep completely out of it. Instead of fighting it, we decided to take a trip to the beach, fortunately it was sunny which is a rarity this summer. Angela was able to get her reading in and I took some pictures of the kids. I shot the faceless family, not because I was trying to, but more because they won't look at me when I shoot. I holler at them, make funny sounds, and even jump up and down but they have been trained to ignore their dad (especially when I have a camera in my hand). Enjoy the pictures, and don't read the vampire book (it's like crack). ~Erik

What a difference a day makes...

I went fishing yesterday and as you can tell by the title it was a much better trip than the trip on the previous post. We went with our friend the Smeds. This was Angela's first halibut fishing trip without the kids. As you can see by the first picture she needed some coaching, the picture kind of looks like a stock photo. Can't really place my finger on it. Anyways the second picture is Angela's first halibut that she set and reeled in herself. You can tell by the expression on her face how proud she is. You know, every time I take Angela fishing we always catch fish. Maybe I should take her all the time. It's August which means that the sand sharks are starting to roll in. They are a pain when you catch them but they are kind of pretty in a shark kind of way. Just glad I wasn't yucking this trip. ~Erik