Pics from the Aquarium

Pictures from the aquarium in Monterrey, CA.... I know we were there quit a while ago but since I have some pictures from there I might as well post them...

 

 

 

Moving to Temecula, California

Guess what.... On Wednesday me and my family are moving to Temecula, CA for the winter. I just found out like yesterday afternoon and I'm still getting used to the idea! My dad will be working there as project manager at IKANA. IKANA is a large aircraft repair maintenance station. We are guessing that this will be yearly thing..... and no we are not selling the lodge. No way, we will run the lodge in the summer and then in the winter, go to California and stay down there for 6 months. I am sad we are leaving especially because we have to leave the dogs I am going to miss them soooo much. Whenever we leave the lodge for a while we realize how much they are a part of our life!! But as sad I am to be leaving Yes Bay Lodge and actually all of Alaska, I'm curious and excited to see what Temecula is like and how it will be there! We are in town right now at Cape Fox but tomorrow afternoon we will get on the ferry and be on there for 2 days and then when we get off at Bellingham we will drive to my grandmas house and stay there for a couple days and then just work our way down to southern California!!

So my pictures and post are going to drastically change from being about Alaska, the woods, the cold, bears, or eagles, esc... to the beach, swimming, shopping, the warmth, lizards and probably coconuts.

Pictures From This Month

 

 

 

Camping Trip!

I can't believe I haven't posted since July!!! I had an awesome summer and its going to take a couple posts to tell everything that has happened since my last post.
So... the weather this summer was better than  last summer but it wasn't the best. There were several weeks of sun and warmth and I actually got a little tan! We all went swimming off the dock or in the back bay every chance we got because we all know how rare warm weather is here in Alaska!

In mid august me and my mom went on a survival camping trip at Orchard Lake. We had sooo much fun that we are going to make it a annual trip till Saylor gets to be my age then her and mom will do it every year. Anyway, the first day we got there by plane in the morning. We put all our stuff in the cabin and got everything organized and put together out day packs. We wanted to see what the trail was like so we hiked down the the water and on our way back we cut though all the brush to the top of the rapids in the outlet of the lake.

 When we got back to the cabin we thought we should try and catch some trout because after all it was a survival trip so we hadn't brought much food with us. We took the boat out for a couple hours just rowing around and then we found nice spot in front of a little stream and pretty quick mom caught a trout. We ate that for dinner along with a dehydrated dinner which truthfully was best dinner I have ever had in my life because I was so hunger and food always tastes better when your camping. Also I hadn't eaten that whole day plus we went on the hike. Our beds were pretty uncomfortable, all that lay between us and the plywood bunks was a thin pad but it made me appreciative my bed here at home much more!! The next day we went exploring and found an awesome white sandy beach and an ice cold stream next to it so we followed the stream up hoping to find a water fall...

 After exploring the stream we decided to go fishing so we went to the outlet and we caught 9 fish we only kept 3 and went back to eat lunch which was a trout for each of us and the third we gave to Niko and a dehydrated meal which was very good. Then becuase it was soo hot we went back to the beach which we named afterward, Shady Afternoon Beach, which I think sounds pretty nice. Planning before hand we brought shampoo/conditioner and a bar of soap just in case. I needed to wash my hair badly so I waded out a little more than waist deep  and got my hair all lathered up then I dove towards where it was deeper and I just glided under the water letting my hair flow behind me like they do in the commercials (hahaha I watch too much TV) it felt amazing. I swam around a little bit but then had to get out because I was numb all over. We fished off the beach next to a log and caught a ton of fish and got bites almost every time we reeled in.

  

Niko enjoying not having to do a thing... lol

 We were getting hungry so we packed everything up and decided to go back to the cabin. When we neared the beach Niko jumped up and started barking savagely at something on the beach. There was a little surprise waiting for us at the cabin, a trooper. We were thrilled to see a trooper -__-. I had to hold on tight to Niko because he kept trying to launch himself at the guy. He asked to see our fish which we found out were to small, if you are fishing in the lake to keep a trout it has to be 25 inches or over and in the streams of river it can be 11 inches or more. He let us keep the 2  bigger trout out of our 4 fish because we told him we had caught them near the outlet river. I had to put Niko in the cabin because I couldn't  hold on to him any more. When I put him in the cabin he jumped up on the door and looked out the window still barking whining. The trooper fined us and then after taking a look at our poles and hooks he left, with 2 of our fish. He definitely put a dent in our up to then perfect day.

The next day we woke up early and packed up our things and then pretty soon the plane came and picked us up and that was then end of our camping trip. I only wish we could have had a couple more days out there.

The sunset reflecting off the mountains in front of the cabin.

 

More Bald Eagles

Through out this whole summer there has been bald eagles everywhere, but mostly around the river. Yesterday morning there was a salmon carcass on the beach next to the river in front of the house. About 4 bald eagles were fighting of the salmon. I guess they heard me open the door to take pictures of them because they all flew away.  I waited for about 10 min. and a couple came back to finish off what was left of the carcass.

 

 

Adult Eagle

Yesterday I got a picture of an adult eagle...

 

Aurora Borealis

The last couple nights there have been northern lights!! Which we don't get to see very often. Here are some pictures...

 

Flowers

 

 

                                                               

 

                                                                   

Super Extra Large Rain Gear

I kinda have a job for the summer. I help wash the rain gear that the guests wear when they go fishing. I help out if the office girls (who are shanna and Cassandra) are too busy or if there is a ton of rain gear, like when a big group leaves. Any way the sizes of the rain gear are from XS (extra small) to XXXXL (4 extra large) which is huge!! Here is just how gigantic the XXXXL is...

It fit like a charm...

June Delights

Ever since the lodge started going I have been super busy!!! The summer solstice came and went but we didn't really celebrate on the 20th because everyone was too tired and also summer solstice is usually on the 21st. So on the 21st at 9:30 pm to celebrate, everyone went down to the dock and all the people that worked at Yes Bay Lodge were going to jump off the dock.... Well everything went as planned everyone, (and I mean EVERYONE went down to the dock, crew and guests) but I found out that all the crew besides one dock hand named Eric had backed out of jumping in. So I thought I would back out too cause I'd be like the only girl, which can really feel intimidating sometimes!! Okay, well my mom was planning on going to bed early that evening but I had convinced her to come down to the dock with me to watch me jump off. When I told her I wasn't going to do it she said "Oh, no no no, you're going in." Mom turned around and yelled at the dishwasher, Brian and said "Brian! Come over here and help me!" My mom grabbed my arms and Brian grabbed my feet and I realized they were going to throw me in! I struggled and got my feet free but Brian picked them right back up then I got my arms free from mom and I started pulling away from Brian. I struggled a little bit more but then I just gave up cause I knew they were going to get me in there eventually. I stopped struggling and expected them to "throw" me in but no. My mom puts my head and arms in the water but Brian holds onto my legs a few seconds more and then pushes my feet in. I basically got dunked in! Anyway right after I went in, a bunch of the guests ran and jumped in (they were all tall, big guys and the dock hand Eric also went in and he is at least 6' 2" and he is like 18 yrs old). I guess since I was the only girl to go in (even though I was thrown in, or dunked) it gave confidence to a couple other girls. Sam the dinner prep and Cassandra the office girl. They striped down to their swim suits and us 3 held hands as we ran and jumped off the end of the dock!! It was awesome!!! I forgot to mention that before everyone jumped in Dewey and Eric (both dock hands) made a boat out of fish boxes and lit it on fire and set it adrift away from the dock. It was wondrous watching it float away into the uncharted waters beyond the mountains of blue sunsets (I made that name up), where lay its watery grave, (yeah, pretty poetic huh...).

My 13th birthday was on June 23rd. Now I'm finally a teenager!! During the morning I helped my mom with house keeping then the whole afternoon my Mom, Saylor, Casandra, Brian and myself soaked in the sun down at the dock. I jumped in 13 times but then I couldn't just stop there because the water just felt soo good. I must have jumped in about around 20 times. It was awesome cause the water really wasn't too cold but also right when you got out the air was warm and you dried of really quick. Me and Cassandra jumped in together a few times but since she is from Wisconsin I guess this Alaskan water is a bit too cold for her taste!! My birthday was awesome but I got a nasty sun burn that is just now fading away

For my birthday I got :

A fly rod w/ a reel and a box of flys,

A fishing lanyard w/ tools to go with it,

Persian rose perfumes (my favorite scent),

A beautiful jewelry box,

$60 iTunes gift card,

A bunch of cute shirts,

A gold cross necklace with a pearl in the middle of the cross,

A forget-me-not figurine,

A raspberry pink sweatshirt,

Carhartt overalls,

A bag of Lindell chocolates,

A book called" Seekers: Spirits In the Stars (which I am 10 pages from being done, awesome book) and a $25 Cabellas gift card!

I had an amazing birthday because I got to spend time with my family, the weather was perfect, my presents were magnificent, and of course...  I'm finally a teenager!!!!

The Beginning of Warm Weather

We now have all the crew here at Yes Bay. Its always a ton of fun meeting all the new people we will be working with!! The last few days have been beautiful, especially yesterday. It was hot and sunny all day and I got a bunch of great pictures! Sadly though, today is rainy and cold. One of those days that remind you that you are in fact very far from any sunny tropical island where you might relax in the sand, watching the waves wash back and forth, back and forth... along the shore. :(

Last summer I did a horrible job of keeping up with my blog and one of my goals for this summer is to post a lot more than last year. So get ready for a ton more pictures!!

This is Tommy, he is obviously a squirrel. He loves to sit up at the tree house and eat our home made bird food!! He acts soo tame, its amazing!! I can get up close to him like literally 5" away and he is perfectly calm. Alright, I don't exactly know that Tommy is a boy but I am just guessing. ;)

Working on my collage creativeness!!

My Niko Baby! Love you boy...