Alaska Visit with Joshua and Family

I flew up later and here are some pictures from the rest of our visit to Alaska with Joshua and his family.

 Joshua, Rebecca, and Agnes in front of a stuffed polar bear.  We are visiting the "Wild Berry Products Store," which has all kinds of neat Alaska stuff to buy, and lots of candy.

 Here is Elliott, Ethan, Christian, Caleb, and Julia with a giant candy bar.  Behind them is the world's largest chocolate fountain.  Unfortunately the photo cuts off the top half of the chocolate waterfall.

 On one of our walks we saw some live moose.  This shot was taken at a steam in Anchorage just a few blocks from Joshua's house.

 There was a mother moose and two calves.

 We visited a playground with swings and had a lot of fun playing tag.   This is Elliott, Christian, and Ethan.

 Julia swinging on the bars.

At the Anchorage Museum the kids were fascinated by the bubble room.  Ethan blowing bubbles.

 Caleb making a bubble that totally encased him.

 Elliott playing on a display in the children's room.

 Julia checking out a big turtle in an aquarium.

We had time to go on one big hike.  Last time we went up Flattop Mountain, which is the most popular day hike near Anchorage, so this time we went up Rendezvous Peak.  Here's Joshua, Rebecca, and Agnes on the trail.

 Christian on the hike.  Lots of tiny wild flowers all about.

 Here we are at the top of Rendezvous Peak - Caleb, Ethan, and I.

 Joshua, Elliott and Agnes.

 What would a visit to Anchorage be without a stop at the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage, a popular stop for all the tour bus and cruise ship tourists.  Christian and Ethan in front of a totem pole.

 We did a walk on the Marshlands Boardwalk.  This was the only day it rained on us.

We wore ourselves out, as typified by this shot of sleeping Agnes.  She is a cutie.  We had a fun trip.

Net Fishing for Salmon

Joshua took Jacquelyn and Caleb and some of the kids with him when he went net fishing for salmon in Alaska.

 Once a year all the Alaska residents get to go net fishing for salmon.

 This is the giant net Joshua used, with help from Julia, Ethan, and Christian.

 Joshua taking the big end out into the water.

 He had to wade out pretty deep.

 And the result is a giant salmon.

 He caught 22 salmon, enough salmon to last his family the entire year, and enough left over to give us a thermal bag of salmon filets to take back to Puyallup with us.

Jacquelyn and Caleb were not allowed to fish, since they aren't Alaska residents.  There's a $200 dollar fine even for helping to carry the fish back to the car.  Caleb and Julia made a sand castle.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Caleb is back home on break from college.  The weather was great and we decided to go on a hike.

 We walked across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and back.

 We picked up Andrew and Mallory on the way and they did the hike with us.

This is me.

This picture shows how high above the water and coast the bridge runs.

 Just starting the hike here and you can see the bridge spans.

Andrew took this picture - Jacquelyn, Mallory, Doug, and Caleb.

Grandchildren visiting

We had some grandchildren visiting over the weekend.

 Mallory and Andrew spent the night Saturday night.

 The Abels were here for two nights, Friday and Saturday.  Dallen, Evan, Ashton, and James all came.  Tianna and Jim were here too.  Here's Ashton taking aim with a compound bow out in the backyard.
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 Bullseye!!!

Evan taking a turn with the bow and arrow.  He was really good.

Maze in Mt. Vernon

Doranda and Bob invited us to go with them to a hedge maze up in Mt. Vernon.  It was at a place called the Berry Barn.

 We got up early on a Saturday morning and were there when it first opened.  We had the whole place to ourselves most of the time.  This is Tucker followed by Penelope heading into the entrance.

 The sign says "You are here, now get lost."  It was easy to do in there.  Leon kept trying to run off and his parents had to keep a close eye on him and chase him down several times.

Here we are working our way through the maze.  This is supposedly the largest hedge maze in North America.  You couldn't see through the walls at all and they were about 10-12 feet tall.

 They had various signs to try and find and learn things about the different berries they grow at the farm.

 Tucker was great at finding his way through the maze.

 Penelope wasn't always sure we were going the right way.  Except when she was leading of course.

 Leon had a great time.

 In the middle was a ramp that led up to a platform that overlooked the maze and had a slide.

 Penelope going down the slide.

 They also had a rope maze that was very hard to get through and reach the middle.  It was confusing which turn to take.

 After the maze we stopped at MacDonald's for ice cream and then parted our ways going home.  Jacquelyn and I stopped at Steward Park in Seattle and went on a beautiful 3 mile hike through the woods alongside the waters of Lake Washington.

 Here's a shot of the water.  It was beautiful out.  We had a wonderful day.

Mom's birthday

We celebrated Mom's birthday a few days early while I was in Mesa.

Mom will be 86 on the 11th.

J

I made her a cake, which was harder than I thought it would be.  I knew they didn't have any cake pans so I got 2 at the store when I bought the cake mix and icing and oil and eggs.  Then I made the  cake with Dad's help but we didn't have any mixing bowls or mixer or measuring cup.  We mixed it by hand in a pot and cooked it in the oven.  Then we didn't have anything to put it on.  We improvised with a shelf out of the refridgerater.  It wasn't pretty but we got it made.

Mom opening her present.

 

I got her a bird feeder bell to hang outside her window.

Happy birthday Mom.  You a are special to all of us and we love you!

June Birthdays

We had a lot of birthdays to celebrate in June so we picked one day and got together to celebrate all the birthdays and also Father's Day.  Happy Birthday to Talitha, David, Jacquelyn, Tucker, and Dallen.

 Malachi, Tucker, and James with one of the cakes.

 Another cake, my favorite.

 Jello watermelon was a huge hit, especially with the children.

 Andrew, Dallen, Tianna, Tucker, James, and Jarom.

 Mallory, Layne, and Dallen.

 Jarom home for a rest from college.

 Dallen, Evan, Jarom, Jim, and Ashton.

 Mallory, Layne, Malachi, and Andrew.

 Evan and Molly.

Leon. We didn't get any pictures of Talitha or David even though we were celebrating their birthday.  I also didn't get any pictures of Doranda or Bob.  And I didn't get any pictures of Jacquelyn or me either.

 One night I built a huge fire in the fire pit out in the back yard.  Here are some pictures.

Happy birthdays!  And happy Father's Day to all the fathers.