Monday, September 13, 2010

A Special Word of Caution...

to those who might be tempted to store their credit card info on Orbitz. Unless you want your heretofore unknown friend Moses Oyemakimbe flying from Lome, Ethiopia to Manila, Philippines on your dime (technically, about 19,000 dimes), I wouldn't recommend it. Orbitz is not secure.

At least their automatic email confirmation works, so we were alerted as soon as the ticket was purchased. We did cancel it, and Orbitz did admit that they were hacked, but it was a close call. We almost didn't even open the email, thinking that it was just a virus. (Dover, did we buy travel insurance?) But then we checked our credit card to see the 19,000 dime charge pending. It's all sorted out now. Took a few phone calls, though.

Okay. We kind of missed the blogging train this summer. We enjoyed a fun summer with lots of guests visiting. And when we didn't have guests, we hit the dusty trail ourselves for some adventures in warmer climes.



Catching up... Memorial Day, which means Crab Fest around these parts. Our friend Steve (from Bethel and Michigan), who now lives in Anchorage, came down to enjoy the festivities. The kids dug in the sawdust pile for thousands of dollars in coinage.







Stoko didn't quite grasp the importance of free money, so he mostly stood around mystified. Come to think of it, Paxson didn't quite sense the urgency either. “Yeah, that round thing is shiny, but this sawdust is SOFT!”



We tried our best to explain that the shiny round things can be traded for candies.







Marching. Boodah enjoyed his first parade march. He won the prize for best costume.













(Although in all fairness, this kiddo probably should have won, but he arrived late.)






Wet Crab Fest Parade! We are 2 for 2 on that front.




Steve enjoyed the Boodah guided tour of the military museum at Abercrombie.









Boodah, showing Steve the flying whales.



Forest walks and buddies at the beach.




The first day of crab fest was amazing, blue sky, sunny and warm. Of course, by the time Steve arrived it was a bit damp. And it stayed that way.

It's a BABY!

Introducing baby racecardrivernumerotres DeWayne Arthur Williams IV:









Can you guess the gender?





Sunday, September 12, 2010

Sunny September


Wow, summer is here! And not a single cloud in the five day forecast. Our apologies to everybody who visited in June, July and August. We are now enjoying the type of weather we told you all about while you were here. What Stoko is pointing at, actually, is four-wheelers and motorcycles racing down the beach. Which he loves.





Lots and lots of bears. The scariest thing about the bears is avoiding the cars who are not afraid to park in the middle of the 55 mph highway to get a look at the bears. That, and their large teeth and claws.





Surf's up!







It was a day for SUP style surfing. We may have to invest in one or two of those things.














Dune Jumping



The crowd was thrilled.



And some time at Chiniak. In honor of the Croatia-like beach, we skinny dipped. Yep. For the mental well being of all parties involved, including those reading this blog, no photos were taken. The water was surprisingly warm. 52. (Had we taken pictures, you probably would've guessed it was a lot colder.)





Another first, we saw a plane land on Pasagshak beach. It's in this picture, but you kind of have to already know where it is to see it. It's like Find Waldo.




Time to go eat buffalo steak.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Big Day at the Races

It's Labor Day weekend, and that means the Kodiak Island State Fair and Rodeo. Yee-Haw!
But first, a hot beverage.







Black Stallion was a little too big.





Safety first.





As a result of the Fair, the kids brought home two new pets.

"Cu-Koo In The Head"



"Occi"



Occi is blind. His eyes weren't up for the rigors of a 21 month old owner. Incidentally, Cu-Koo In The Head is a pirate, having lost an eye of his own to his almost 4 year old owner.



"Cu-Koo In The Head wants to watch a movie," Boodah informed us this morning. Very clever.

And day 2 of Labor Day weekend... blue sky day at Fossil Beach. Paxson made a birthday cake. He shared.









TASTY!

Stoko sported a beard for the rest of the day.




Puppies.



A helping hand.






Summer came late, but better late than never!