The highs and lows of fishing...

You all have heard about the amazing fishing that exists in Alaska - salmon, halibut, crab, etc. What you probably don't know about are the lows. After several hours of fishing the Kenai River a few weeks ago for king salmon (see blog from July 9) and coming up empty, we are back for more. Yesterday we decided to try our luck with the red salmon because we heard, "They are running really strong." I am not sure exactly what that means, but I have my assumptions. After hearing a commercial fisherman say that the fish were running so thick at the mouth of the river that they were literally forcing each other out of the water and up onto the bank - - so much so that a boy was running along the bank picking them up and throwing them onto the shore - needless to say, my assumptions only grew. Which bring me to our fishing trip yesterday.
We were standing on the bank casting out into the river from the same spot you saw the eagle tearing into his fish a few weeks ago. The sun was shining brilliantly overhead and the water was running crisp and clean. After about 10 minutes of enjoying the scenery and repeatedly casting upstream, Erin snagged into the "first catch"! She set the hook and begin reeling fervently. With what seemed to me like little fight from the fish, she lifted the tip of her rod high into the air and her catch come rushing upward breaching the surface of the water! Truly the most amazing catch I have ever seen!

How you hook a rock with only one crack in it is truly more amazing and lucky than snagging old fish...at least that is what I told her. :)
Today, after church of course, we decided to try our luck with the kings again. Three hours and no bites later we decided we would go back to trying for more rocks (or reds). With not nearly as much excitement or grandeur I caught the first - followed quickly by two for JR.

Believe it or not, this is the biggest fish I have ever caught...until tomorrow - -

You asked for it:

After several request, I have figured out a way to load video on here. So, have a look below to see for yourself the video of Charyse crawling.

Enough about Mom and Dad!

It has been awhile since we have posted anything about Charyse or any pictures with her, so I will attempt to catch you up with the daily changes that have been taking place in her life as well as ours.

She is incredibly mobile now crawling up and down steps and pulling up on everything. If we hold her hands she will penguin walk (legs locked out straight) as fast as she can for as far as she can...30 yards is the current record!

Along with her increased mobility she has learned several new words, both as signs and orally spoken. Her favorite is cheese, which sounds like "chsss." We have now had cheese for every meal of the day (obviously not all in the same day) but mostly for breakfast for some reason. A close second to the infatuation with cheese is her obsession with peaches, or her sign for them...which looks like she is scratching behind her ear. The actual sign is to rub the side of your face - like peach fuzz. She has manipulated most of the signs to her own liking, whether because she is unable to copy the actual sign or because she wants to do things her own way is still being debated. She is defintely a "Strong-willed stubborn little booger," as someone has once stated. Whatever it is, she is a happy litle girl with a cornload (formerly known as "crapload" - there have been lots of vocabulary changes since the little one has started to become a parrot :) of personality!

The ones she will hate us for:

At the zoo with Dada and Pops:

Along with cheese and peaches she has learned to sign cookie, blanket, and a way to tell us her teeth are hurting. She can say (kinda) teeth, down, up, outside, book. In addition to what she already knew, she is building quite a vocabulary for herself...mostly revolving around food :)

On a side note; Erin is not feeling very good today. She could be coming down with a cold - please pray for her. Thanks, love you all!

The True Story...

Erin and I left Sugar Land for the summer because we wanted to have a great adventure (and avoid the heat in Texas). Little did we know that God was preparing the adventure for us...


There have often been times in my life when I have run away from something, usually a situation I find myself in and don't know how to handle. Only after I have run far enough away can I look back and see that I was actually running from something completely different. In our attempt to escape from all the traffic, heat, and business in Houston, we actually discovered that we were escaping from something else altogether - a cycle of futile thinking. In case you haven't been around, the last year has been pretty taxing on Erin and me. While Charyse is an amazing blessing and we love her more than we could ever explain, she was not what we had planned at this point in our lives. Thus, through our efforts to adjust to having a child we unknowingly sacrificed other areas of our lives - namely our spiritual lives. Like a 4 legged table with one leg a foot shorter than the rest, everything else became unbalanced as well. By the end of the school year we were in need of more than just a break from the chaos...we needed restoration. In a fashion exclusive to our God, restoration has come at just the right time.

It is amazing how quickly you can fall when you are not making a constant effort to stay focused on what is right. I learned a long time ago that God is the only thing I need. Unfortunately, I have become so distracted (by things often of God or from God - more on this in a minute) that my lifestyle has reflected my dependence on many other things. God has showed me that when we focus on him, and him alone, he will give us the other blessings this world has to offer: friends, $, toys, children, ministry opportunities, etc. - - all good things! But if we are not careful to keep our focus on him we will become distracted by these blessings and begin to pursue them instead of him. It is painfully obvious we cannot sustain any of those things on our own, and they soon begin to slip away. If we were smart, we would recognize this and quickly turn our focus back to God...instead, we squabble after the blessings trying not to lose them. Only after our efforts have gone in vain are we back in the original position with only us and God again. Imagine the possibilities of where God could take us if we didn't have to keep relearning this lesson over and over.

For Erin and me, this cycle fully demonstrated itself over the last year...God blessed us with great friends, an awesome life group, a great church, higher salaries, a great home, and a daughter! In our foolishness we quit focusing on God and began trying to be better employees, more encouraging friends, and great parents. While those are good desires they are unattainable on our own. When our focus and pursuit are solely on God we will be all of those other things as well; because it is not by our ability that we become great people but by God's working in us. Our greatest achievement is to stand naked before God and recognize our inability compared to his unfailing power to do all things! From there God can truly begin to bless us and work not only in our lives, but in the lives of those around us - through us. Is this not our goal to begin with...for God to be active in our lives and to use us in other's lives? And is that not the promise God makes us throughout scripture..."I will be their god and they will be my people and I will live among them..."?

The restoration God has brought to us this summer has been more than amazing. We have a new zeal for life, more confidence in our parenting, a better understanding of each other, and a renewed focus on Him. Not because of any new skills or secrets we have acquired, but because we openly recognize our inadequacies in virtually every area of our lives. We are anxious to see what God does from here...not what he blesses us with, but what he does through us! He promises that His power is made perfect in our weakness. Would any of you care to join us in being his captive audience?

Fishing with killer whales

Ok everyone, this video was posted to the Anchorage Daily News website last week -- it's legitimate footage of a killer whale chomping on a hooked king salmon while the angler tries desperately to reel in his trophy fish. :) Click here to watch the video, but be aware that there is some profanity -- understandably so. Let's hope this doesn't happen to Heath on our fishing trip next weekend, or we'll never hear the end of it!!!
Love you all!

Resurrection Bay -- from a kayak!

For those of you who don't know, kayaking is quite possibly one of my favorite things to do -- particularly here in Alaska, where there is always something gorgeous to look at while you paddle. That being said, I was not excited when the morning of our kayak tour dawned cold and drizzly. Obviously kayaking involves getting a little soggy, but the prospect of being wet from above (rain) as well as wet from below (waves) was not particularly appetizing. Sea kakaking is quite different from lake or river kayaking, but I won't bore you with the details -- suffice it to say that both Heath and I were a little nervous about getting dumped by a wave, especially since the wind had made the bay choppier than normal. :) The good news is, we stayed upright as well as relatively dry, thanks to our spray skirts and some expert maneuvering by Captain Heath (he sat in the back seat or our two-seater and worked the rudder). We had an incredible time, and got to have some great conversations with our guide, Danielle, along the way.

This is Danielle in her kayak, paddling out into Resurrection Bay from Tonsina Creek -- a safe haven from the waves that threw us around for the first part of the trip. We saw several silver salmon jumping out in the bay, getting ready to make the long trek up the creek to the spawning grounds. Interesting tidbit about salmon: they go back to the same creek where they were born to lay their own eggs. Incredible!!! And their offspring will be born, travel out into the ocean, and years later come back to the same creek again to spawn. Out of all of the millions of possible creeks in the world, how do they know which one is "home"? Just goes to show that God had a lock on GPS before any of us ever even thought about it!

Me and Heath in Tonsina Creek -- you can see the raindrops on the lens! :) We headed up the creek for a half mile, then turned around when it became to shallow. Our next stop was a beach just on the other side of Tonsina Point, where we saw some really unbelievable driftwood:

We hiked from the beach into the woods to eat lunch, and enjoyed checking out the northernmost rainforest in North America (and possibly the world, but I'm not sure). This region of Alaska gets a ton of precipitation in the summer, and you can see the huge clumps of moss hanging in the trees:

Don't you hate it when people point out an obscure speck in a picture and say, "That was an (insert interesting subject here), but you can't really see it"? Well, this is a picture of a sea otter, but you can't really tell. :) He was floating on his back and eating a snack, and we actually got to get quite close to him before he dove under the water.

Us human types also had an interesting snack -- Danielle fished some edible seaweed out of the water and offered us a piece. And we thought, what the heck? It sort of looks like a little pickle. For those of you who are interested, it did not taste like a pickle at all -- it didn't really taste like much of anything, once you got past the icky texture. At any rate, we were starved after 4 hours on the water, and were only too happy to go in search of some real food. :) Regardless of the weather, we had a GREAT time on our paddle, and are looking forward to buying our very own kayak gear (as soon as we move to a more kayak-friendly location, that is). :)

Wildlife Tour Pics!

If you look close you can see the silver salmon in her paws!

The pink is the inside of the salmon - she tore it apart and then gave it to the cubs.

The whale tail just before it flipped up and went under...Erin was taking the pictures here. =)

The sea lions hanging out in the harbor.

(Aahhh)

The Adam's Street B and B.

A view of the Seward harbor from Ray's Restaurant.

That's right my friends, you have just seen an entire post of pictures and none of them were of Charyse! For some of you I know this is refreshing because you are tired of seeing pictures of her anyway; and for others of you I know this has been the most disappointing post yet. =)

Rain delay :)

We left Kenai yesterday about 1:00 planning to catch a wildlife tour out of Seward at 6:15...little did we know that the "wildlife" tour was going to begin before we even got to Seward. As we came around a bend in the Russian River there was an opening in the trees and a great view of the river - a rather common sight - only this time there happened to be a brown bear fishing the river and feeding her two cubs. Along with the other obvious tourists (like the Texas license plate doesn't give us away) we stopped and were able to get some amazing photos...in Erin's 18 years of growing up here this was her first experience like this.
We arrived at The Adams Street B&B around 4:00 p -- it's right on the water, with beautiful views of Resurrection Bay through the huge picture windows. We were really impressed when we pulled up! We "checked in" -- meaning that we chatted with Judy (who works at my Dad's school during the school year) and her husband Don (as in Don Clary -- google his name. You'll be amazed). We packed the backpack with some extra layers and headed for the marina, where we killed time at the Helly Hansen store before getting on board the tour boat. There were only 53 people on the boat for the tour, as opposed to the usual 200+, so we had plenty of room on deck to take pictures and walk around. We shared our table in the cabin with a couple from Nebraska, and we spent a lot of time on deck talking with Al and Barbara, a couple from Amherst, Massachusetts. They invited us to come and stay at their B&B sometime soon -- fall road trip, anyone??? :) I've always wanted to see the trees turn colors in New England...
We were lucky AGAIN during our wildlife cruise, and saw a humpback whale, sea lions, several different types of birds, a couple of puffins, and just a few glaciers. :) The whale was unbelievable -- he flipped his tail at us a couple of times, and of course we weren't fast enough to get a good picture. It was an awesome experience! According to the forest ranger that was on board, just the heart of a humpback whale is roughly the size of a Volkswagen Bug. Amazing!
It rained last night, and this morning we went exploring around "downtown" Seward. We found a few shops with locally-produced art, and poked into our little Internet cafe -- the Sea Bean -- to post this update. Unfortunately we cannot figure out how to upload pictures on this computer, so we may have to post those later! Sorry for the tease! We just have to leave you wanting more... :) We're heading to the Sea Life Center this afternoon to explore their hands-on exhibits and tide pools, and plan to have dinner tonight at the Crab Pot. If the weather cooperates, we're hoping to head out in kayaks tomorrow, or possibly hike out to Exit Glacier to walk around on the ice. Woo-hoo! :)
We love you all! Keep the prayers going up for our continued safety.
~Heath & Erin

I will leave the rest of the Canada drive for Erin to share with you, but I am going to try and catch you up since then...We have done quite a bit so it might take awhile, but here we go:

After arriving in Anchorage at midnight and talking with Elaine (Erin's mom) until 2:00, I woke up at 5:30 and went to the gym to play some basketball and stretch my legs. Since I was not completely stretched out after that I went and played some golf with J.R. (Erin's dad). =) As we came up to the 18th green we were greeted by a couple of yearling moose. They wandered back and forth over the green for a few minutes, then strolled down to the creek for a drink, and then disappeared back into the woods - not your typical golfing experience in Texas. Our next major event was yet another birthday party for Charyse, she has officially turned 1 three times now. Jared and Jay (Erin's brothers) and Iris (Jared's girlfriend) joined Elaine, J.R., Erin, and me to give Charyse more toys and another sugar rush:

I had nothing to do with this hairstyling, just to clarify.

The feast set up in the backyard

Charyse eating a little mesquite grilled ribeye

Opening one of her several presents

Next came the 4th of July celebration and a night at the ballpark. There are two summer league teams (college aged students trying to get drafted) that play in Anchorage and have a double header every Independence Day. Following the second game is the largest firework show in Alaska, so most of the town comes out. Charyse loved the game, but could not make it late enough to watch the fireworks - which started about 11:30 and were only visible because the clouds were blocking the sun.

She thouroughly enjoys eating sunflower seeds while heckling the players and umps with her dad - seriously.

After enjoying most of the fine dining establishments in Anchorage and having played two of their courses (including the "49th hardest course in America, Moose Run" - Golf Digest) we decided we needed to get out of the city for awhile and explore the Kenai peninsula. The drive, which goes around Cook Inlet, is beautiful the whole way and included a stop at the Portage Glacier state park and visitor center.

The glacier is directly behind my head coming down between the mountains - it used to extend all the way down into the lake...and yes, the water is very cold.

Charyse kayaking with her Uncle Jay

Saddled up on the momma moose

After all of the excitment we were all pretty hungry and ready for lunch and a little hike...I have never had a picnic in quite as beautiful of a place:

They just don't make rest stops like this anywhere else

No caption needed

Once we made it to Kenai there was no way we could not go fishing, so we got our licenses and headed out on the river hoping to pull in a King Salmon (even though the first run was technically over). Although we came up empty on the fish count, we still got quite a few of the wildlife on the river.

"Got a little Captain in ya?"

How the bird caught a fish and I did not is not what we're focusing on here.

Both are bald eagles, the one on the right is just not as matured yet.

This little yearling bull walked along the creek with us as we headed home for about 6-7 minutes...at that rate he won't make it past the opening day of moose season. =)

And finally, last night I got to go up in the super cub (plane) with Erin's uncle and do a little flightseeing. We left the Kenai airport and headed toward the Tustamena Glacier and the Harding Ice Field. He then flew me over his "stomping grounds" during sheep season. As if the view alone were not spectacular enough, we got to see several sheep and a couple of black bears!

The glacier coming down out of the icefields and through the mountains

This incredible blue coloring is created by the light bouncing around in ice that can be up to thousands of feet thick. Hypothetically, the snow that formed this glacier fell around the time Christ was born.

This is a view looking back down the glacier from the icefield. You can see the lake in the background which the glacier empties into.

Today we are headed off to Seward. Elaine, J.R., and Jay are taking care of Charyse for us so we get to have some "adult" time in Seward. We have a Resurrection Bay wildlife-watching cruise scheduled for this evening and a kayak tour of the bay for tomorrow. We will be staying in a bed and breakfast and will be out of reach until we return to Anchorage on Wednesday night. Yeah!

From here on out we will try to post a little more frequently and keep the blogs a little shorter. =)

We love you all!

The Trek from Canada to Alaska: Part One

You asked for it, sports fans! This is going to be a long post, so prepare yourselves. :) We have received numerous requests for a massive update on how we got from Point A to Point B, so we're going to try to update you on the entirety of our Canada trip in just a couple of posts. Buckle your seatbelts!
We left Boise and headed for the Canadian border on, June 19th. It was a beautiful morning, and we drove up into the Rockies for the second time this trip. The view from the road was spectacular:

As we came down out of the mountains, we were greeting by one of the more interesting homes we saw on our trip:

And in the front yard -- I kid you not -- was a port-a-potty painted to look like a fire hydrant.

WEIRD!

We camped that night on a ridge in McCroskey State Park, overlooking a spruce and aspen-covered valley. It was awesome to fall asleep listening to the wind rustling through the branches.

An excerpt from my journal the next morning:

"Not sure what time we woke up this morning, but it was 7:45 by the time we broke camp and packed the car. It's a gorgeous morning -- 65 degrees and a cool breeze. We're heading into Coeur d'Alene for some last minute supplies, and then driving up to the border. Finally! After all the stops and visits we've made, it feels like our trip is finally getting started."

The rest of Northern Idaho was beautiful -- rolling green hills, farmhouses and old, weathered barns. Heath must have pointed out at least two dozen of them -- we probably could have put together a pretty good Top Ten list of beautiful old barns. For miles it felt like we were driving through the Microsoft screen saver:

We crossed the Canadian border just after lunchtime and headed for Kootenay National Park, but not before stopping at Two-Scoop Steve's Ice Cream Stand. The lady behind us in line educated us about Toonies and Loonies (Canadian two-dollar and five-dollar coins). !?!?! That was the first indication that we weren't in Kansas anymore. :)

We stopped just outside of Skookumchuk, British Columbia to take a picture before driving up into the Rockies AGAIN -- for the third time this trip! Besides, we liked the word "skookumchuk" and wanted to put it in our blog. :)

We arrived at the Kootenay National Park Boundary around 6 pm, and stopped at Radium Hot Springs to feed Charyse her dinner. We drove further up into the mountains, marvelling all the way at the amazing views.

It was late by the time we arrived at the McLeod Meadows campground, and we found a campsite right by the Kootenay River. The river sang all three of us to sleep.

The next morning we went for a little hike across the river before hopping back in the car for the most scenic day of the whole trip.

An excerpt from my journal that day:

"I'm not sure that I can adequately describe the terrain we are driving through this morning. God was truly inspired when He created this place -- huge, craggy spires of rock reaching skyward, sprinkled with snow patches at the tops and carpeted with spruce forests beneath. 'Rugged majesty' is the shortest phrase I can think of to capture the view. It is hard not to feel impossibly small compared to the mountains that quite literally surround us."

This mountain overshadows the town of Banff, a pretty eclectic little place full of locals, tourists, hard-core outdoor junkies and crusty old codgers. We stopped at a grocery store in town and paid $14.99 for a can opener -- serves us right for forgetting to bring one along. :) From Banff we headed north to Jasper through the Columbia Icefields, where the ice is over a mile thick in some of the valleys. The ice up there never melts, and at higher elevations neither does the snow:

Pictures don't even do it justice:

We ended the day at Wapiti Campground in Jasper National Park, just outside of the town of Jasper. They had (hallelujah!) hot showers!!! You pushed a button on the wall of the stall and got 10 seconds of hot water -- which to us was a wonderful luxury! :) That shower was all we needed to be ready for the drive from Jasper to Dawson Creek the next day.

Part Two coming tomorrow: Dawson Creek to Anchorage!