A great Saturday of fishing....

Here is Tru with one of the Red Snapper that they caught Saturday. They Boys went out with Travis and our friend Phil and had an awesome day on the Big "O". They caught alot of different kinds of Fish. It was one of those great days .... and the sun was shinning..... My boys are having the time of their lives and wish school wasn't in today so they could go out and do it again. They love to go -- and I love the fish they bring home.

Travis is proud of them as they really have taken to all this-- the chatter this morning while getting ready for school was on some fishing regulation-- I didn't know what they were talking about but they were intently discussing it and an up coming fishing trip. They all have their own fillet knives and do all their own cleaning and filleting. They are steadily acquiring all the rods, reel, nets, lures, hooks etc that is "so important" to fishing success. It was fun to watch them when they got home on Saturday night-- we have learned alot this summer-- the whole family jumped in and go to work (after the boys wolfed down some dinner) we have a rhythm down now and we did the final prep, cutting and trimming,- vacuum sealed and cleaned up everything in an hour and a half. Everyone was tired -- the boys had been up since 5 am... but we all got in and got her done...I love it when as a family we do that!

Look at the mouths on these babies!

Here are the three Ling Cod the boys got. They are the biggest we have caught all year- up till now mom held the record - not anymore... Wow these things are big- and Heavy the boys said -- the biggest weighted in at about 60 lbs. It was as big as Titus. Tell said he couldn't pull his up any higher-- 60 lbs of floppy fish weight is alot. But I am glad - look at his pic and you can see the mouth a bit better. They really should have pulled the jaws open and taken a pic of that--- these fish have ginormous mouths and I would have loved to see a pic of it-- Tru said his whole forearm would have easily fit inside--When they open their jaws it is amazing how big they get! You have to watch out for the teeth-- they are Sharp! These are fun fish to catch! And they are Great to eat. Our friend Phil says that after they get this big they usually are not as good to eat cause they don't stay firm-- but these ones were beautiful and the fillets felt and looked just as good as the smaller ones we usually catch.

black sea bass

Titus is holding up a black sea bass. It may not look like much after the pics of those other larger fish but this is a good sized one. And they are great eating. I love to slice the fillets in thin stripes and have it in stir fry...Yummy!!!!

Fishing fun- Lining up the total catch!

Here is Titus lining up all the fish. You see 6 Halibut --1 Black Sea bass-- 4 Red snapper-- 1 Skate-- and 1 1/2 of the 3 Ling Cod. Pretty good day over all the Weather was perfect. The water out in the Big "O" was pretty calm and they had lots of action! This was one of the better days for variety. We weighted all the bags as we put them in freezer and the total was 150 Lbs of fish fillets! Great day I would say-- that made mom pretty excited too. We froze them in 5-7 lbs bags cause that is how much it takes to feed this crew. We are having Halibut Pizza for dinner tonight- one of the kids favorite meals!

Red Bay Hike

The hike to the lake was beautiful! I loved all the huge trees. The path was brand new- it had walkways over some of the wetter parts. The trail from the turn out is only a little over a mile to the lake. One minute you are hiking in a beautiful forest then the next thing you know you are at the lake. There is a forest service row boat we piled all our stuff on and took off toward the top of the lake.

Fishing and eating....

We fished on the lake - it was completely peaceful and totally picturesque. The little fish in the first picture bit off more than he could chew.....I think his eyes were bigger than his stomach.

For dinner that night we ate fish from the lake and a Huckleberry cobbler. The berries we picked next to the cabin. I was probably one of the best dinners I have had for a long time-- simple and delicious!

This was a perfect way to spent my 19th anniversary. Thanks Travis ...I love you.

Red Bay cabin...

This is Red Bay cabin...... beautiful..... after boating across the lake you get to the top and tucked into the trees is this cabin. Our home for the next couple of days. Travis is standing next to a tree that is just to the left of the cabin... .... If you look closely at the second pic you can just make out the outhouse.... the prettiest walk I think I have taken to go potty. Third pic is of the view out the deck. We were the only ones here besides a busy beaver, some loons and of course the fish.

The big one that didn't get away....

So should have posted this at the beginning of August-- but it was stuck on Travis' phone. Tell got to go halibut fishing for his birthday --- and they did pretty well. They caught a number of halibut -- but this was what Tell has been waiting for.... it was about 150lbs. Tell needed our friend Phil to help hold it up for the pic. The shrimp he hand caught for me were pretty good too! Congratulations Tell and Happy birthday baby!

The two year old Tivi Bug

Tivi has been Two for a bit- her birthday is the end of July...... Tell and Tivi have birthdays 2 days apart... We celebrated with two cakes and actually did it twice as Tess, Tru and Tayjha were gone for Youth Conference and Camp up in Juneau on the actual birthdays. Anyways... Here she is -- not dressed for the day- she had snuck out to the tramp... it is one of her favorite places to be. The TWO year old!!! Wow how the time has flown.... Tivi is jabbering all over the place. She has her pet names for everyone, caring on animated conversations... if you listen closely you can get the jist of it. She and is quite the little drama queen. Now that the kids are in school Tivi and I get to spend much more time- just the two of us.....I love reading to her and playing her little games. She loves outside-- finding puddles and picking veggies in the greenhouse that aren't quite ripe yet... (Hence the need to have fried green tomatoes yesterday for lunch).