Russian River Falls and Home at last!

Well, we made it! We got home around 4:30am yesterday morning. The amazing (I'm not sure that is the correct word for this but...) thing is that Brooklyn and Kenzie MAYBE slept 1-2 hours of the entire trip. They slept in till about 1pm yesterday and Tom slept till 2pm. Last night they didn't get to bed until 12am and woke up at 11am this morning. It will be a rough couple of days getting them back on schedule, but SOOO WORTH IT! What a fabulous trip to Alaska ("Aska" as Brooklyn likes to say). On Sunday, the day before we came home, we went on a 2 mile hike up to the Russian River falls. When we got to the top we saw 2 bears! One was just hanging out in the river and the other we got to see catch a fish and eat it. So cool! It was a beautiful hike too. Pictures just don't do it justice. We had a lot of fun, but nothing beats home. The warm weather is nice too. :) I forgot to mention this but at the airport in SLC when we were getting our bags a lady who was African American starting talking to Brooklyn. Brooklyn was really shy to her. Then the lady picked her up. Brooklyn looked at her and could tell she was different looking then what she was used to and literally freaked out. She started screaming histerically and wanted down. She ran to Tom and couldn't calm down. The lady looked at us and we both knew what Brooklyn was screaming about. What an awkward situation. We both just smiled and went on our way. Words would have made it worse. I guess we need to get a little bit of culture in our girls' lives. :) Thanks everyone for a fantastic vacation full of very fun memories.

The pictures are in the wrong order. It is from when we got home to Sunday. Oh well. Brooklyn helping us unpack.

Brooklyn slept under the seat in front of me. She found the spot herself.

Goodbye's at the airport with Grandma Hall

Fish boxes! All the fish our friends and we brought home.

Thanks Hall's for your hospitality!

Brooklyn's buddy.

David and Brooklyn. David was such a big helper on the hike!

Brooklyn looking up at the birds

The girls looking at the bears

Overlook of Russian River Falls

Brown Bear #2 eating his fish

Brown Bear #1

Tom caught this bird as we were walking on our hike.

This was a steep part of the hike. We all contributed on getting the stroller up it.

Zonked. She had the toy in her mouth as she slept. We forgot her binky so she improvised.

David and Emma eating

Family dinner on Sunday

King Salmon fishing at Deep Creek

Tom his King Salmon about a 1/2 mile back to the road. As you can see, the trail back to the car was not a paved trail.

Tom's king salmon that he caught. It was 40 inches long and 42 lbs. We filleted it and saved half for a feast at Thanksgiving or Christmas!

Mike and David (Tom's nephew) getting to the fishing spot.

Mike (Tom's boss) and his wife are here with us fishing.

Alaska Scenery

On the boat driving out of Homer onto the ocean to head dip netting

On my poll, some of you mentioned that you would like to see the scenery if you were in Alaska. Well, here is some of the beauty. Pictures don't do it justice.

Did you say BEAR?

So, last night we went dipnetting at Chinaput (some waterfalls off the shore of Homer). While there we caught 27 salmon. We had a lot of fun dipnetting and snagging (yes, legally snagging salmon). The highlight of my night was when I was dipnetting. I was at the mouth of the falls when all of a sudden I hear dogs freaking out. I just thought they were fighting over a fish or something so I didn't think about it. Then I heard people yelling at me. I just thought they were excited over some fish too. So, again, I kept dipnetting. Then all of a sudden they all yelled in unison.."BEAR". I turned around and the black bear was about 50 feet from me. My heart started racing and I calmly turned around and briskly walked towards safety. While I was walking I kept thinking of what I was supposed to do in case I encounter a bear. My mind went blank. I just knew I wasn't supposed to run or be confrontational. I also never looked back to see if I was being chased or if the bear was gone. I just knew I was a gonner if he went after me and I wanted to go out in style by not freaking. I can pretend I'm brave right? Side note...is gonner a word? It just doesn't look right. :) Anyway, the bear left and we were all safe. I'm happy to be reporting this to you because it means I am alive. Now, looking back on the experience I'm surprised I didn't freak out. I knew I was going to be all right. It sure was an eye opener to me. So, in case we see another bear and things don't quite turn out all right...I love you guys. :)

Go to http://cassieanddan.blogspot.com/ to see more pics of us fishing.

Bank Fishing on the Kenai River...SUCCESS!!! AND Goofy kid pics

When we were cleaning the house the kids got goofy. They were dancing and David dressed up funny. It made cleaning fun! David and Emma (Audrey's kids/Tom's sister's kids)

Grandpa and Kenzington (that's what he calls her). They are BUDDIES. She prefers him over anyone.

Action shot!

Action shot. Tom reeling it in and Dave netting the salmon

Tom reeling one in...AGAIN! The rain was coming down pretty hard so hence the fogging of the lense.

One of Tom's many catches....Red Salmon Of course, the biggest (and best) catch of his life is ME. :)

Our catch for the day...we caught this in about 2 hours. It was a blast! I think bank fishing is my favorite.