Summer of the Larsen Men

From walking along the beaches of Harlequin Lake full of Ice Bergs, building sand castles on Cannon Beach in their boxers too target practicing with their bows to ready themselves, for the season for killing is almost upon us. They have had a great summer and hope to continue through the Fall. Well keep you updated on their adventures!

Sweet Independence & Tart Treats

while Trace is constantly in his Army mode, he took time to buy his own 52" American Flag. He was unable to bring the flag pole with him back from Sitka so he rigged up a flag pole using an old Halibut fishing pole. I think we are the only house that waves a flag from the porch, so Trace is very proud of it. I bet Grandma L. would love it! Trace was out berry picking and found this HUGE Salmonberry. I can't wait to make jelly! Yummy!

Sitka Farmers Market

Today Saije and I headed down to the Farmers Market. I remember the good 'ol days when Lars used to play at the Farmers Market there in Midway, UT. Good times...Good times. Anyhow, there were so many types of vegtables. I sampled what they call Sea Asparagus, it grows in the mud flats when the tide goes out. Delicious! You can cook it with olive oil, garlic, pecans, currents and agave syrup. Oh my gosh, I just love learning about the food that grows right outside our front door! Someday I will never have to go to the store again! Well.....unless I can figure out how to make my own toilet paper. (ewww, guess I could use some old sheets and just re-wash them, oh how my family will hate me after that change) Sorry about that! So, while Saije and I were a samplin', the band "Medicine for The People" showed up as the entertainment, yea! It was the Hope's birthday (the drummer) She asked Saije if she wanted to get up there and play the durms with them, so I got a pic of her jammin'. I swear she should have been born in the 60's! She one of my little flower children.

Hiking Mosquito Cove

Today a friend of mine called and asked f Saije and I would like to go hiking so we headed out to Mosquito Cove. It is about 1 mile hike along the shore line of the bay. It was a nice day, and no mosquitos either, whew! Saije enjoyed the solitude but was complaining of some knee pain from head banging in the mosh pit last night. Dang that girl can dance! We saw this freaky little, I mean huge ugly slug....... I swear they have been mutating! Along the way we crossed carved bridges and climbed some more of those damn man made stairs! We were definately feeling the burn. I am so glad that Andrew(my husband), Saije and Trace came to visit me! I Love You!

2010 Home Skillet Music Festival Sitka, AK

Saije graduates from Rural Alaska Honors Institute with 8 credits toward her first semester of College! On her way home from Fairbanks, AK. she stopped by to see her mommy. I purchased us a 3 day pass to the music festival to see about 20 bands, from the Blues to Hip Hop. We decided on a few favorites; Medicine for the People(Hawaii), Breathe Owl Breathe(Michigan), Jed Delong(Kotzebue), Mad Rad(Seattle) and Strummin' Dog(Sitka). The boy crowd surfing in the pic was the son of Phonetic's lead singer. He rapped a little and then jumped out in the crowd! I could totally see Trace doing that! A lot of these Garage Bands had some excellent songs......"It All Starts to Make Sense"and" I Wish I was Swimming". I hope that we hear from them in the future!

4th of July in Sitka, AK 2010

Another rainy day....although it didn't seem to slow anything down. We headed off to the booths, Trace shot up the town at the pellet hand gun booth, winning more tickets than anyone. We sampled the food booths which ranged from the famous Hot dog to Phillipino foods. I ended up with a humongous Navajo Taco. (so much food and so little time) Lars had a great time watching Trace throw a softball and dunking the guy 7 times in a row. What an arm!

For the parade we got front row seats. Trace loved the black powder guns carried by the Confederate Army (supporting Alaska Day) The gals in the golf cart were called the Coho Queens, and a gas car that was converted into an electric car (go green!) And Traces favorite & the high light of our day..... the US Army troop! He had me pull one of the gentlemen aside so he could show him some well deserved respect! I cried of course, I am so proud that he is MY son!

After the parade they let all the kids line up and the fire trucks soaked them with the fire hose.

I hope that ya'all had a great 4th.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want too.....

Yup, once again it's my day to shine! We started out our day at the Fortress of The Bears.

Kilsum and Chieek (not sure of the spelling) are male bears 3 1/2 years old and were abandoned by their mother as young cubs. The fortress takes the abandoned bears in and gets them in good health, both physically and mentally. They do some training like...putting their paws on certain levels of rock to take a closer look at there paws & bodies to check for any injuries or infections from their playful fighting. They also train them to open their mouths and check for any dental or throat problems. The trainers call there names and have them climb up on the logs and wave, very cute!
After that we went to the Matinee and saw Eclipse. Lars and Trace liked the fighting but, Trace could have done without the romance. Next, we set off to the hardware store and bought a machete, in Ak. everyone that loves to hike needs one to clear the trail of Devils Club. (very mean stuff, although after boiled down is good for arthritis)
My gift from my sweetie was replacing my diamond on my wedding band with a Glacier Diamond, I can't wait to get it back next week! Trace picked out a chocolate cake with Grandmas Cake Batter Ice Cream. Yes....it tastes just like cake mix. It has frosting, sprinkles and cream cheese. Girls you have got to try it. It reminds me of how you would eat cake mix with water at Grandma Larsen's house! Love to you all!

Trace caught his first Chinook (king) Salmon!

Lars woke up and asked Trace if he wanted to go fishin' in the boat or on the river today. Trace voted to fish the Situk river..... it was a little rainy but who cares, we live in AK. They headed out and on their way to Nine Mile Trace saw a rabbit and looked over at his dad and said, "I have a good feeling about today dad."

When they got there they saw a few Germans fishing so they moved down stream. (after bush whackin' a few hundred feet) They came upon a nice deep hole, they caught about 30 Coho but only landed 5 or 6.

It was beginning to really pour and Lars was ready to go when Trace asked if he could cast a few more times. Trace casted about 6 times and the next was lucky number 7! He had been trying to get a nice Chinook to take the bait, and sure enough it took it hook, line and sinker!

Trace starts saying "dad it took my hook, I got it on!" Lars continued to gather fish as he looked to the side of him and saw this Chinook race past him with line attached. Lars couldn't believe it. Trace started gettin' excited and was afraid he'd loose him, so he asked his dad if he would help him out. Lars looked at his son with a gleam in his eye (and jealousy) and said "Son, you got this one!, remember give him the line and tire him out." So Muck starts playin' the fish. The Chinook runs up stream and then down stream. He circles Trace a few times, because Trace is knee deep in the river. The Chinook takes another trip up stream and his dad yells out, "You gotta turn him son!" and Trace puts on the breaks and starts fightin' him and all the sudden the Chinook is done!

He reels it in..... and it turns out to be a 42 pd 2.5 ft girth and 42.5 inch. length "NICE-ASS" Chinook... caught on 15 pd. test with a little spin rod that Uncle Nick bought at Cabella's!

Yeee Haw! We are going to get it mounted for his 10th Birthday!