We (this usage of the word we reflects both the Hoyt's and Hyden's) hadn't seen our good friends Rachael & Justin since they had their baby shower back in August of last year. They had obviously had their baby since then, so we were excited to see all three of them. And they were pretty excited to meet Henry as well. :)
Brittney, Rachael (and obviously Theresa) and I all have the same camera - though they have the slightly newer model. I had a slight advantage on having been interested in photography since high school, so I've just needed to brush up on the skills needed to play with aperture, shutter and ISO settings. They both have mentioned wanting to learn more, so we all brought our cameras with the intention of practicing together. That somehow never happened, but it did mean that I brought my flash bounce along, so I at least got some good indoor photos of the kids. Doesn't James look dashing and so well lit??
James is about 5 months older than Henry, but the two of them were remarkably close in size! I knew Henry was outgrowing his clothes faster than Thomas, but he looked like a giant this weekend. Of course, James had the much desired sitting up skill mastered. Can't wait for that one!
Henry has also discovered rattles. Thomas never much cared for them, but if I can get Henry to hold on to it, he will shake it around forever. The guy must like making noise. Not a surprise in this family....
While Rachael and I hung out with the kids all morning, the rest of the group went out fishing. They went out on the Kenai river with a guide and caught a ton of trout! Apparently it is bad form to keep the trout, so the guide was in a hurry to get them back in the water - which is why he is holding the fish in most of the photos:
Although the trout fishing was going super awesome, we wanted to make sure they got to take some salmon home with them (and I wanted some too!), so they did spend some time fishing from the bank and caught three sockeyes. Two and a half went straight to processing, but half of one came back with the fishers for dinner. Yum!
I was a bit bummed / jealous that I didn't get to go fishing, but I certainly didn't mind not having to get up at 4:30 to meet the guide. A leisurely morning was pretty nice!
After everyone was back and mostly napping, Thomas and I went out to explore the property. First he had to go see "dada's car" that Matt rode down on. It was the bike's first trip out in Alaska and it sounds like it rode like a champ!
Then we walked to the backyard - the Kenai river is literally right behind the house. It's very common for river houses to have a similar set of stairs and boardwalks along the bank of the river for fishing.
The boardwalk was pretty awesome, but also a little nerve wrecking to have a toddler hanging out on. I made him sit down as soon as we got down there and he was fine with that for a little while. Once he got tired of it, we went back up to the house and played. I wanted him to see the river, but not end up in it!
Chilling on the boardwalk with our rain boots on. He loves his rain boots because they are the only shoes he has mastered putting on and taking off by himself. Not always on the correct feet, but whatever. :)
The danger of having friends who love to cook is that no one is there to reign you in when you plan out a ridiculous menu that requires multiple tubs of kitchen hardware, ingredients and coolers full of food. Matt tried to point out that we were out of control, but it fell on deaf ears. But in retrospect, I will concede we may have gone overboard. This stack of waffles were the leftovers from breakfast... Ha!
Fishing day on the river by the house. We planned on staying close by, so Rachael and I could try out hand at fishing as well as everyone else. Of course, the Hydens were the only ones with the good fishing gear - look at how professional they look!
Justin was actually so excited about fishing that he had gone to the store the night before super late and bought a pole. Thanks to the super long days, he was able to stay up until 1am fishing. He caught a few small fish, but nothing work keeping. Rachael did get to fish for a little while, but I did not manage to get any photos of it. Boo!
Me? Not so much on the fishing. I never got around to getting a fishing license, so I just hung out and watched everybody else. Henry seemed to enjoy hanging out in the fresh air as well. He even got to face outward a few times and besides drooling all over the place, really seemed to like the forward facing freedom!
And Brittney caught another fish! I know, it's a little hard to see. Next time we'll tell her to hold it on the other side away from her underarm... ;)
James looking ridiculously cute hanging out with his momma. He was actually super tired, I know it's hard to tell, but this is the level of sunshine at 8pm. Crazy Alaskan summers!
And last but not least, our fresh half of salmon we cooked up for dinner. We weren't quite sure how to cook it that we defaulted to our usual cedar planking method. We have got to branch out a little besides cedar plank and broiled - but at least we should have plenty of opportunities to try new recipes!
We had a blast with Justin, Rachael and James - they've made the trek up here twice since Brittney and Duncan moved up here, so I am betting we will see them again soon. Until then - it was great to see you all and we will miss you!