Homer, Alaska

When I got to Homer, I saw Matt and Tracy's girls for the first time. Emma (2) and Allison (2 months) are adorable! It didn't take Emma long to warm up to me, and I think she enjoys having another person to play with. We have done so much this past week. Emma loves the stroller and Alli goes right to sleep in the front pack, so Tracy and I have taken them on several fairly long walks. The beach is right by their house, so I have gone down there on walks as well. It's peaceful and relaxing to walk along the beach, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. One evening we had a barbecue with a few people from their small group, and another day Tracy and I took the girls to Kenai/Soldotna with another Homer gal to go shopping for the day. Chris had the afternoon off of work, so he drove down from Anchorage to join us. Matt met us at the beach, and we spent the rest of the evening dip netting. A late night, but lots of fun.
This weekend was also a busy one. The Early's church was having family camp, so we drove out to join them for the evening on Friday. Chris came down for the weekend as well, so he joined the adventures of the last few days.
On Saturday we headed out with Tom on his boat to Halibut Cove and Gull Island. When we got back to the house, we turned around as quickly as we could and headed out dip netting again (Kasilof is over an hour drive from Homer and the commercial opening was starting, so we wanted to get out there before the fish were gone). Since I'm not a resident, I can't dip net, so I had Alli in the front pack for most of the time. Emma also did well, as long as we let her 'see daddy' a lot. She loved to go stand at the edge of the water and wave at Matt and Tracy. We had two nets, so Matt, Tracy, Chris, and Leah (a high school student from their church that we took along), took turns. Between them, we took home about 24 reds. Upon arriving home, Tracy put the kids to bed while the rest of us filleted the salmon, and then we processed it. Yet another late night, turning in about 1:30am or later.

Matt stayed home with the kids Sunday morning while his dad (Tom) took us out deep sea fishing on his boat. We spent all day out there, and had a blast. Tom and Sandy's friends were in town, so they came as well. Patty brought in both of her halibut right away, then Tracy got one. John didn't bring any halibut in, but he did a good job of finding the sculpins (otherwise known as uglies). I think he caught 6 of them, each one progressively bigger. Chris caught a tiny halibut, as well as a flounder, but nothing big enough to keep. I had a lot of nibbles, but didn't catch anything till the end of the day. I got a sculpin, and then, as I was getting discouraged (I only had a day license and we were about done), Tom told us to reel in our lines cause it was time to go. As I brought it in, a halibut took the bait, and after a bit of a fight, I brought him in. It wasn't a big one, but not too small either. Tom thinks maybe about 20-25 lbs. We fished a little more, and then Patty and I went up front to watch some whales that had come pretty close to the boat. There were a bunch of them, and while some went on by, others stayed right nearby feeding. It was fun to watch them blow, roll over, and dive right there in front of us. What a show! I loved our time out there, and even though it was overcast and kept drizzling, the water was calm for the most part, and it was beautiful. I always hate to see days on the water end. :) Now I have some fresh halibut to send back to NY, and I'll be bringing some salmon also. Mmm!

Today was a catch up day from the busyness of the weekend. I walked to a local coffee shop, and also spent some time down on the beach. Matt wants to go dip netting again tomorrow, but it'll depend on the weather and how much energy we have.