Above Rubies Retreat

Mom and I (Joanna) had a great opportunity to fly down to Oregon and go to an Above Rubies Retreat with some friends of ours that live in Oregon. (We took Baby Sam along also). We left town on Thursday and stayed over the weekend. It was an amazing retreat (a wemon's retreat) and we had a really good time.

Pictured: on the plane to Portland, Oregon. We arrived in Oregon in the evening and enjoyed the next day with our friends.

In the afternoon we got in the car and drove for about an hour and a half to the retreat place. It was a beauitful drive! ...Lots of beauitful fall-colored trees!

Here's a pictures of the beutiful lawn at the retreat center. The landscaping and building were very lovely, and we were amazed to find out that all the work was done by volunteers from a church! It was a very nice, relaxing place!

There was about 85 people at the retreat... it was a nice group... not to large. We met lots of very nice people. Nancy Cambell (the creater of the magazine for mothers and women called, Above Rubies) was the speaker. She did a good job and was very insparational!

Here is the dining building.

We had a great time at the retreat. Pictured is Sam, after falling asleep in the car on the way back to our friend's house.

Before we headed back home, we got to spend a day with our friends. The weather was beautiful, and we took a nice walk down to a river near their house.

It was hard to leave...

Working on Dad's Boat

It was the last week of the fishing season, and the people that had been working for Dad were no longer interested in the job. So... Dad took me, and a friend from our church, to work for him instead.

We were blessed with beautiful weather, and it was nice to be out on the water...

Here's Dad, working on the back deck of our boat.

We enjoyed some beautiful sunsets!

My job was "the cook", and writting the fish tickets. We had a good time, and I learned a lot!

2009 Mirror Lake Trip!

This last week, my family, our cousins, and a friend, enjoyed a trip out to Mirror Lake to fish, boat, and hang out in the cabin playing games and having fun. We all had a great time, and got very wet! (As it rained for most of the time!)

John did a great job driving the skiff!

(left to right) Cousins: Lacey, Kendall, Carrie, Joanna
This was taken on the dock in town before getting on a float plane to head out to the lake.



Boating was one of our favorite things to do. However, we did have some problems... like the time when Paul took his skiff out and forgot to check the gas, result: towing his boat back to the dock (pictured here).



...if you want to go fishing, you're going to get wet...

(we fished anyway, of course!)

Carrie playing cards in the cabin.


Emma and a fish

breakfast... Mirror Lake style

Goodbye Mirror Lake...

Sandy Sandy Beach Trip

Sam fell asleep in grandma's arms on the boat, on our way to the beach.

throwing the football...

Every year we like to take a day trip to the "Sandy Sandy Beach" (as we've dubbed it) a few hours boat ride out of town. We take our large, cannery tender, the Champion, and invite along some friends. Everyone had a wonderful time and the Lord blessed us with good weather! And we all made it home in one piece! :)

Family Fishing Trip

Mom set the baby's play-pen out on the

deck so he could watch the action.

We had some beautiful weather

and awesome sunsets!

Carrie took this picture of me through

the window while I was driving the boat.

My family loves going with my Dad on fishing trips, and we were able to join him this past week for a trip to Seymour Canal (a few hours out of Petersburg). We all pitched in to help with the fishery. Carrie and Joanna took turns driving the boat for a few hours during the night while Dad got some rest. Paul worked the fish pump while unloading fish off the fishing boats and onto our cannery tender. Carrie and Dad worked the weight scale, and Joanna filled out the fish ticket papers. Mom took care of the little kids and cooked the meals. After the fishery, everyone helped scrub down the fish tanks. It wasn't exactly a vacation... but everyone had a good time.

After delivering the fish, we headed out to do some Halibut fishing and have fun on the boat. The weather had been beautiful, but the wind kicked up as we neared our halibut fishing spot. So, we anchored in a small cove to get out of the wind. While we were there, we took our skiff over to the shore and went exploring. We found out there used to be a copper mine there about 100 years ago, and we found the remains of an old building and a HUGE mound of mine tailings.

We got home yesterday afternoon, and since then have been unpacking and getting back into our school routine.

Father-Daughter Fishing Trip

early morning on Roosevelt Lagoon


the beauitful scenery as we hiked


Joanna with a fish


the birthday girl, fishing




Dad

night in the harbor

To celebrate Carrie's 13th birthday, Dad took Carrie and I and a friend of ours and her dad on his large boat, the Champion, to the Naha River for a two-day hiking, boating and fishing trip. We left on Sunday afternoon and got to the Naha at about 9:00 that night. After dinner on the boat we went for a late-night hike. When we got back we all went to bed and got up at 5:30 the next morning. It didn't get light until 7:30, so we did a lot of hiking and boating in the dark that morning. We hiked about 7 miles altogether that day over rough trail and packing all of our gear. It was exsausting, but a lot of fun! We fished at some of the good fishing spots along the trail. When we got to Jordan Lake, we stopped for a rest at the cabin before continuing on to the "Glory Hole". We caught about 10 fish there and had lunch. It was a beautiful day (but very cold... about freezing temperature). After spending a couple hours at the "Glory Hole" we hiked back to our skiff, took the boat across Rooselvelt Lagoon and then from there, we hiked back to the boat. Then it was a 4 hour boat ride back to town. During the boat ride back, us girls fixed dinner, played games and took pictures. We had a great time. Thanks, Dad!