Last day of Alaska vacation, flying through the beauty

One of the reasons why we held out until the last day for flying

was because we had many arguments over who we would fly with.

This was one argument that had a positive outcome because

on our last day the weather was most perfect which gave us the

chance to have the higher flight and a glacier landing which,

for me, was most important.

I wanted to land on snow, to have a chance for the babies

to play in something that we rarely get to do in Louisiana.

It was well worth all the waiting and it was my favorite

day of the vacation.

There was a professional photographer who was also going to

be on the glacier taking pictures so we had to sign releases

in case he used any of us in his pictures.

We got free T-shirts or hats for it so that made us

extremely excited.

Waiting for our flight gave me reasons for photo shoots

by this time everyone was getting tired of my camera.

Here we are all in our snow boots.

Putting these babies on my feet got me fired up because

I knew we were going to land in sweet snow.

I love watching baby boy and HOBL together.

Warms my heart to see them playing and horsing around.

Very obvious just how much these two love each other

even though they are constantly aggravating each other

they adore the other.

The best gift I ever gave these two was the other.

Volunteers were asked for the copilot job.

Baby girl jumped at the chance for this.

Sheer beauty. Takes my breath away to see the beauty of the

mountains. To be able to fly right through them was something

I will never forget as long as I live.

It fulfilled me and made me once again realize

how much I believe in my God.

Once we landed it was a half hour of pure play for the babies.

First thing Kd and baby girl did was make snow angels.

Something they both said they have always wanted to do.

The photographer loved this and took many pictures of the

two of them.

For 150 dollars a night you can sleep in this shack high up on the

mountain top. the owners of this space were smart.

They bought these acres of mountains right before

the state of Alaska declared all the mountains

theirs. Now these owners rent out their land for landings.

Yes, this was my very favorite adventure of the trip.

Thanks for going along with our Alaska adventure.

It was something none of us will ever forget.

Once again, thanks HOBL.

You will always be remembered for the one

who made this possible for 5 Riera's.

Fathers Day

I am getting tired of this daily log of Alaska adventures.

Thankfully, after today there is only one more day.

Not meant to bore my readers.

Just having to capture all these times on blogger

so as to have the memories with me forever.

So I will not bore you with many pictures of animals

that we saw spent at the Alaska zoo.

Actually we in Louisiana can pride ourselves

with one of the best zoos in the country.

Instead I will post the pictures that make

me smile and sometimes even make

me laugh out loud...

Baby girl doing her Eagle calls. Kd was better at it,

her face is priceless when calling birds but I just couldn't

get it on camera.

I wanted to pretend that this bear was seen in our yard

but someone would have given it away so I will be honest

and say it was at the zoo.

Fathers Day, HOBL with his babies

Baby girl looks so excited, huh?

HOBL probably trying to sell Kd some type of bulls#*t because

he tends to be able to get her to believe his stories

but from the looks of baby boys face, it was pure bullsh#*t

Don't know what HOBL was doing, shoot don't even know what I was doing...

Baby girl being taken by a bear.

Note the envelope in my hand,

the mail must go through...

Baby boy loving up on a bear...

Ummmm just couldn't resist

HOBL's new hairdo...

Baby boy with his prom picture with Sarah Palin

Went to see the salmon, we were a little early they were a

few weeks from coming through the creek.

Like Father like Son

Awhhhh I absolutely love this picture!

One more day and I will not bore you with the trip home

since it was grueling!!!

As much as I loved the vacation, and it was spectacular,

the traveling was yuck!!!

May never go back to Alaska but so glad I did.

days three and four, relax days for me and HOBL

No pictures of these days.

Day three the kids went fishing and exploring

in the canals close to our chalet.

By this time HOBL and I were showing our age

and just needed some rest time.

In the afternoon of the third day

Baby girl and I went exploring the

small town near Jade Lake

shopping.

Day four was rainy so HOBL and I stayed behind

as the kids went into Anchorage and awaited

Baby boy's favorite band, 311 that happened to

be playing in Alaska that night.

They got there really early and had stand-up spots

right near the stage so all were pumped up

but hearing them tell the stories of having

that spot, well I'll just say,

it was a wild experience for them

Just to show what a small world it is,

While waiting in line Baby boy ran into

a boy he went to South Lafourche high school with.

This young man married a girl from Alaska.

They landed up spending most of the concert

together and the kids said he seemed so excited

to see faces from his home so far away.

As for HOBL and I, we watched many episodes

of LOST since there was no cable,

we were resigned to DVD's.

I was in heaven, stayed in my PJ's on that

rainy day and read, read, read.

Tomorrow, day 5 playing in Anchorage

and the Alaska Zoo.

Day two, halibut fishing

Fishing in Alaska starts early. Especially if you are two hours

away from the dock.

To get to this little town you have to go through a tunnel

that you share with a train so if you are not there on the half hour

you have to wait an hour to get into the town again.

so of course, HOBL had us there at 5:30 am...

Don't even ask, we didn't have to be there until 7:00am.

The first picture is our charter boat, pretty comfortable.

Thankfully the cabin was heated because it was pretty cold

early in the morning and drizzly.

Our guides, Jeff and Paul were quite impressed that

us girls were not worried that there was no bathroom.

We explained to them that down the bayou, girls

squat over the side of the boat.

He did tell us he had a portalet so we wouldn't be required

to go over the side of the boat.

This little town was awesome in the way that there was only one

way to get into it and it was through that tunnel.

It reminded me of a little town that

Stephen King could have based one of his books after.

The big building in the back of this picture,

the locals call the insane asylum.

It is where all the locals live in the summertime.

Our guide, Jeff gave us a quick safety lesson,

one of those was no bananas on the boat.

Really, he told us if we had bananas we had to throw them overboard

right then. Evidently bananas are bad luck for

halibut fishing and these Alaskan fishermen take it seriously.

Okay, it was early, we look tired but we really were excited.

HOBL and baby boy looked like they were gearing up for an

episode of DEADLIEST CATCH

We saw many, many Otters and their babies on our way

to our fishing spot.

Wish the pictures were better but you couldn't get very close.

...and whales, we saw whales!!!!

So very awesome.

This was a special treat because some people wait

all day never to see a whale.

We saw two or three that day.

Simply beautiful.

Kd caught the first fish.

The weights are so heavy and are down about 300 feet

so she didn't even know there was a fish down there.

We teased baby boy so much because he didn't seem very

happy that his wife had caught the first fish.

He insisted he was excited for her, but

his face showed something different.

He is pretty competitive when it comes to fishing.

HOBL caught the first Halibut right after lunch.

A 60 pounder. Let me tell you these things are not easy

to get up from 300 feet down.

What I didn't know about Halibut fishing

is that when they get close to the top of the water

the guides either shoot them or harpoon them to

assure they don't get off their hooks.

Pretty impressive.

So there is this stance you must have if you are a Riera

to reel in Halibut.

HOBL and the babies have it

and our guides really thought this was pretty comical

because each of them stood this way when reeling in their catch.

Above is HOBL

Then baby girl...

Yep, and even baby boy...

Baby boy caught his first halibut about a 60 pounder.

He went on to catch another smaller one later.

Then HOBL caught another.

There is Jeff, captain thinking he is funny.

But baby girl caught the biggest Halibut.

She hooked a 100 pounder but couldn't reel it in

the 300 feet so her Dad and brother had to take turns

getting it up for her.

So of course, they didn't want to give her full credit for

catching the biggest fish.

However, if you know baby girl, she wasn't going for this

and they get no credit for her catch.

I didn't fish, really went just for the experience to watch these

people who I love so dearly have the most wonderful day.

HOBL was fun to watch.

To see his face when his babies and his dil caught fish

was touching for me. I haven't seen him this happy,

to be able to give this to his children,

in a long time. Priceless for me.

The Riera's caught so many nice fish,

6 halibut and many cod,

that we made the fishing tours website.

www.knotroughingit.com

For baby boy and HOBL this was their favorite day

in Alaska.

Definitely will never be forgotten by any of us.