Author: Andi

Don't forget that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Simpsonizeme.com is where you can do this. I tried for days to make one and Chuck did it on his first try for me. Here's what he made! HEHE!

Although the Twins didn't sweep the Indians in their final game last night, we had a great time! We got some tickets from scalpers and met our friends, Katie and Chris for the game. We ate lots of food, laughed and cheered. They played a funny fishing game before the game with a bunhc of people dressed like fish. When they were “caught” they fell on he ground and flopped around. It was really funny. And I have a bunch of pictures of Neshek pitching because I think he's so fun to watch with that sideways pitch of his. It's nice to hang out with people you don't get to see very often and being at the Twins game was a bonus! HERE are some pictures I took at the game.

Every year, for 10 years, Chuck and his friends have been going to a friend's cabin for a weekend in the summer. It's always a great time. Lots of friends, water, drinking, camp fires, games and hanging out! The party was this past weekend and almost all of our friends were there…only a few couldn't make it. HERE are some pictures taken at the cabin. Some of them are mine and some are Trisha's. A wonderful time was had by all!

My mom was recently laid off from the Star Tribune. I think it was a blessing in disguise because she has wanted to do something else and hasn't been happy for a long time. I am glad to see her taking a new route in life even if it was bittersweet.

Some of her co-workers threw a going away party for her at Matty B's in Minneapolis. HERE are a few pictures taken at the party. It was a good time and it was nice to see mom so happy to have made her escape from the Star!

In the beginning of July, Chuck and I went to Alaska with his dad, step-mom, grandparents and aunt. We had a wonderful time and it would take all day to try to remember everything. So I'll sum it up a bit.

We flew into Anchorage and rented a couple cars. We headed to Copper Center to stay at a cabin which belongs to the parents of Chuck's dad's friend. (That was a mouthful!) We stayed there a couple days and did some river fishing for Sockeye (Red) Salmon on the Klutina River which is the back yard of their property. It was just gorgeous there.

Then we went to Valdez for some Halibut fishing. There was a bad Easterly wind that day, so we didn't get to go to his favorite fishing spot, but the whales we certainly out that day! We saw so many whales….Orca, Humpback and they were all showing off. At least one Humpback put on quite a show for us. He would swim out of the water then fall on his back. He did this 7 times in a row. Then he would swim on his back flapping his fins. Soon after, some more whales came swimming in. They are all so loud and huge, amazing creatures. We did catch a few small Halibut and some Rock Fish (Black Bass). HERE is a video of me catching my Halibut. It was very cold and rainy that day, but we all caught something and had a wonderful time!

After Valdez, we went back to Copper Center for a few more days. We did more river fishing. We took a charter up the Klutina River to catch some King Salmon. We we so lucky that morning….2:00AM we had to meet there and it never really got dark there at all, so we didn't even need flashlights at that hour. Chuck, Debbie (Chuck's aunt), Pat (his dad's friend) and I were on one boat. This trip is a scary adventure in itself. It's hard to explain…so WATCH and see for yourself! All 4 of us caught our Kings that morning. We had 3 in the first 45 minutes and Debbie caught hers about an hour later. What an experience. HERE is a video of me catching my King. Chuck, Debbie and Pat all caught females that were around 35 pounds each. Mine was a male and around 22 pounds or so, but man it's hard to get a fish out of the current! We went 20 miles up the river to a lake which is fed from a glacier and did more fishing. We caught Dolly Varden, Grayling, a Rainbow Trout, a whitefish….it was so much fun!

After we left Copper Center, we headed to Fairbanks for the night. There wasn't a lot going on there. We got up early the next morning and made our way to Denali National Park. This is where Mount McKinley is located. When we got there, you could hardly see where the mountain was supposed to be because of all the clouds and weather it creates. The next day we took and 13 hour round trip bus ride into the park and saw small pieces of the mountain and a bunch of animals. On the way back to our hotel, which was a little over and hour ride from the park entrance, Chuck's dad comes around a corner and sees the mountain! Now keep in mind, only 14% of the visitors to Denali park ever see all of the mountain. We were so lucky! It was out all evening and then the next morning. It was hard to see it at night because the sun was setting behind it, but in the morning it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! It's just beautiful there. We took a TON of pictures!

We then headed back to Anchorage. It was a wonderful trip. One thing I did notice is how HUGE the flowers are there. You will see all of the pictures I took of them if you look at the gallery of photos. I am sure it's from all the sun they get there. We also saw the pipeline and you can walk right up to it and touch it. It's all over the place as you are driving. That state is so beautiful! I would love to go back and see areas we didn't see. And this isn't a small state by an means. They have glaciers there that are the size of Los Angeles. It's just an amazing state and it makes you feel so small. At one point we got to walk onto a glacier….just thrilling thins you wouldn't think you could do. It's quite an experience there!

So we brought back lots of fish and lots of wonderful memories! Feel free to look around at all the pictures we took. You'll need some time! I will get around to putting captions on them soon!

Alaska Photo Gallery

* The first item on there are my pictures. The rest we taken by Chuck's dad and Jean. Enjoy!

I realized I haven't written anything on here in quite sometime. I'll try to do some catching up. on all the events recently….so sit back and relax and get ready for lots of reading. 🙂

This is the new suit I got for this year. I limit myself to one a year or I might go nuts. It's a fun color and no hanging ties on the sides which is something I really wanted. I had a black suit picked out, but decided I had enough of those! It's really cute on and I am very happy with my choice!

(It's amusing the way the pictures turned out…almost like they were supposed to go together. Except the bottom is too big or the top is too small! HeHe!)

This is the new haircut I got today. It's still long, just with a lot of layers. I really needed a “style” and not just a bunch of ratty hair…I think I have that now! 🙂

I saw these online and I thought it was funny. So I made one. I hope you get a good chuckle out of it! 🙂