Of all the days...

...to not have the camera with me!

Saturday a.m., we headed to Seward to try and catch (no pun intended) the end of the Kids' Fishing Day event. Every year the AK Dept. of Fish and Game hosts a few events at various lakes. They provide kids' poles, all rigged and ready to go, as well as all the bait. They also have a drawing for various prizes, and hot dogs to cook over the campfire for lunch!

We got a late start, so when I remembered the camera 5 miles from home, we decided to not go back for it...better to let the boys go fishing and not have pictures of it than to not get to go at all!

Well, they did have a grand time fishing. Andrew saw one fish nibbling his bait, but never actually caught anything. After a while I just took Jacob's hook off and he enjoyed pretending! Andrew won some tackle for his rod, and Jacob won a hat...and lots of fun was had by all (not to mention adorable ketchup faces when it was all said and done)!

But, hindsight being 20/20, we should have gone back for the camera! The fishing event didn't end at noon like I had been told, so we would have had time, and then someone told us that the Coast Guard would be doing a demonstration over the bay as part of the festivities of Harbor Opening Day. So we headed down to the beach, and it was one of the most fascinating things we had ever seen!

The Coast Guard chopper did several different exercises, maneuvering over the water, dropping a basket to the CG tug, etc...all so close that we could feel the spray the chopper blades were blowing! And then they circled around, hovered just 10 feet over the water, and a diver jumped in. The boys were fascinated! While the chopper circled around again, the diver set off his flare, and they came back and hoisted him back up.

After they landed the chopper, we were able talk with the crew, and each of the boys got to sit in the pilot's seat, and to climb in the back cargo area. We all just loved the whole experience! It's remarkable some of the things our kids get to experience just because of where we live...we're grateful!

PS: We did take pictures on Mark's phone, and if we ever figure out how to get the pics off the phone, we'll post them!