Fishing Trip

Last weekend Harold and I went fishing.  Our friend Kenny and his son Ernie came with us.  We took our boat "up river" to Imuruk Basin and into the Agiapuk river.

It is about a 40 mile trip and takes two hours.  Along the way we took a break and threw rocks in the water.

We saw some friends leaving there cabin so we stopped to visit with them for a little while.

The best place to find the pike is in the shallow areas of the river delta away from the main channel.  Kenny and I actually had to get out of the boat and pull it through a narrow channel by hand.

Once we made it through the narrow part we drifted with the current and fished in the shallow water.  When we found the fish the action was very fast and exciting.  The pike grow to enormous size and are very aggressive.  With all four of us fishing I never seemed to have time to take any photos.

Ernie took a nap on the way home.

We had a lot of fishing action, but had a hard time getting them all in the boat.  Next time we need to get stronger line and a landing net.  In the end we came home with four pike that measured 24" to 30"

C.O.

Tundra Flowers in Bloom

~AnnMarie

Guatemala the Return: Part 2

I hopping in and out of current and past experiences in blog land here, it makes me feel like a fancy best selling author or something. Anyway, we spent the first two weeks of our Guatemala trip in Antigua studying Spanish. The final week we spent aboard, "Las Sirenas", a 40 foot catamaran sailboat.

"Las Sirenas" from the land

On deck of "Las Sirenas"

We cruised for a couple days on the Rio Dulce River followed by some time on the Belize Barrier Reef and Islands. Along the reef was where Harold and I first experienced snorkeling, C.O. having previous experience on a family trip to Hawaii. It took a little while to get Harold to warm up to the whole experience, but once he figured out what to do we could hardly drag him out of the water.

Our time aboard the boat wasn't perfect, we were a bit sea sick, terribly hot, at one point I had an allergic reaction to conch and C.O. accidentally touched a fish that made it feel like shards of glass were stuck in his hand. But we survived and lived to tell of another adventure. 

~AnnMarie

Iceland or Brevig Mission?

This music video reminds me so much of the Seward Peninsula. Filming actually took place in Iceland but it could easily be Brevig Mission. It captures the rugged beauty of the land and how amazing it is to be a kid in a place like this.

~AnnMarie

Guatemala: The Return

It's hard to believe it was two months ago that we returned from our trip to Guatemala. None the less, I want to share a bit from our time there.

Instead of staying with a family this time around, we opted to rent an apartment. We are so glad we did, it was great to have our own place and it was adorable!

Then there was also a huge backyard with ancient ruins for a backdrop.

Just like two years ago, we took four hours of Spanish classes in the mornings and used the afternoons to tour the area. Each of us had our own language teacher, even Harold who had the best time of all. His teacher took him around town and to her home to play with her grandkids. He went to the circus, the market, on chicken buses, on tuk-tuks and to a McDonald's birthday party complete with pinatas. What an awesome way to learn a language!

We also celebrated C.O.'s birthday during our first week of class. It was very special and great fun. The director bought him a cake and all the teachers sang him multiple verses of "Feliz Cumpleaños". Just when he would go to blow out the candles, they'd start singing again. Much giggling ensued.

Being our third time in Antigua, we know our way around pretty well and even know a few people around town. It's an entirely different travel experience to return to a place you've come to know fairly well.

~AnnMarie

His Water Skiing Debut

Harold turned out to be a water skiing natural. It probably helped that he was coached by a couple of experts, his dad and Grandpa Mac. They began by pulling the ski rope and running along the shore to help him get the feel for getting up on the water.



It took a few tries but . . .



in no time he was skimming along the surface.



Once he was able to get the skis up along the shore, he graduated to being pulled by the boat. Up he went on his very first try. What a kid.





~AnnMarie

Mud On My Face; Back To Bush Alaska

Greeted many familiar faces at the Anchorage and Nome airport.
Drove 70 miles by 4-wheeler through dreary, drizzly weather.


Overloaded a boat with that 4-wheeler, a trailer, luggage and 7 souls as we motored across the bay.
Drove into Brevig Mission about 9:30 p.m.


Invited over to a friend's for a late dinner, "We'll be right over, just let us wash the mud off our faces."


Hugs, hugs and more hugs from the kids we saw around town.
Had friends from Nome stay the night our first day back in town.


Ahhh, we're happy to be home.


*Rudstrom Family Blog to resume regular updates, hope you all didn't give up on us.

~AnnMarie