Isaiah's First Gun

Two summers ago while we were vacationing at my dad's house, Dad took Josh, Isaiah and Josh's best friend, Scott shooting and Isaiah fell in love with a lever-action 22 my dad has had since he was a boy. Josh has been talking about getting Isaiah one of his own for a while now and shortly after we got to Kodiak they got an order in which included a very nice lever action 22 which happened to have Isaiah's name on it. (-:

Here are a few pictures, taken by Josh, from the day Isaiah got to take his very own gun out for the first time.

To start out their day this beautiful eagle posed for a photograph right next to the road. Thus my husband, who rarely picks up a camera, got our first good picture of a bald eagle here in Kodiak! Go figure.

The boy and his gun.



Ready, Aim...Fire!

Bringing in the target.
Josh and Isaiah shot up this box full of packing paper, it was pretty fun to see what the paper looked like after they brought it home. Dad, you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about. Lol!

Miriam's Gymnastics

This last month Miriam participated in a 3-week long gymnastics camp here in Kodiak. She had a blast and her skills really improved over the 3 weeks of the camp, it was very fun to watch her! As a bonus, for me, I got to visit with my new friend who's kids were also in the camp. It was great to get to know her better as the camp went along, though we did get in trouble with Miriam one day because I was so busy visiting I forgot to watch a lot of her class! Bad Mommy! (-:

Here she is...the little gymnast.

Tumbling...

Balancing...

Climbing, oh my!

Miriam's turn to hold the rope.

On the bar.

Climbing the cargo net.

Working the floor.

Check out that cartwheel!

Miriam's cartwheel improved so much by the end of the camp, it was really wonderful to see. The teacher said she will do a fall gymnastics camp if she can find a facility to use, we are really hoping that works out! In the meantime we are going to make her some mats to use here at home. (-:

Kodiak: An Aerial View

Here are some photos I took of the base and surrounding areas on our hike up Old Woman.

This is the gate where we show our ID as we enter the base. The red building with the gray roof is the medical center.

A C-130 taking off from the Kodiak airport.




Our resident 378, the Munroe, as seen from above.
I am very happy Josh is not on this ship!

Scenery, with a little bit of the base in the center of the picure.

This is the Commsta, where Josh works - it is the white building with four towers around it.

An aerial view of base housing, our housing - known as 'upper government' - is on the left hand side.

Kids on a mountain. (-:

You can see a little bit of the Kodiak airport and the Lake Louise housing area just off center to the right near the top of the photo.

Hiking 'Old Woman'

We set out on our first Kodiak hike up Old Woman on a gorgeous summer day, about two weeks ago. Believe it or not is was actually a bit warm for a hike, but it was either go in the sun or risk being stuck on the mountain in pouring down rain with 3 kids and 2 dogs - so we opted for the sunny day. (-:

Heading out...

Well, there goes 'plan A'.

(The sign says 'No Motorized Vehicles Allowed')

Miriam heads up the final stretch. Her brothers have already been waiting at the top for a while, and Josh joined them soon after they got there.

Joshua's 'I made it!' picture.

Isaiah's 'I made it' picture.

Miriam's 'I made it!' picture. She is very tired, lol!

Josh insisted on getting an 'I made it!' picture of me, oddly I never got one of him...

The dogs 'I made it!' picture...the kids insisted on this one. (-:

Isaiah hanging off the edge, no surprise here.

Oh no, now two boys are hanging off the cliff!

Not Miriam too!

The face is priceless, I told her to 'look scared'.

Miriam collecting flowers on the mountain top.

Daddy and his girl heading down the mountain.

This is Charlie, we were dog-sitting for some friends who also moved here from Coos Bay, after the hike he DID NOT want to get up from this position...it was very funny, Josh finally dragged him up and got him in the car. That was one tuckered doggy!

When we were almost home from our hike I noticed what I thought was a bit of grass on Josh's shirt sleeve, it turned out to be this little inch worm. Unfortunately my camera did not want to focus on him so I never got a great picture (and once he was even on the tip of my fingernail doing his inchworm thing - so sad to not get a picture of that!) but you can at least see him in this one.

Our little 'hitch-hiker' was a fun ending to our hiking adventure. It was such a beautiful day up on the mountain, a good time was had by all - though the kids were not anxious to go on another hike anytime soon, they were worn out!

Military Museum

After exploring tide pools and bunkers we headed up a trail and found the Kodiak Military Museum, open nonetheless! As we entered the gentleman in charge admonished us 'This is a ...' at this point I figured he would say something about not touching anything and keeping the kids far away from the exhibits or something and I looked around at the 6 children we were bringing in, including a 2 year old and 3 year old, and wondered if we needed to rethink this plan but he continued '... a hand-on museum, you can touch everything and pick it up and look at it just please don't play in the ambulance which is on loan.' - alright, this we can handle!

Joshua poses next to a large projectile.

As it turns out if you take your 13-year-old camera-shy boy and put him next to a giant bullet (ok, it's not a bullet, as my husband tells me, it's a projectile...I still think it looks like a big bullet) he's happy to pose for a photograph!

'Wow, mom, this is really heavy - and it's even hollow!'

Sargent Sanders types up an urgent update.

This large rather archaic looking piece of technology was actually donated recently by the Coast Guard when they updated their equipment at a nearby LORAN station. Think that update might be a little overdue? I'm just saying... (Josh was not surprised when I showed him this photo, he just said 'yeah, and there's probably tubes in there, too.')

The cans of emergency drinking water made me giggle.

One of the highlights of the museum was the rack of old uniforms the kids could try on, here Joshua is cracking up at his brother trying to get into some very bulky pants. I always love it when I can get a picture of Joshua laughing!

Soldier Miriam prepares a report.

Isaiah finally conquers the humongous pants!

Of course, trying on the gas masks is a must.

Miriam with her 'gear harness' on backwards...or maybe upside down, but she didn't care she just loved wearing it!

With all these boys around the atmosphere is getting a little toxic.

Isaiah fully 'decked out'

This chair is from Saddam Hussein's palace, confiscated during the Gulf War in 1991. I just found it interesting.

This was a big hit. The funny looking contraption on the left is an automated switchboard, using this the phone in the middle can call either phone on the right or the left. I used it to call one of the phones and told Isaiah to pick it up, he was duly impressed and got a big kick out of playing with it with his friend, Sam, for quite a while. It was cool to see the automated switchboard 'do it's thing' each time you made a call.

We certainly made the most of our time at this gem of a museum right in our backyard and we look forward to our next visit! I am very excited about the opportunity to bring the kids back to look at some of these things as we learn about them in school this year! They even have a little gift shop where they sell actual old grenades, how cool is that! (-=

Fort Abercrombie

After visiting the touch tank we still had two more adventures in store, the second was a visit to Fort Abercrombie where we had a picnic lunch and explored tide pools and old army bunkers. It was a little chilly out by the beach but we all had a fabulous time. It was so beautiful!

Isaiah takes in the view.

At one point all 3 of my kids were walking up this fallen tree but by the time I got my camera out and ready this was all I got - Joshua jumping off! *Sigh*

One of my friends younger sons following Miriam down the trail, you can just barely see her in the distance in black pants and a white sweatshirt.

Out on the beach. This beach was covered in flat, round, dark gray stones which I found fascinating - from big ones to itty bitty ones!

More of the beach and the tide pools.

...and the other direction.

My three rock scramblers.

Miriam holding a little mussel.

Miriam and Joshua climbing on the wall of a bunker.

Joshua inside a room in the bunker, we think it may have held communications equipment because there were still cables on the wall near the ceiling.

Isaiah and Sam looking down the pipe in the ceiling of the room Joshua was standing in.

Trying the door to another room, to no avail.

Checking out yet another bunker...and a dead rat.

Isaiah helping to corral one of the little guys!

Miriam takes a closer look.

Wow, that's one big gun barrel!

This is also where I got my first picture of a bald eagle, the one I posted earlier. It was a wonderful trip!