Fishing frenzy and huckleberry harvest

Late July in Southeast Alaska means salmon coming into the streams and berries ripening in the woods, and we have been enjoying both over the past couple of weeks. Caden has caught the fishing bug that infected Dada when he was young, and he has hooked and landed a variety of fish in the nearby river and ocean, including lots of Dolly Varden, a quillback rockfish, a little king salmon - too small to keep - and a pink salmon.

An evening's catch, not counting the ones that we let go. A couple of these are Adad Bruce's dollies.

Quillback rockfish make yummy tacos.

Tonight's dinner.

When we arrived a couple of weeks ago, the salmonberries were going strong. Now, they are waning, but the red huckleberries are here. This afternoon, we picked a bunch. Tonight's dessert? Huckleberry muffins!

Berry picking.

Huckleberries for Finn.

Finn is 1!

On July 10, we gathered in Sitka, Alaska, to celebrate Finn's first birthday. Family came from far and wide - Ama and Adad from Corvallis; Nana and Boopa from Petersburg; Aunt Erika, Uncle Brad, and Cousin Rowan from Hillsboro; Auntie Sally from Denver; and of course Mama, Dada, Caden, and Finn from Irvine - for a teddy bears' picnic. It was a great day, and it was wonderful to have so many family members here for it.

Sink bath

We are crazily preparing for our trip north tomorrow, packing bags with clothes and  research supplies. Finn and Caden have spent a lot of time in the lab over the past couple of days while we sorted gear and figured out how to fit it in our bags. Look, we caught a larval recruit!

Also on the agenda was haircuts for Dada and Caden. Here is Caden, pre-haircut:

And this morning, Finn got a quick bath in the sink.

Dragon training and a new toy

We have been trying to figure out how to better entertain an inquisitive almost one-year-old who loves to explore and get into everything. The current solution: an activity table with lots of lights and sounds.

And if that fails, who says you can't take a bath in the living room?

Or borrow Caden's Perplexus game?

This week was Caden's last week of school, so he is now a third grader! He had a fun week, with games, a movie, and field day. School ended on Wednesday, but Extended Day continued for Thursday and half of Friday. Dada picked Caden up at noon on Friday, and he joined us for lunch at the Bio Sci year-end picnic (catered by In N Out Burger - yum!) before we headed to Fashion Island to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2 and do some shopping.

Building and bonding

This week, we finalized the flooring and granite in our new house. Above, you can see Finn helping out at our final meeting. Now, we can enjoy our summer adventures in Alaska and Oregon while the builders finish the house. If all goes as planned, we will close escrow on Sept 8.

Finn absolutely loves his brother, and Caden has a great time being silly to entertain Finn. Other times - such as in this picture of Caden playing with his new Perplexus game - Finn simply watches with rapt attention.

In other weekend news, Caden has lost another tooth (his sixth) and Finn has gained another tooth (his fifth).

Crawling and pulling up

Finn is now on the move! Last week, he figured out how to crawl, this week he started pulling up to stand, and he is now rumbling around the apartment, trying to climb on everything.