Crab Fest 2009

Memorial Day weekend is Crab Festival in Kodiak. It celebrates, among other things, the bygone days when crab was king. A carnival comes to town and the children and parents spend days in the rain and mist eating too much booth food some of which is quite good, trying to win silly little stuffed toys, and screaming through the thrilling rides. Yesterday was the last day and Anne and Jason took the three boys for a final fling. Photos were taken on Sunday when Katie and Maya and Amelia and Rostam were there also.

The children started out studying the stages of the king crab at the local Wells Fargo Bank.
Everyone in the family got a 2009 King Crab hooded sweatshirt which was welcome apparel for the cold rainy days.

Maya gets tickets for the rides.


Ah, pop and pork on a stick and ice cream, what more could one want?

Cousin Jordan joins her three male cousins in contemplating one of the rides. She liked to rock the cages, they didn't.

Before heading home the boys watched some live crab in a shop window.

Plenty of Grandsons

I couldn't resist taking this photo of four grandsons enjoying a meal together.

Babes in the Yard

We are all pretty excited about the birth of twin moose calves in Amy and Jason's front yard in Anchorage on Saturday. Amy posted some photos on her blog and Katie put some on hers. Amy is in the process of sending me some new photos to post. Thirty-three hours later mother and babies are still in the yard. They have moved to the side yard and mother wandered over to a neighbor's for some munching but they seem content to remain with Amy and Jason. Moose calves, like most other new babies, are pretty cute!

Being Creative

Today Yasent came to our house with an Alutiiq hunting hat that he had made in his class. He painted it and decorated it with local symbols and molded a horned beast for the front. It is quite a thing to behold and represents a lot of work. I had to take a couple of photos of him modeling his creation.
Yasent's mother and aunt are being creative also. They are making chocolate goodies for the first ever chocolate and halibut tail celebration hosted by the Visitor's Bureau. The event is tomorrow, Saturday, the 16th. If the opportunity presents itself I'll try to get photos of their finished projects.

Here is Anne stirring white Karo, sugar, and heavy cream to make a French vanilla caramel.

Anne puts the finishing touches on a batch of "turtles" by spreading chocolate over the caramel and the pecan "feet".

Happy Mothers

On Mothers' Day Anne and Katie arrived on our doorstep with grandchildren and the makings for mimosas and granola/fruit/yogurt treats. Special presents were selected and made and proudly presented. Yasent did a project with marbled paper and a poem he had written. He also made the special frame of driftwood and beach glass. Lucas felt that his mother really needed a box of chocolates so his grandfather took him shopping. He picked out cards for himself, his sister, and his cousin and for that really special gift he selected an extra large hershey's bar. I know his mother was thrilled.

Anne Gets Her Master's Degree

Last night in a lovely ceremony at Kodiak's new covention center Anne was presented with her master's degree in education specializing in early childhood education. We were all there proudly supporting her and cheering her wonderful and hard-earned accomplishment. In the photo above she is waiting in line to receive her degree.

Here Anne is being given her master's hood by her supervisor, Susan Andrews.

Susan flew to Kodiak from Juneau for the sole purpose of hooding Anne in this ceremony. She proved to be a delight!

Anne shows off her new hood. She jokes that she chose this particular degree because the hood color goes well with her eyes.

Her diploma cover shows that her degree is conferred by the University of Alaska Southeast. Anne spent two weeks each of the last two summmers in Juneau doing class work followed by online work during all of the last two school years. At the same time she has been teaching kindergarten at Main School.