Trip to Homer

We left the kids with the Grandparents and went to Homer this weekend. We had a great time. I will post a few other pictures later when I have more time. This was a photo shoot that we did at Bishop's beach in Homer. There is a bit of a story, but the image is just Angela and I acting very mature. ~Erik

Camping and Photo Shoot...

We went camping at the beach this weekend with some friends and had a blast! It was cold and windy, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful. The kids loved playing with their friends and all the kids played really well together, especially considering their lack of sleep the night before. The kids loved the four wheelers. Erik borrowed one from his parents along with a trailer to pull the kids behind it. They thought it was so fun! We also enjoyed some great food and fun campfires. Grandma and Grandpa even stopped by to say hi on their motorcycle. All in all, it was a great weekend. Thanks to the Swansons, Ponds and Hansens for letting us tag along.

This next set of pictures is Owen and I. Erik got an umbrella to diffuse the flash a little and was so excited that he wanted to do a photo shoot, so he talked me into getting dressed up and being his model. These are a couple of our favorites. Owen is making his new "cheese" face in the first picture. He likes to say cheese now when we take pictures. The second picture is later the same day after "his brains started squirting out of his head" (as Kaitlyn said). He hit his head on the rocking chair. After the initial shock we wanted to take pictures - he just wanted to stick his finger up his nose. Erik says after major trauma he likes to stick his finger in his happy place.

Will these Hawaii Posts ever end?

Well we made it home yesterday. When we left Hawaii it was 80 degrees and when we got to Alaska it was -20 F. Yes, that's right, a 100 degree difference; needless to say the family is freezing. I will probably only post about Hawaii one more time with some edited pictures. The last couple days the sun finally came out. We went to Turtle Bay beach. We aren't rich enough to stay at the hotel but we did pay the five bucks to park in the parking lot and walk to the public beach. You can see by the pictures that the water was very clear and the sun was shining. It was also nice that there weren't any thugs at this beach just a lot of rich yuppies. I find that rich yuppies are less likely to steal your camera bag.


I had talked about going on a glider ride because I had seen it on the internet. All I can say is sweeeet! They weren't busy when we went and I got into a plane right away. My pilot took me up in the aerobatic plane even though I only paid for a scenic ride. They strap you in with a parachute and 5 point harness. A small prop plane towed us up to 2000 ft and released us from the tow rope. We flew around for a bit then the pilot got a bit bored and we started doing some aerobatics. The last photo in this series was taken when we were upside down. I didn't last too long doing stunts before I started to get sick. Fortunately the pilot was accommodating and landed shortly afterwards. I would highly recommend taking a glider ride if you are in Hawaii.


Lost again? While we were flying the pilot pointed out some "Lost" spots. You can see the first shot is the same "Others Camp" that Angela was posed in front of. The second shot is the beach where they had the original wreck. I guess they had plane parts all over the beach while they were doing the shooting. The last shot is a lake that they were doing some shooting the last couple months. They build a houseboat and it should be seen in this season. Stay posted and maybe you will see it.

Final thoughts: Kaitlyn's favorite tourist spot was Matsumoto's Shaved Ice in Hale'iwa. She asked to go there everyday. Kali's favorite things were playing at the beach and watching the chickens and baby chicks at the yurts. Owen just liked crawling as fast as possible into the water and dipping his face in it. He also liked eating sand, probably the salty flavor. Angela enjoyed the yurts, for the fact that there was no TV and the kids had to entertain themselves all the time. It was fun to hear the stories and games they made up. She also liked just playing in the water with the family. I liked surfing, glider rides, PCC, our rental house, taking pictures and spending time with the family. All in all we are very pleased with our trip to Hawaii.

Harpence Photo Shoot and Hawaii

So when we were in San Diego over the holidays Angela's Aunt and Uncle wanted to get some family pictures. You can see them below. I picked a few of my favorites. As you can see we had a good time taking pictures. It was a bit chilly at the beach that night but everyone did very well.




Only 8 days until our trip to Hawaii. As you can imagine we are very excited to get out of Alaska in the dead of winter. We will be on Oahu for 10 days and will hopefully be able to post some pictures while we are there.