January

Ok, here goes nothing... Chris here trying my hand at publishing the blog. It's been decided that I will be the primary blogger as I have more opportunities to do quick entries during the day- nap times etc. Another part of my role as Mr. Mom I suppose. We'll see how it goes. As March is quickly drawing to a close I will do a little catch up- starting where we left off.

January- We went from a very snowy December into a big warm spell that made us think it was going to be Spring. Our snowman did not fare well but we enjoyed the warmer temperatures and were getting out on the boat a couple times a week, working our crab and shrimp pots really hard. The skis had nothing to fear though, and by the end of the month winter returned and things got unusually cold for around here. We ate lots of fresh crab and shrimp and filled the freezer with more. Calder is getting used to going out on the boat and is fascinated by the wildlife we see- eagles, sea birds, sea lions, etc. He loves getting out on the beach and throwing rocks. He's running and jumping around and his babbles sometimes even make sense, with added words everyday...more and more a little boy and less of a baby...it's happening quickly. Jen and Calder on a cold hike in the muskeg behind our house with Petersburg Mountain behind them.

A nice warm day on Wrangell Narrows with the ferry Matanuska headed into Petersburg. This was the same ferry that we took from Haines when we moved to Petersburg last summer.

We took the boat down the narrows to a public dock on Kupreanof Island and went for a little hike.

Calder the monkey man still likes to put on his hat from Halloween and run around- or draw with his crayons. Most of the time he draws on the paper (sometimes the cabinets or table) and has only chomped off the tips of two crayons, so we're making progress on his artistic side...future architect?

Erik and I after a good day crabbing. We've been getting up to 20 king crab in each pot, but getting legal sized males has been a little tougher. To get 2 keepers in 1 pot is a great day!

Processing a load of nice shrimp.

Jen, Calder and I went out on a blustery day and were only able to pull 1 of our 2 king pots and the shrimp pots as it was too rough. It was pretty high stress but we were rewarded big in a record number or shrimp (for us) and 3 species of crab- king, tanner, dungeness. That's a 5 gallon bucket nearly full of shrimp!

Jen admiring the catch. Calder is taking a well earned nap after the craziness of the day.

Calder smiling for the camera. He scrunches up his face if you ask him to smile...funny guy. He and Jen are having a little "pic nic" in our living room.

Ok, Chris's blog post #1 is complete. If January was all about crabbing, February was all about Hawaii... will work on that post shortly.