Life and Adventures of the Hirst Family: A visit from the Family!

It's been about a week now since Jacob and I had a wonderful visit from my family. My mom, dad, brother, and nanny, all traveled from Washington for a week to visit the honeymooners up in Alaska. What a well-needed, wonderful time we had together. God has perfect timing, as this was the first week the lodge wasn't full. There was only one other family staying here, so Jacob and I were able to spend more time with family than anticipated! It ended up being a mini vacation for us too :) We got to go on lots of adventures together, exploring Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. Jacob and I were able to see things we hadn't yet explored since being up here, which was really fun. It was a fun, crazy, week full of fishing, exploring, hiking, site-seeing, visiting, and of course, eating delicious food together! It was nice being able to spend time with my parents, brother, and nanny after not seeing them since we got married in May. There's no better times than evenings around the campfire, eating a wonderfully prepared dinner by my mom, and just being able to catch up and talk. Like most good times, it went by all too fast, and by the end of the week, we were exhausted, yet couldn't believe it was already time for my family to go home. This last week we really got a sense of how precious time is, and how sometimes there is never enough time, and all we can do is make the most out of what God gives us. Every day is a blessing! This last week was full of blessings and good memories!

We started out the week all going out fishing with Jacob on the Kenai River. How fun!! We have never all been fishing together before, but we had so much fun! We were Silver Salmon fishing, but definitely battling with the Pink Salmon in the River too. Of course, mom was the first the catch a fish and every time she put her line in, it seemed she had a fish on! What a true fisherwoman!! We all ended up catching multiple pinks, but only mom caught a silver...which made for a great salmon dinner later that night! We had so much fun on the river!

We also made a road trip to Homer, the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula and "Halibut Capital of the World." What a beautiful place. The mountains and glaciers that engulfed this small fishing harbor was absolutely magnificent! We stopped at a fun coffee shop/bakery, "The Two Sisters Bakery" on our way end for some coffee and a treat, which was absolutely delicious! We then headed to the spit and all the gift shopping and seafood that entailed. We stopped by the Salty Dog Saloon, a small local saloon which is known to all the fishermen in Homer. The tradition is to pin a dollar on the wall, so of course we added our own! Put it in a special place and if we ever make it down to Homer again, we will see if it's still there! It was fun visiting with local shop keepers and artists, as well as the halibut cleaners and fishermen. Homer is a wonderful town with laid back, friendly people! We would love to visit again and explore and hike the surrounding mountains, fish, and just relax.

We also were able to spend quite a bit of time on the upper and middle Kenai last week. Jacob usually fishes on the lower Kenai, which is in town (the upper and middle Kenai are out of town, more in the mountains). It was nice and peaceful to be able to get out of town and just be out in the mountains.

One day my family and I went on a beautiful hike to the Russian River Falls. The hike was about a 4 1/2 mile hike and we all made it to the Falls, praise the Lord! At the Falls there were literally thousands of salmon spawning and trying to make it up the river. It was incredible to see! They had already traveled all the way up the river and were now trying to make it up the falls. I have never seen anything like it. It was amazing to be so close and connected to nature. Overall, we had a wonderful hike and really enjoyed being out in the wilderness together.

The last day the boys and I went on a trip down the Canyon (also located on the upper Kenai). Wow! It was the first time I had every tried fly fishing...I have a lot to learn :) This was the most beautiful day and scenery. We didn't see another person for over three hours as Jacob rowed and guided us through the Canyon. It was so peaceful and nice. It was an enjoyable trip. By the time we got through the Canyon, we ended up at Lake Skilak. Where usually you would then attach a motor to the drift boat and motor to the take-out partially down the lake, we did not have a motor. We spent the next three hours rowing through Lake Skilak (Jacob and Erik rowing), which was quite the adventure, full of laughs, and dilerium. haha But we completely enjoyed the absolutely beautiful creation before us and the fellowship between us. It was an afternoon we truly won't forget.

Like I mentioned earlier, our week was busy, yet every day an adventure of discovering something new the beautiful state of Alaska has to offer. We still can't believe how fast the week came and went; it seems like just yesterday I was counting down the days to see my family. Here we are once again, counting down the days. We are blessed and happy we were able to spend a week with my family. Thank you Mom, Dad, Erik, and Nanny for such a fun time. We love you!