Crabbing Adventures

First of all...This is the boy who would rather stay home and practice...especially if his little girl is nearby. Missy loves Joe.
Sad that our crabbing adventure is over???? NOT
This was the last trip that the intrepid sisters embarked on this season. They are great deck hands.
Angie had a feisty one... He wanted to take control of the ruler...
STOWAWAY!!!
What NOT to wear on your feet when you go crabbing!
Angie is lucky that crab isn't turned around and pinchin her tootsies. Big Crab in comparison to the sun star.
This was a fine specimen of a sun star. What great color.
You can see it's little feelers and the gelatinous mass in the center is their stomach that comes out and eats it's prey? Correct me if I'm wrong Robb.

So Little Time, So Many Things to Do

Uncle Mark and Aunt Jenny, along with Kyle, Ami and Jessie arrived mid day on Aug 11th, the same day Jenny returned from her internship in Hawaii. Our household went from 4 to 10 and it was very lively. We had only 1 1/2 days to run the island with family and see the sights and make new memories to cherish. The cousins went out beach combing and the entire visiting Boucher family went out crabbing on the boat. We ate very late that night (crabs and burgers) followed by smores. We so appreciate that Mark and Jenny carved out some time for us to reacquaint our growing children with each other and it was great for the BOYS (Rick and Mark) to goof around together again. They are so much alike it is frightening! I also was so glad to spend one on one time with Jenny. That was a luxury and I really cherish our time together. Thanks Jen for all the encouragement!!!( You Know!)
The day they left we celebrated our 26th Anniversary. The girls made us a wonderful dinner and bought us flowers that were a "Low Arrangement" on the table. Very easy to converse over. Now we are getting ready to send Jenny off to Spokane in 2 days. We will miss her but are happy for her to be moving into a new apt. with good buddies who also are nursing students.(Hi Kat and Megan). So we've fit in a lot of living and we are exhausted but pressing on.
I have some more pics of a crabbing trip we took with the girls last night. I will catch you up soon.

More Sight Seeing

It is such a lush green forest in Moran State Park, and seeing the bedded down deer is a treat.
Jenny and Ami pause on the log bridge over the falls creek. Ami had a "brush" with Stinging Nettles and lost... She is one tasty girl because the mosquitoes thought she was delicious.
Searching for True North...
Coming down in the Tower at Mt. Constitution and noticing details. Like who made the custom supports on railings? CCC
Kyle is trying to figure out where the supports for the steps are???
Jessie the movie star arrives to the gated door at the tower.
Mt.Constitution is just a great place to see all around the islands.

Fun with Family!!!

What an interesting picture to begin with! We had a fun time with indoor smores but after the marshmallow cools a little, it gets a little stringy. Jenny is working it.
Marshmallow
chocolate sauce
Kyle and Jenny Rose thinks it's a winner!
Leaving for the ferry...Oh I didn't see that sweet little gold car! Mark pretends to hit Angie's new, used car.
Jessie and Mark having some breakfast, Kyle, Jenny and myself discussing who knows what.
Brothers, working together to bag up picked crab meat. Isn't it cute to see the bros. together again.

At Cascade Falls: Jenny, Jessie, Kyle, Mark and Ami Boucher, from California.
The falls were full of water and gorgeous.

Food

Lately I've been doing some jam making. Let's see... Strawberry freezer jam, Strawberry cooked jam, Raspberry f.j. & cooked. Today I will make Blackberry/Raspberry cooked. Though I love freezer jam's freshness, I like the jelledupness of the cooked jam. I was also given the secret recipe of my girlfriend's spiced peach jam. All this I am making in low sugar and really like it. The sad part of this story is that no matter how many jars I can of infinitesimal combination of luscious fruits (locally grown or not) my dear husband's heart belongs to Welch's. Yes, it is Grape Jelly he loves.

Angie made up some wonderful Mango salsa last night and we had it over top a filet of Talapia. It was soooo goood. I forgot to take a picture! I snarfed it down so quickly.

She also made some fresh hummus with garlic olives and it was manifique!

So this food journey ends with breakfast. I am back to my Fiber One, and loving it. Who'd have thought some psuedo chinese noodles could steal my affection??? (At least until there's a sale on Wheaties!)

PICTORAMA

The following pictures have been taken by my sister Bunny. She has a much better camera than mine, a great zoom feature which brings things to life. I am not totally jealous, but only slightly. On a serious note: I'd like you to enjoy these pictures but please do not "steal" any. Bunny is a graphic artist and has plans for her photos. So enjoy the ride and keep it clean.
There are two orcas spyhopping here.
This guy/gal is doing the backstroke and sunning their belly!
Knitting class is FUN
I cannot spell their name...
Granny slappin the water to corral the fishes otherwise known as LUNCH
Breaching in the fog...
Oh my, this one is shameless.

Male and female Oystercatchers
Angie's felted bag after Aunt Bunny tried her hand at needle felting. Angie created the flowers, and Aunt Bunny punched away. It transformed the bag... handle to come.
The oystercatcher had us on a goose chase... luring us away from the nest which we never found.
The catch: Rick and the boys. See Rick's foot for scale?
A parked seal pup off North Beach. Hopefully mom came back for him.
Baby orca frolicking with mom and brother.
A little mist just makes things more interesting.
SPOOOKY
What's down there? Aunt Bunny working for her catch.
Whoah!

Sunstar. This one is smaller than the one Stu had in his crab trap.
This is still the tip of the iceberg but it is an attempt to represent a little bit of the past 2 weeks with Buns and Joe.

Bunny and Joe were Here!

The Ugly Truth behind this picture is that Bunny and Joe Mainly Came for the CRABS. Here is proof. The crabbing season was severely shortened by a week and a half. That left us 3 short days to crab. We wasted no time getting out there and getting our quotas. The first pot we pulled had 20 Crabs in it. We are not talking dinky blue crabs. We are talking Mouth Watering, hand biting, Dungeoness Crabs!! Oh, the Hand biting Joe can attest to. He got clamped but good and it drew blood!

There is one satisfied customer.
This is the absolute beginning of the feast. Everything looks way tooooo neat!
Oh my, I can almost smell the Old Bay now. We have taken to stunning the crabs at the dock and ripping their appendages down the middle. It cleans them out lickety split and makes for cleaner cleaning if you get my drift. The meat is slightly drier, but not bad.
This was taken by Buns on the whale watch tour. I was buttoned up tight and hat pulled low, eating a pretzel. Since I got this short haircut I have been mistaken for a man. I am getting tired of this. Honestly, do you really have to have longer hair or lipstick on to distinguish? Don't answer that. I am wearing Joe's coat cuz' he doesn't and I like it. It was perfect with all it's pockets and it's my favorite Green!