Have I Mentioned that Eli Loves his Boat?

It's true.

Eli loves his boat.

A few weekends ago , Eli finally took off for an expedition fishing and camping and boating trip to the East Arm of Great Slave Lake.

It's where the REALLY big fish hang out, and they think they are oh-so-cool because they live in the 'burbs.  Know what I'm saying?

Eli and a coworker buddy of his took off Friday, July 20th, from work, and left at about 2 am in the morning to take advantage of the calm winds. 

2 am in July in Yellowknife means sunrise, y'all. 

That's the Midnight Sun, right there. 

And, Eli's boat.

The darkness of the looong winter exhasts me, and I must say that I was surprised to discover that the light of the looong summer days exhausts me, too.

Yellowknife is home of the extremes... extreme beauty and extreme exhaustion, I guess. 

But the beauty is amazing, isn't it?

Isn't Eli well-trained? 

He's been working on making that horizon straight when he snaps a picture to make his photographer hobbyist wife happy, and the pictures from this trip are outstanding! 

Eli says this was totally worth waking up at 2 am. 

About 2 hours later, the boys arrived in the East Arm, and headed to a secluded island protected island (yes, that's not a typo...) that Eli had picked out long before with his charts and maps. 

He's an obsessive planner, and it pays off on these elaborate trips.

Oh, and Eli loves his boat.  Did you know that?  He loves those motors.

Eli said the weather was perfect and the fishing was amazing.  He said that at one point they were getting a big fish every 10 minutes!! 

They saw two moose on the trip, too.

This one was swimming close to the boat.

I'm assuming that Eli zoomed in a bit here, but even still, that's a close moose encounter!

The other one was on an island facing the campsite, but Eli said that he didn't get to the camera in time. 

They boys ate well, a la Chef Eli. 

This is their camp set up.

Eli snapped this one as his buddy reeled in a large lake trout.

His pal brought along his dog for company and protection, and Eli said that it was pretty cool to have a dog in the boat. 

De nuh, de nuh, denuh-denuh-denuh... 

Eli was so impressed with the trout.  Even without a trophy trout, they were still among the biggest fish he's ever caught. 

I like this one.  The dog is staring at his master... "Uh, Eli?  Are you sure master should be steering the fish catching aparatus??" 

Eli like this one because you can see the two down riggers and rods.

Eli loves his boat.  He calls it a fish catching machine.  I know it's really his mistress. 

Happy Eli. 

Bird covered island.  Look at them all! 

This was the big one from the fishing weekend.  16.22 lbs.  That's 7.36 kg. 

That's waaay bigger than Twofour. 

Eli and the Big Guy. 

Yeah, that breath cannot be good!  Man, Eli must be hard up on these trips. 

At least he always has his mistress.  The Boat.

Saturday night, Eli said that a thunder and lightning storm lit up the sky.

He snapped this from the boat as the storm approached, and as he headed back to camp. 

Eli got back late on Sunday. 

There are no pictures of his return trip because it was a lot windier, and he had to add an hour on to the travel time to safely manage the waves.

On Monday, however, he sorted out the filleted fish, and I found this in the kitchen when I went to check on him. 

WHY would you need scissors and masking tape to fillet fish? 

Well. Miss G really wanted to help, but the smell was driving her bonkers, so she improvised an ingenious stink-blocker all on her own! 

She was so proud to be able to help Eli with the fish! 

Smart Little G.

She loves Daddy.  She loves fish.  She does not love the smell.  She loves tape, though!

And, Daddy.  Well, Daddy loves his girls.  And, he loves his boat.

Mobile Pictures

Do you remember using the rotary phone to dial only 5 numbers to call somewhere in town, and how terribly annoying it was when they made us dial all SEVEN numbers to place a local call?

And, do you remember when voice mail was cool and new and the phone company would give us a whole weekend to make as many free voice mail messages as possible, so we did, but then they went back to charging us, like 10 cents a message?

And, do you remember when car phones were for the really crazy rich people, like in Rainman, when Charlie Babbitt uses a huge honker to place a call, and it was practically larger than the car seat itself?

And, do you remember when we would call it a telephone, then just phone, and now cell (or mobile, if you are feelin' fancy)?

And, do you remember your phone being only a phone, and having a cord on it (sometimes a really long cord)? 

Man, what I wouldn't have given back in the day for my own phone line to my room...

Anyways, this is what my phone has been up to lately. 

I use it as my back up camera when I have momentarily stepped away from the Big Red Beautiful Camera, and need to snatch a great shot.

Hey, do you remember your first digital camera that cost you an entire week's pay?  Yeah, all of our phones now have way better quality than those first dinosaurs (decade old digital dinosaurs, to be exact).

When Eli took me in to get a smart phone prior to our move to the North, the guy at the store actually laughed at my phone.  "Hey!  I remember these!  I had one when I was, like 12."

I digress, and I present to you my mobile pictures (because I'm fancy).

Miss G wanted to help Daddy mow the tiny patch of grass in front of our house. 

It's so tiny compared to our lawn in Nova Scotia, that often Daddy just mows over to the neighbours yard.  It still only takes about 7 minutes. 

Miss G and I went on a bike ride to get ice cream at the Reddi Mart.  Her Kindergarten teacher and I walked her whole class there on the last day of school, and she thinks that's a pretty special treat, still!

At the beach, Miss G is a seagull chasing machine! 

Miss A was very proud of herself for using a butter knife to get a cheese snack ready. 

After a visit to Weaver and Devore, the girls wanted to pose with the cut outs. 

Miss A enjoying a hot hot hot afternoon in the shade in front of our house with the turtle pool. 

This is how Eli brought home the hexagonal picnic table I chose for our front deck (I love it!).  The girls were so excited, "Mommy!!  Daddy's car looks like a prince!" 

I snapped this picture earlier in July.  Time of day? 

Before 3 am!!  Hello, midnight sun! 

Miss A drew this awesome picture of Wubbzy.  She loves Wubbzy. 

The girls love to make mail and special deliveries for everyone at the house.  Here, Miss A made a heart card for Papa with a treehouse she would like him to build.

Here is Dad, caught in the act.  Eli made him and ice cream cone with TWO cones (because that is his favourite part!).  Papa was so pleased. 

Another day, Eli had Papa try his famous barbeque hot wings.  It was painful. 

Very very hot!! 

Here are the girls outside at the Dancing Moose Cafe. 

The best part of the lunch visit to a restaurant in Old Town was being so close to the float panes as they took off.  Can you see the spray? 

The girls were pretty impressed... and man, was this a HOT day! 

Nanny thought it was a pretty cool place to have lunch, too. 

Miss G felt indignant that there was no actual dancing moose at the Dancing Moose Cafe (false advertisement?), but she did like this wall hanging with the dancing moose under the northern lights. 

Miss A is lounging in a chair outside the Glassworks in Old Town (downtown) Yellowknife. 

Ah ha!  Back and the beach, chasing sea gulls.  You know, Miss G can get pretty close to them when she is sneaking, and before she yells caa caa!!  I wonder what she would do if she caught one? 

This month, the girls have been taking swim lessons, and they are really enjoying them! 

Miss G has discovered that frozen yogurt tubes are a lot like ice cream, and she likes them. 

Miss A likes them a lot, too. 

This was snapped at 4:24 am when I was driving Nanny and Papa off at the airport for the family reunion in Saskatoon. 

Back to the pool... this time practicing floats in the deep end! 

Miss A is a starfish! 

Ice cream from the ice cream truck??  What a lucky day!  Thank you, Daddy! 

This was the potty line at the air show... the girls were patient, and the planes provided entertainment. 

Ronald McDonald was there, too, and the girls went back to back with him to see who was taller... I think Ronald won, by almost double! 

The girls thought he was swell. 

But the super fast planes were cooler. 

Another line!  This time, for cotton candy and lollipops. 

While at the air show, Miss A collected rocks, and set them up for circle time, but she didn't have a story to read them. 

She was pretty tuckered out by the end of the day... 

One morning, I was sitting on the deck sipping tea when I head some traffic at the bird feeder Monique helped the girls paint for us as a going away present.  Can you see the bird's tail feathers?

This is the sky at nearly 1 am when I went to get Papa from the airport, upon his return from the reunion.  It was very smoky from forest fires, but you can still see that the sun was not yet set! 

Miss A decided to open up a Movie Store (also called a Woovie Store).  Our little entrepreneur! 

The Northern Bugs are nasty! 

Check out this bite Miss G got on Friday when we rode our bikes to the pool for the girls' lesson. 

I'm told that people build up immunity over time to the bites, but both girls swell like crazy after a year up here!  (Eli and I both do, too.) 

Yesterday, we took Papa to Mark's Work Wearhouse for a mini work clothes shopping spree, and the girls had a wonderful time with the mirrors. 

Mommy!  Six girls! 

And, I took this picture today.

Even the girls laughed as we drove behind this souped up Jeep-type vehicle.

I think it's pretty appropriate to living in the North, too.

As long as you are upright and moving:  no problem!