M.D.W.

 This year has been a pretty eventful Memorial Day Weekend for us, which I am super happy for.  Cory took Thursday and Friday off, which gave him a 5 day weekend.  Work has been pretty demanding on him, in which he would of worked 12 days in a row (Reserves must work 1 weekend a month), but instead he cut that short.  Which was good to rest.

The Premo Cabin

On Friday, we drove out to Kenai River where our friends, Banan & Crystal, knew a guy named Mark Premo to meet up with for some camping.  Mark owns a very nice cabin out there right on the river.  We loved his property and it gave us great ideas for a future cabin.  They even had a pavilion to keep the fire going when it rains.  When they first bought the property, 25 years ago, the spot had an outhouse and a small cabin, the size of a medium sized living room.  It fits 2 bunk beds, which was where we slept.  They use the original cabin as a guest house now.  So, they later built a 2 story cabin next to the original cabin.  That cabin was so nice and cozy.  Gosh, it was perfect.  It had a kitchen with bar counters, 2 bathrooms, and 2 large bedrooms.  I was impressed when I heard they built and wired/plumbed it themselves, minus the frame work.

Under the Pavilion with the Kenai River behind us

Anyways, we had ourselves a good time for the first camping trip of the summer.  We met Mark's son, Joe, and Joe's friend, Mike.  They are school buddies.  Very cool and chill fellas.  We got to take advantage of a photo opportunity that was Cory's idea.  They had a sweet, cute, yellow couch under the pavilion and Cory the idea to set it on the river rocks for a photo.  Observe photo above.

My Bocce ball with the closest
they have ever seen next to the pallino

We had amazing steaks and vegetables that Banan & Mark grilled up.  No lie, had to be the best steak I have ever had.  No BBQ sauce needed since the seasoning was done so well.  We mainly sat around the fire and played a new game to us called, Bocce ball (pronounced "baw-chee").  It is basically like shuffle board, but with these weighted color coded balls and a yard.  The goal is to throw the weighted ball as close as you can to the pallino from a set throwing place.  The pallino is a smaller, lighter ball that is usually a bright color for ease of spotting.  First time to six points, wins the game.  We played two sets in teams of two, minus Mark, who played solo.  The team that lands the closest to the pallino obtains a point.  You play to six points and the winner of each round gets to throw the pallino in a new spot.  I found that game really entertaining.  I will not forget how I impressed Cory with my throwing skills when I knocked Mark's ball out of the way to win a point.

The next morning (Saturday), lets just say we slept in until 11:00am.  It is so hard to go to bed when your having fun and the sun is still up at midnight.  We gathered our things and decided to pack up to head back home, hence the UFC fights were on that night.  We thanked Mark for his hospitality.  Can't wait to go back again with our friends.

Cory & Rovic haaving a blast on the trampoline

Chef Ken in the house

Well, my cousin, Junior, was having a BBQ for his birthday.  He just turned 17 and he wanted a BBQ with the family for a celebration.  When we got home from the Kenai, we unpacked, showered and headed straight over.  When we arrived, there was lots of delicious food on the table outside. Ken had BBQ'd all of it and was still on the grill, impressive.  Ken is my cousin's (Julie) boyfriend/babydaddy :)  I was also happy to see "filipino-style" spaghetti on the table too that my Aunt made.  The food was amazing and I ate so much, like it was Thanksgiving.

Cory jumped on the trampoline with the kids.  It was hilarious.  He was chasing them on all fours and the little kids were running around trying to stay away from him.  From their screams and laughter, they were definitely enjoying his company.  We also met Julie's new puppy, Reese's.  Ken surprised her with a puppy just last week.  So awesome to welcome that little fella into the family.

Cory ready to watch some UFC Fights with Reese's

We also ordered the fights there and most of us adults were watching the UFC fights.  The fights were pretty good.  Most of the cards were heavyweight fighters going against each other.  It was like bulldozers colliding.  We then called it a night and headed home.  On the way home, we bought the movie, The Grey.  Cory's favorite.. I swear he could watch that on repeat if he wanted.

So Sunday rolls around and we had planned to hike with our friends, Fiona and Larisa, out by Wasilla.  Unfortunately, it was raining.  We had to take a rain check on that one, which was a bummer.  We were so excited to go hiking somewhere new.  At least we have all summer.  Instead, we did a couple things around the apartment.  Cory took me out to a movie and we saw The Avengers, finally!  I kid you not, we tried to see that movie twice before.  Both times, there has been long long lines and we were like no thanks.  So, now that the movie has been out for awhile, it was safe.  Although, the theater still filled up slowly, but not like a chaotic opening week.  I definitely enjoyed that flick.  So much action!  Plus it was comical seeing these superheros go into disputes, when all along they were supposed to work together.  Great flick.  We ended our night with ice cream in our laps and watching one of our favorite shows, Tough Love on VH1.  Super entertaining.

Family

Cory giving Kadyn a lift

 Monday we were welcomed to the sunshine and blue skies.  What a great day to go fishing!  Cory and I ate a filling breakfast, packed our chest waiters, packed a lunch, and then met up with Julie, Ken and "the kids".  "The Kids" are brother and sister, Junior and Amanda, who are our cousins; Justin, my brother; and Kadyn, Julie & Ken's son.  We were all bound to head south for hooligan dip netting aka hooligan fishing.  The hot spot for hooligan fishing is about an hour south of Anchorage, near 20 Mile River.  It was mine and Cory's first time doing this. There is a technique involved, which an older gentleman had to call us out on our wrong technique.  In fact, he spotted us up at the parking lot near the porta potties.  I went up to the porta potties and he calls for me.  He discussed how me and "the man in the brown waiters"(Cory), were doing it all wrong.  It was nice of him to tell me, but I found it funny.  He probably thought we were so stupid.

So, we quickly learned it is not like dip netting for salmon, where you just set the net in the water, wait for a punch, and pull the net in.  For hooligan, the nets are smaller, hence the fish are way small.   You basically, dip your net and graze it with the current then lift your net up to see if you caught anything.  You don't even feel the fish in your net because they are so light.

It got exciting when you would dip your net in and find a couple hooligans in your net when you pulled the net up.  The most I heard someone catching in one dip was 33 hooligans.  I just wanted 5 in 1, which I didn't get.. BUT.. Junior got 5 in 1, so yay.  Anyways, Julie & Ken brought 5 nets total.  Whoever wasn't fishing was grabbing hooligan out of the others' nets and putting in the bucket.  The hooligan came in for a good hourish run, which was an exciting catching time.  But later the run became very slowwwww.  Overall, I had a fun experience.  Although, I did get stuck in the mud flats and Cory had to pull me out.  Conclusion, I got out safely, but I lost my shoes to the mud.  It was hilarious.  Later, Amanda got sucked into the mud and she lost a boot while Cory was pulling her out.  Fortunately, we were able to dig that back up.

Hey, I got one and I have no shoes!

Cory, Kadyn, the puppy and I left early.  We babysat Kadyn and Reese's until Julie & Ken were done fishing.  Kadyn was getting bored fishing because all he did was grab fish out of nets.  One day when he is bigger and stronger, he will definitely get to have the joys of dip netting.  He's only 5, so much more room to grow.  Unfortunately, for the 2 hours after Cory and I left, nobody caught hooligan.  They only caught 1, but put it back.  All together we did catch a bucket full of the hooligan.  So we were definitely satisfied from the first run.

Oh, this weekend has been so nice and refreshing.  It was great to spend time with Cory again, since he has been working so much.  I've missed him and his time.  I give this MDW a 4 stars!!  I shall leave you with two videos.  One is of Cory playing Bocce Ball and the other is of Cory chasing the kiddos on the trampoline.

♥

Movin' on up

Cory leaving for work and giving me  kisses :)

Ok so, I am back to this blog!  Things were so busy I didn't make time to write in this to catch you up.  I even tried to make a new blog on tumblr, but that was a fail.

Anyways, life has been really good to us and I am very fortunate.  Cory has been working for a month and a half now and he loves being a working, providing husband again.  Our apartment complex has increased its payments.  We started paying $840 for rent in 2009 and now we pay almost $1100.  Now that we are ready to buy a house, we decided it is time to leave this place that keeps taking advantage of our bank account.

After a couple weeks of looking and with the help of our realtor, we finally found a condo we liked.  We plan on making this investment into a business plan.  Once I get my teaching job, we will rent this condo out and find "the home of our dreams".  We are really happy with this plan.  The condo we bought is 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and 2 car garage.  Bye bye 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment.  We hope to close on the condo mid June.  I am super excited to check out garage sales and craigslist for some stuff to fill our new home this summer.

Took Mom out for a pedicure for Mother's Day

I am also going to be taking 2 classes this summer so I can stay on track to graduate in December.  My photography business will give me stuff to do and income to bring in.  I have 5 weddings in June, which is awesome.

When August comes around, which is volleyball season, I will be back to coaching.  The JV coach, Stan, resigned which bumped the two C-Team coaches.  I will now be coaching C1 instead of C2.  C1 is mainly sophomores and C2 is at the freshman level.  I am very excited for this opportunity.  We will be looking for a C2 coach that will be coaching by my side and sharing the gym.  I hope we find someone great and amazing!

This summer just started and I hope to go on many adventures in Alaska.  My family and I plan on going hooligan fishing with nets Memorial Day.  It will be a great start to summer.  Although, I have been walking, running or rollerblading the coast trail on sunny days.  I can't help it, I must be outside :)  I hope we get to go camping, hiking and more.

Until next time :)

Uncle Hulk and Kadyn