Arizona Diamondbacks Season Finale

Last Saturday night, I (Gary) went with my mom to watch the last Arizona Diamondbacks game in which my dad was a Golden Glover (see July 7 post). One of the last promotions of the year the DBack's organization runs is "Shirt of Our DBacks" in which 43 people win the opportunity to go on the field after the final game of the season and get the actual game jersey of their selected player. I bought a couple of tickets that night and was lucky enough to be one of the 43. So last Sunday, Tiffany, my dad, Joshua and I headed back to the ball park to watch the final game. Joshua and I reported in the sixth inning to our designated location, got all of our paper work done and then waited for the drawing to find out our player. Joshua drew Yusmeiro Petit (#48) who was the fifth starting pitcher for most of the season for the Diamondbacks. Joshua was a little disappointed because he really wanted Eric Byrnes or Orlando Hudson but once he got on the field he was really excited and in awe.

Yusmeiro Petite coming onto the field to present Joshua with his jersey.

Doug Davis was next to us and signed a baseball for Joshua also.

Joshua's first soccer game

I am officially a soccer mom. Joshua has done 2 seasons of tee-ball, so we thought we'd let him play something different. He really likes soccer. Our church is large enough that we have our own league and the church as their own soccer fields. He is excited because his friend Rex is on his team. His first game was this past Saturday. I got a few "action" shots but they were all pretty blurry. Joshua scored 2 goals, so he was very excited. I'll try again this Saturday. This is a picture of Joshua (left) and Rex before the game.

Hall of Flame Fire Truck Museum

The boys and I visited the Hall of Flame Fire Truck Museum earlier this month with our MOMS Club. I am a little behind in getting these pictures posted.

Gary and Joshua to Boise, Idaho

Joshua and I(Gary) are in Idaho this weekend, visiting my sister. We have had a couple of packed days but the rain this morning has slowed us down a little.

Joshua running out of the tunnel onto Bronco Field at Boise State University.

Joshua and I contemplating the first play we are going to run.

After we scored our first touchdown, Joshua tried his first point after attempt.

After running around on the "smurf turf" we paused at the 50 yard line for a photo.

Up next was some minature golf. Joshua wanted to see inside the house.

Joshua and Aunt Jodi thought that it would be funny to shoot water at the camera man. Needless to say for the next 15 minutes it looked like I wet myself.

An Adventure of a Lifetime

I (Gary) recently returned from a four day fishing trip in Alaska. We began our adventure by flying from Seattle into Petersburg, Alaska along the Frederick Sound and Wrangle Narrows. From there we grabbed a quick lunch at the lodge and quickly set out to catch our first fish. With limited time we did bring back one Coho Salmon, which was more than some of the charters that went out that day caught. On the second day, we took one of the 30' charter's in search for deeper water and hopefully bigger fish. Our luck stayed with us as we caught 4 halibut and 6 Coho Salmon. The third day we were back on our own, in our 14' skiff, but once again we out did the charter's bringing home 5 halibut (35 - 85lbs) and 1 Coho. Catching an 85 lbs halibut on a skiff with three guys is quite the experience. In order to get the fish on board we had to harpoon it and then wait until it tired then we were able to pull it on-board. On the final day we set out early, about 4:30am, to get in as much fishing, prior to having to board our flight that afternoon back to Seattle. For the first time all trip, the first line in the water caught a Coho. We followed that up with three more Coho, including one that I fought with for what felt like was hours.

I have been fortunate to see a lot of our country, but have never seen anything as beautiful and majestic as this part of Alaska. Each day we fished along side Orca's, Humpback Whales, Sea Lions, Dolphins, Deer, and several Bald Eagles.

Early morning view of Sumner Straits. About 20 miles from our lodge and the primary grounds for our fishing expeditions. This is all salt water/ocean, although this morning the water surface was as smooth as glass.

Our accomodations for the week, located along the Wrangle Narrows.


My friend and captain of our expedition getting ready for a morning departure.

Not quite the Time Bandit (Deadliest Catch) but our charter for the second day of fishing.

Some of our enemies. In these parts the sea lions have been known to attack or try and jump into your boat if they know fish are on board. We carried a baseball bat on the skiff.

The catch from the second day of fishing. The two large halibut weigh about 60 lbs a piece.

My personal battle, I caught this Coho on our last morning. My friend Lon, who has been fishing these parts of Alaska for 10 plus years said this is the largest Coho he has seen. We estimated it at about 3 lbs shy of the world record Coho.


We set three crab pots and manually brought them on board. I guess you could say that we were a little influenced by the show The Deadliest Catch. Lon got a good laugh watching two guys pull crab pots on board by hand. These are two Dungeness Crab that we caught, we did not bring any home but we can now say we set crab pots in the Alaskan Sea.

Out of Africa Wildlife Park

Since Gary is spending the week salmon fishing in Alaska with some clients, Gary's parents thought we should take a little trip of our own. Yesterday, the 5 of us went to the Out of Africa Wildlife Park, which is about 90 minutes north of Phoenix. It was a fun day. The best part was the safari bus ride.
Come on in zebra, we saved you a seat

That is my hand feeding the giraffe as I sat on the bus

The giraffe knows who has the good treats

The oryx also knows where the good treats are

Joshua was scared to feed the giraffe, but wasn't scared to pet the boa constrictor

I didn't realize that tigers like to swim

Water Slide

For the regular readers of my blog, you might remember that Joshua went down the water slide at our community pool for the first time this summer. I kept forgetting my camera to get his picture. Since the water slides are closing next weekend, I thought I'd better get my act together and get some pictures. My camera has a terrible delay, so I was only able to get one picture of him coming down.