Let's start with Day 1, Thursday.
Pick up sister at teeny, tiny Petersburg airport, drive-by tour of "downtown" Petersburg including a stop at the grocery store and then home for dinner. After eating we loaded up and drove "Out The Road" to Twin Creek Rd. Yes, Colleen has now been Out The Road several times and this has long been one of her favorite Petersburg slogans. Nick brought along two guns and she got to shoot them both. She totally nailed the target.
Day 2, Friday.
Up and at 'em; we headed out the road in the morning to one of Nick's top-secret fishing spots hoping to catch a salmon for lunch. Unfortunately it seemed that our recent rains had pushed the fish elsewhere for the time being but Colleen and I had a delightful time picking and munching blueberries. I'm so happy to finally share my joy of random berry eating with someone else who appreciates how awesome it is that there's just berries hanging around! It makes the hiking go a little slower and Nick got a good chuckle saying "oh great, now there's two of you."
We headed back in and stopped at the fish hatchery at Blind Slough to see the fish ladder and King Salmon fry (baby salmon) then to the mouth of Blind Slough to see if we could catch one of those yummy fish there. Nick got a cutthroat trout (btw honey, what did you end up doing with that fish that sat in the sink and then the fridge for awhile?) and Colleen caught 5! bullheads! Not a fish we were going to save and take home for lunch but us AZ girls have a pretty good time just catching something.
After heading back in we went out to lunch at one of Petersburg's fine eating establishments and then to Mike's house to see the farm. Colleen got to sit on Buddy the Horse for a bit but he was mostly interested in eating. The goats were all hot and heavy right now so we tried to avoid them best we could. Stinky goats. Ew.
Then it was time to eat again so off to Elks for dinner where we gorged ourselves on piles of food and the designated driver had her work cut out!
Day 3, Saturday.
I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention that we drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot during this visit. Just about every day we cooked breakfast, then cooked lunch, then cooked dinner. Saturday morning our friend Jimmy stopped by with a nice big fresh king salmon. Nick cut the filets and we cut off a chunk to have for breakfast. Colleen and I had picked up a very addicting Baby Name book and decided that sitting on the porch coming up with names was a great way to spend the day. We chatted and giggled our way through the day, with a break for lunch of course. We finally got our butts moving in the evening for the baby shower!
It was such a nice evening with good people and amazing food. (thanks again Mindy!) Mindy created a fantastic Italian spread with fried polenta, kalamata olives, roasted tomatoes over mozzarella, arugula salad, ricotta with mushrooms and all topped off with tiramisu! Yes the food was so good that I'm sitting here recounting all of it to you almost a week later. Remember, it's okay because I'm pregnant which equals obsessed with food. I received some beautiful and thoughtful gifts for baby and Mindy even sent me home with a giant plate of delicious leftovers.
Day 4, Sunday.
Can you believe we're only up to day 4? The best weather yet, we had a leisurely breakfast on the porch and finally motivated ourselves enough to get paint supplies at the hardware store. Then it was home again for lunch, leftover Italian thank you very much, and out the road for a hike around the Three Lakes. About 20 miles from my house (out the road) there are three lakes, Sand, Hill and Crane. Beautiful little lakes, each with a rowboat and picnic table. There's a boardwalk trail that leads around all three, or as we did it starting at Hill and then going around Crane. I think it was about 4-5 miles and I was one sweaty pregnant lady by the time we were done! But sooo sooo happy to spend that time in the warm sunshine!
Back home just in time to eat again. Grilled salmon, grilled corn on the cob and "creative salad" with blueberries, mint, feta and pumpkin seeds, yay for antioxidants! Oh! and we made dessert, fresh-picked rhubarb and nectarine cobbler with vanilla ice cream. (I wasn't joking that we ate well on this trip!)
Day 5, Monday.
Up bright an early again, today we went kayaking! Yep, me, baby and Colleen went in a double kayak on a guided tour up Petersburg Creek. This is a great little 4 hour kayak trip that goes up the creek with an incoming tide, then return on the outgoing tide. The length of this trip was just right and again the weather was perfect. It was cloudy all morning, but nice high clouds which provided a little relief from getting too hot.
We had king salmon chowder and french fries for lunch then headed home with belly's full of warm soup, and one baby belly. We were a little pooped so hot showers and some down time on the couch was called for. After a little rest we got a second wind, painted the nursery with the two base colors and got our creative game plan rolling. Tonight for dinner was dungeness crab, just plain and dipped in butter, served with another creative salad and baked potato. Num num num.
Day 6, Tuesday.
Can you guess how we started our day? Yep, Coffee and breakfast on the porch. Then we dove head first into the nursery painting and I believe that my baby has the best. nursery. ever. If you've ever seen a really good Arizona desert sunset that you've seen the beautiful colors that now cover my walls. These pictures just don't do justice to how awesome this room really is. We may live in Alaska, but baby will be born in Arizona and she's got a little bit of desert rat in her for sure.
And don't worry, we took a good lunch break in the sun, crab melts, totally decked out with bacon, two cheeses and mushrooms.
When Nick got home we came in to town to get steaks from the grocery store for dinner, walked down City Creek, watched Nick chase and catch a humpy salmon with his bare hands and picked up the crib and rocking chair that came in last week and were waiting for us in my boss' storage shed. After dinner Colleen and I got to work and put together both items! Piece of cake!
Day 7, Wednesday.
By now I'm realizing that I will have to let sister go back home soon. Although I tried to convince her that she should stay longer, she claimed something about needing to go to work. Whatever. We put some finishing touches on the walls, had more chowder for lunch and went to a doctor appointment. Not too much exciting happening at the appointments these days but we listened to the heartbeat which is always fun. Last night for dinner we made salmon curry with asian noodles and stayed up late giggling over baby items and belly pictures.
Departure day, Thursday.
Time to say goodbye. Baby and belly will probably be twice as big next time we see each other but I'm thrilled that it's not far away. Btw, did I mention that I'm at 30 weeks?! That's 7 1/2 months already! Part of me feels like I've just been pregnant forever like she's just a part of me and always has been, and the other part feels like time is flying by. I have a lot of preparation ahead of me for the birth and that whole thing about taking care of and being responsible for another living human being, but it feels so good to have the nursery ready. It's just a room, and one that she probably won't even use very much for the first few months but it's ready when she is.
As for sister time, it truly couldn't have been better. I hope Colleen had as much fun on her visit as I did but I think we did a pretty good job getting in fun stuff, relaxation and much needed help on a project. I love living here but it's a shame that it's just so damn far away.
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