ALASKA!!!

ben just got back from his 7 day trip to alaska! he has been waiting for this trip ALL YEAR..and got SO excited for it as time drew closer! he went with his uncles, cousin, brother, & friend. they had a GREAT time! i love seing how happy ben's alaska trips make him...he's made it a yearly tradition now :). he loves this place...can you blame him? look how gorgeous it is up there!!... they stayed in a really nice lodge in gustavus, & fished for 7 days straight..ben's dream!...stephen trying to reel one in :)...hehe!.. bear!...river fishing for salmon. look what they're standing in..i don't know if i could do that! i'd be too scared that a snake or a fish would get my legs! :)...wow!...
i can't even imagine how it would be to reel in a fish this big!!!...
it looks like stephen got the hang of it :)... l to r..ben, stephen (bro), adam (cuz), & jake (friend)...
hiking back from the river one day...so pretty!...look how big all these fish are!!!..reeling in the big catch...and here it is, what ben has been waiting for his whole life (besides me that is, hehe)...ben caught the all time record for all their trips to alaska........a 287 pound halibut!!!!! good job babe!!! it was so huge he couldnt even lift it off the ground!... crazy big!!!!!!!! look at that smile...this fish made ben's year!!... yup..that's a whale!...
look how pretty this salmon is!...the lodge cut, cleaned, filleted, & packaged all the fish they caught...they split it all up so we now have 3 50 lb boxes of fish..mostly halibut, which is sooooo good!!! so there ya have it...ben obviously LOVED his trip. it's always so good to have him back home though! i'm so glad you had so much fun babe..love you!