The In-Laws Are Coming, The In-Laws Are Coming!

I guess a more accurate statement is "The In-Laws Have Come"...and left. My father-in-law and two brothers-in-law flew all the way up here from Alabama this past Wednesday to meet the newest Scarbrough addition. Unfortunately, it seems that she didn't want to meet them yet. :-( So, instead of spending time with the new baby, they spent time with me and Shannon. We tried to entertain them the best we could, but there's just not that much to do around Kenai! Thursday, we began the day by taking them to Shannon's favorite place on the peninsula: The Moose is Loose!


Brad, Christopher, Lyn, and Shannon enjoying their coffee and doughnuts.

Then we headed to Homer. Homer is only about 80 miles away and has a fantastic view when the weather is clear. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so they couldn't get the full effect, but it was still fun and I think they enjoyed it. We went down to the Homer Spit so they could get some pictures. Plus, they just needed the experience of walking on the spit. I mean, really, how many people can really say that they've walked on a spit?


The view off the spit.

As we were driving into Homer, we started to see lots of eagles. It was really cool. While eagles are known to be around Homer a lot (there used to be a woman who would feed them), I've been to Homer a lot and have never seen as many as we saw this time. Shannon's dad and brothers were way impressed by the Alaskan wildlife (the eagles in Homer and the few moose they saw on the side of the highway).


Eagles in a tree on the way to Homer.


Eagles on the spit.

We walked around on the spit a bit, but it was really windy and cold! Plus, all the cool shops that are open during the summer are closed during the winter, so there wasn't that much to look at other than the eagles and the scenery. We did go to the Salty Dawg, one of Homer's most distinctive landmarks. It's been around for over a hundred years, serving as a post office, a railroad station, and a schoolhouse (among other things) before being transformed in 1957 into the bar that it currently is.


Inside the Salty Dawg. People from all over the country/world write things on dollar bills and hang them inside. Every New Year, the owners take down all the dollar bills off the lifesavers and donate the money to charity. The bartender said that this year they removed $4000!


Shannon, Brad, Lyn, and Christopher on the harbor on the Homer Spit.

After a quick trip to the Alaska Wild Berry Products store and a quick lunch, we headed back to Kenai/Soldotna. Shannon and his family went to Buckets to watch the Auburn/Tennessee basketball game while I took a nap at their hotel. Friday, we walked around Old Town Kenai and took pictures of the Russian Orthodox Church. After a cup of coffee at Veronica's, the boys all went to Kassik's, a local brewery. Afterwards, we all went to watch my brother Kyle's hockey game, which they won. It was Christopher's first hockey game ever, and it was Lyn and Brad's first high school hockey game. Then it was back to our house where mom prepared a salmon and halibut feed for all the guys. We all hung out, watching silly things on youtube and just talking and eating. Saturday morning, Shannon and I met his family at Louie's for breakfast before they had to drive up to Anchorage.

It was a great visit with Shannon's family, and we're so glad they got to come! We're bummed that they didn't get to meet Lane, but we are glad that we got to actually spend some time with them while they were here!