Ice Fishing

I've been ice fishing a handfull of times.  All memories are of being very cold and occasionally wet, very very bored, and not catching any fish.  

All of our friends are cool, but we have some who were (and are) Wildland Firefighters (hardcore) and who frequently take their kids (younger than ours) on great hiking and fishing adventures (even more hardcore).  So when we got the opportunity to join them out on Scofield reservoir to ice fish, my first thought was YES, the kids will LOVE it!  And they did.

 Tyler had a meeting this morning that we thought would last an hour.  So for 45 minutes I rushed and packed and dressed the kids so we could be out the door as soon as he got home.  After the hour passed and we realized this meeting was of the 2 hour variety, we settled into some mormon message clips and bible videos on the computer.  Heidi and Alex fought over the camels in the Wise Men video, and I wondered if I would survive the morning.

 But make it we did!

I'll admit the tent made it amazing.  We were late (and lucky) enough that all the holes had been drilled and the tent set up before we even arrived.  I've found that for some reason adventures with 2 Mom's go a  lot smoother than those with just a Mom and Dad.  Mom's just know what needs to be done and don't even need communicate needs and wants. Renee and I were able to juggle 4 kids and a fishing pole quite smoothly.  Hats off to Renee though, she caught a fish while holding a sleeping toddler.  I'm pretty sure that until my kids are more or less self sustaining, I'm taking another mother on all our camping and fishing trips.

 All the little girls loved each other as usual, and Heidi got her Josie fix.

 Tyler pulled the kids (and wife) around on the sled, which was almost as good as going down a hill.

 Alex was right at home, wandering from hole to hole commandeering fishing poles and stealing chairs.

 I was amazed with her patience and understanding of the mechanics.

 Heidi really wanted to put her feet in the hole and take her gloves off.

 The weather was great! If it hadn't been for the wind we wouldn't even have needed coats.

 Alex sat in that chair for 10 minutes, insisting that there wasn't a worm on the line until I proved it.  And then she insisted that she didn't have enough worms on her line to catch a fish.

 I was sure that it wasn't going to be IF the kids got wet, but rather WHEN they would get wet.  With the 1.25 adults to 1 child ratio, we were able to keep both Alex and Heidi dry to the end!

 Alex was pretty intrigued with the fish Renee caught, and couldn't get over her desire to step on it.  I kept telling her "No, that's not nice", and she kept inching forward and saying "I just want to step on it".  Finally I walked off to check on Heidi, and not a minute later I heard the most hysterical scream from Alex as she frantically came running to me.  Turns out the fish wasn't quite dead yet.  I'm pretty sure she tried to step on it and at some point it flopped around.  Later on she revealed that she was afraid it was going to eat her.  Heidi has a similar freak out after first insisting that she get to pet the fish.

 Josie didn't last long and had the coziest nap possible on the ice in the middle of a lake.

 Heidi just loved the freedom and wandered here and there all over.  I had intended for this picture to be of her standing, but even her super light footsteps broke through the snow crust now and then.

 This is our stubborn child.  She shoves toothbrushes down the drain and says "No Way" and "STOP IT" more than anything else.  I was afraid to leave her side to take this picture because of how frequently she tried to push the pole into the hole in the ice.

 I agree Heidi, fishing is a fantastically fun thing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Alex napped on the drive there and Heidi on the way back.  The highlights of the return trip include...       -Heidi figuring out she could grab my hair through the back of my chair- with her toes- and the triumphant laugh once she did so.
-Alex having to pee on the side of the road. In her excited words "The BEST pee EVER!"
-Alex getting annoyed with the sun shining in he eyes and saying "I don't like it in my eyes, put the Sun in Heidi's window instead."

We got home just in time for the kids to play outside with Archie while Kate and Ben made a fantastic Paella for dinner.  It was a wonderful Saturday- just about perfect.