A Wet and Wild Weekend!

Okay so it was way more wet than it was wild, but we had a great weekend. We went up to Island Park. We got up around 6:00 am, which is super early for me to have my head off the pillow, and drove to Coffee Pot Rapids to do a little fishing. We had a lot of fun even though the fish apparently saw us coming down the trail and quickly hid. Here is us attempting to catch some fish.

We had our fishing pot to see who would catch the biggest fish. I will let you be the judge.

Mac said he was sure he won with this whopper he reeled in.It was funny. Mac caught seven fish about this size in 15 min standing in the same spot. I guess his spinner looked like a good lunch.

After we caught our limit (or rather gave up trying) we went to Buffalo campground and had a picnic. We met most of my family there and we all floated down the river. It was the perfect day for it. The sun was shining, the river was warm, and the wind was not blowing. Of course it took a lot of blowing on our part to get enough flotations devices to accommodate 15 people.

My sister Nicole and her boyfriend brought up a paddle boat. It kind of seemed like cheating, but the kids thought it was a blast to ride on. I guess I have to admit that we cheated a little too. Mac bought a great big yellow raft at a garage sale two years ago and we used the air compressor to fill it up at home. I took 42 pictures of us at the river so here a few of my favorites!

Our Ever Growing Garden

Our garden has been doing quite well lately. The heat of the last few weeks has caused our squash plants to take off. We have one plant that seems bigger every time you look at them. Mac takes such good care of the garden. Honestly, I have to give him all the credit. He weeds it, fertilizes it, and keeps it watered. However, I get to cook it! We harvested our first few beets. I tried to thin them out to give the other ones room to grow and I could probably do it again. This year we planted a hybrid beet called a guardmarks. They are pretty cool looking inside. They have red and white stripes that make them look like targets. When you cook them most of the distinctive color striping fades but they still taste good! We have also been picking handfuls of sugar snap peas. They were really sweet and crisp and made excellent stir fry. We have quite a few tomatoes (green still) and today, for the first time, I saw tiny green beans. Can't wait to make ham and green beans. I love my ever growing garden!

Vacation Time

We spent the last week on vacation at Redfish Lake with Mac's family. Mac couldn't get the time off work so I took my sister with me and the kids. We had a great time. It was nice to get to spend time with everyone and just relax for the week. We stayed pretty busy and here are the highlights of the week. On Sunday we drove up there, rather I drove up there (only induced mild chest pains). As always we stopped at the Sinclair station in Challis and the kids played on the big rock. We have been stopping to play on the big rock since Aaliyah and Taylor were just little and they decided this year that the rock must be shrinking. Could it possibly be that you two have gotten bigger? After Challis we headed down the winding road to the through Stanley and onto Redfish. Driving on winding mountain roads is not my idea of fun but we did arrive safe and sound.

On Monday the weather was cold and windy. It didn't ever rain but was rather unpleasant. This did not stop the kids from playing at the beach . (While bundled in sweatshirts) On Tuesday it was warm and calm. So the kids wanted to spend the day down at the water. After slathering on the sunscreen and gathering all the beach toys we were off to the water. They spent most of the afternoon down by the lake. Bobby ran straight to the water, jumped in, and then laid down on his belly. The older girls swam out to the dock. I got sun burnt on my legs despite the 3 oz of sunscreen I applied. Overall a fun trip to the beach.

Later that evening we took the kids up to the fish hatchery and they fished in the kids pond. Eliza and Aaliyah caught the only two fish. We were only there for about an hour but Bobby would have stayed for hours. He thought seeing all the fish in the holding tanks was awesome. The fish were all jumping up and he asked if he could catch one with his mitt. Wednesday we went on a hike in the morning. Taylor hiked the entire 5 miles. Eliza walked close to 4 miles and Bobby walked about a mile and got carried about 3 miles. After we got back from the hike, everyone was so hot we headed straight to the water. We rented a paddle boat and the kids thought that was a lot of fun.

Thursday was Bud's birthday and the girls had planned a surprise party for him. So they decorated the cabin with balloons and a big happy birthday banner. I made the cake. I baked the cake at the cabin on Wednesday night but I had made all the decorations at home and brought them with me. SO what kind of cake did the girls request for their grandfather who was turning 54? Sponge Bob of course! Bud thought it was great and the kids all had fun putting it together.

After the party we went back down to play in the lake. But this time something historic happened. Ever since Taylor was three she has tried to catch a baby fish in the lake. You always see at least three kids in the water trying to catch the minnows that hang out in the shallow warmer water by shore. Well every year we have been unsuccessful. However, Taylor actually caught one this year. I fact she managed to catch eleven of them!

Friday we got up and headed home and it was sure nice to get home.

Quackers!

On Monday Taylor went swimming with a friend and Eliza thought this was quite unfair so we went with Sarah down to the river to feed the ducks. The kids always think this is great fun. Eliza wanted to feed the ducks not the geese but the geese are bigger and more aggressive where as the ducks keep their distance. There were quite a few baby ducks and Eliza kept chasing them down the grass so she could feed them. Of course, when she walked down the grass a whole herd of geese followed her too. This was the first time Bobby had been to the river to feed ducks. He kept throwing the whole hot dog buns out and causing a feeding frenzy while the geese would fight over the meal. Bobby tried to pet one of the geese and it hissed at him which he found funny because it sounded like a snake. After the kids had thrown out all their bread (which didn't take long) we walked up to the falls and took a couple of pictures. Then the kids rolled down the hill and we headed home. It was a pretty nice afternoon.