Fishing at Lake Oowah

After the hike the kids all went down for naps, and when they woke up we headed out to the La Sal mountains to go fishing in Lake Oowah.

We didn't have any Dramamine and it was a pretty windy road, so we were very worried the kids would get carsick.  We didn't let them watch a movie, and told them to look out the windows for animals.  Fortunately for them (and us) there were lots of cows on the side of the road.  Every time we turned a corner and saw another group of cows, the kids would yell, "Cow!"  It worked!  Nobody got carsick!

The kids were sooooooo excited to go fishing.  All the adults were laughing a little bit inside.  I doubt that when kids think of fishing they think of just sitting around for hours waiting for something to tug on your hook.  We all wondered how well they would do.

But we got to the lake, pulled out the chairs, and all settled in.

Maya felt very little need to even lift her fishing pole.  Bart and I had to keep reminding her not to let the pole touch the water.

Lilly followed suit.

 

Addison commandeered a chair for herself.

But I'm not sure that anyone was more excited to fish than this guy.

He was seriously looking forward to it so much.  He kept telling me how excited he was to take the kids fishing, it was adorable!  I love that man!

 

And his eagerness paid off.  He was the first to catch a fish.  True it (and all the other fish that were caught) was tiny, but it was a fish none the less. 

That made the twins perk up a bit.

Not too long after, Charles and Andy caught a fish.

At that point Lilly claimed a red chair for herself.  As she settled in and started playing with the reel, she let out a content sigh and said, "I love fishing so much."

Then, approximately 10 seconds (like seriously, I don't even think it was 20 seconds) after she said that, she hopped up out of her chair and cheerfully said, "I'm done."  Crazy kid.

Maya was done as well, and went to join her.

Poor Addison wanted to catch a fish so badly.  She moved to Lilly's chair which was closer to where Bart had caught his fish.  I think she would have stayed there all night if we had let her.  But I could tell the twins and Hannah were ready to be done, so I told her we wouldn't be staying much longer and that sometimes when you go fishing, you just don't catch fish, and that's okay.  It's the experience that's the fun part.  (I don't think my argument was very convincing).

But, on our way to the car, the girls caught a butterfly with a hurt wing.  So that kind of made up for not catching a fish.

Next time, though, I think we'll take two cars and let Addison and Bart stay and fish to their heart's content. 

Hiking in Moab

So this past weekend we headed to Moab to visit Bart's family.  Bart and I have been to Moab in late May for the Art's Festival before, but this is the first time (in a long time at least) that we came down with no particular event/activity in mind.

I suppose that's not entirely true.  His Brother Jacob just got his mission call to Bolivia, and was ordained an elder and went through the temple on Saturday, so we technically went down for that.  But we went down early so we had a couple days to just do whatever we wanted.

We decided to go on a hike and go fishing.  For the hike we went to Moonflower Canyon and it was such a perfect hike for kids...well...minus the poison ivy.  It's short, not strenuous at all, and dead ends into this little pond type thing that was perfect for exploring.



Addison was very intent on documenting our adventures in her sketchbook.





And Bart (and his brothers) spent a lot of their time chasing lizards and looking for antlions. (I included that link because the first time Bart told me about them, I didn't think there was such a thing...apparently I was very wrong).





Someone was playing some sort of recorder and then horn for almost the entire time we were on the hike.  It made the little canyon echo, and gave the whole hike a very surreal feeling. 



Hannah proved to be quite the little trail blazer, and was always up at the front of the line of hikers.  Bart commented that she was just like him when he was her age, so I thought it was cute...that was until her dad had to help her navigate around poison-ivy-infested rocks. 



Charles probably won some best uncle votes while showing the kids all sorts of different insects/animals.











And giving the kids drinks from the Camelbak.  (Lilly later told me that was her favorite part of the trip).





Lilly discovered a newly hatched dragon fly that hadn't even completely stretched it's wings.







Ben just wanted to play in the water. 



The boys (and Addison and Hannah) liked climbing on the rocks.

And then we were on our way back.




After the hike we went to check out the petroglyphs.



There is also a log ladder that goes up this narrow gap in the rocks.  But none of us braved the climb.  That may have been partially because someone was up there the whole time we were there and the kids were ready to go.



This is seriously like one of only three hikes I've been on in Moab.  Ten years of marriage and we've only been on three Moab hikes!  Part of the problem is that Bart doesn't like doing any of the touristy hikes.  But still...three hikes?  That's pathetic.  I'm determined to make sure there are more Moab hikes in our next 10 years. 

Our Family Circle

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I SERIOUSLY love my kids!  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fights/whining/crying/annoying each other that happen in our house, but I swear, when things like this happen, it just makes me feel like I'm living in some sort of surreal world.

Today Bart and I thoroughly enjoyed some peace and quiet, as the girls played outside.  After a while they came in and announced that they had something to show us.  When we got out there, this is what greeted us:

It is a family circle.  Addison drew it with the help of the other three girls.  Around the outside it says, "Families can be together forever" and "I Love my Family."  Then, it's split into six pieces, one for each member of our family.  Each section is filled with a picture of the person, and things that person likes.

While we were out there, the girls remembered a few more things that dad and I like. 

Starting with the baby:

Lilly likes:
Sunshine, Flowers, Bananas, Shark-o (a stuffed animal), Butterflies, and Her Snowman.

 


Maya Likes:

Squid-O (her stuffed animal),  Perry the Platypus, Her Snowman, Ladybugs, Butterflies, and Sunshine.



Hannah Likes:

Rainbows, Sunshine, Flowers, Fishing, Bananas, and Her Blankie.



Addison Likes:

Rainbows,  Butterflies, Flowers, Art, Fruit, and Sunshine.

 

Mom Likes:

Taking Pictures, Flowers, Her Kids, The Beach, Sunshine, and Gardening.

 

Dad Likes:

Sunshine, Art, Reading, Playing Video Games, Playing Board Games, and Fishing.