We had an awesome weekend. I love extra days off. It's like time for free. We had a work day on Saturday, and then Matt's b-day party (last post). Then on Sunday we decided to take a little family trip to the park. We had beautiful weather, but about 15 minutes after we got to the park it got really cold and windy. So we just played a little bit, then headed for home - where we found that our backyard umbrella had flown over the neighbor's house and into their front yard. We had a couple messages with them laughing and telling us about it. But no harm, no foul. Here are some park pics.
Little Matthew loved crawling around on all fours. He didn't like the feeling of the sand on his knees, so he used his feet instead. I think he ate a little sand, too, but that's okay.
He really loves the swing.
Andrew took him for his first ride down the big slide.
All Joey wanted to do was play ball. We brought the baseball stuff, and after Andrew took a few swings, it was Joey's turn. He didn't want to stop. We had to practically drag him home. He will swing at anything, and do anything to hit it. He's a regular Dustin Pedroia. You Red Sox fans will know what that means! He calls batting practice "Hey batta batta". He says, "I want to play 'hey batta batta' some more!"
Then on Monday we took a trip up to Wild Bill Lake with some friends. It was pretty busy, but we got a nice little spot to fish.
Here is part of the lake. It is really small, but perfect for the kids. It was a nice day, but when the sun went behind the clouds it got pretty cold. A nice fisherman tipped us off to this spot when we first got there. It wasn't crowded over there (at least until we got there with our combined 13 kids and 7 adults).
We had to cross a little stream with a make-shift bridge made out of poles. It was an adventure crossing it, especially when I had a kid in one hand, two blankets over my shoulder, a cooler in one hand, and holding another kid's hand. That was pretty hairy, but we made it.
Daddy got all the fishing poles ready as Joey and Grace impatiently waited.
On Andrew's second or third cast, he caught this little guy. I begged Ben to keep it, but he threw it back since catching was that easy. Of course, we didn't catch another one for about two hours.
Grace had a great time just milling around. She liked to hold the fishing pole and reel it in.
She also really liked the water cooler.
Haley fished and helped out with the little ones. Here she is putting some cheese on the hook.
Joey fished for a little bit, but really liked just milling around. Here he is having a sandwich. He was happy until he fell in the lake. Then he was soaked up to his waist, and that is when we called it quits for the day.
Matthew loved just being outside. I wasn't sure if he'd be throwing a fit the whole time or not, but he just laughed, smiled, and played in the dirt.
This was not my finest moment. I was casting for Grace, and she grabbed my arm. That's when I threw the pole right into the lake. I watched it sink a little, then went after it, because I couldn't see anything around me to use to get it out. Ben was standing right there saying, "You better not get your feet wet, or you'll be freezing the whole time." I did get my feet wet, but it wasn't too bad. At least I saved the spider man fishing pole. And thanks, Haley, for thinking to grab the camera and snap a picture. I'll get you back later.
We had a great weekend, and plan to do a lot more hiking, fishing, and camping with the kids this year. It's so fun that they're older and able (and willing) to humor us. We love living near the mountains and taking advantage of such great wilderness!
