Brook Trout!

Lily and her friend Hannah getting a ride.

Joe and Eli sledding

Alex and his brook trout!

Indy was very interested in the fish too!

This is when Eli was the happiest (being held by Daddy and watching the fish).

Lily's big catch!

Last Sunday after church we took the kids ice fishing! It was Eli's first ice fishing trip and my first time ice fishing with any of the kids too! And we'll just say that it was an adventure! We brought Joe's good friend, Brave, and his two kids with us as well (which was so good). The kids, as usual, had a great time playing together and didn't seem affected one bit by the cold weather and snow. We did set up Joe's portable ice fishing shanty (that he got from his parents a few years ago) and little heater- so we all had a place to go to warm up a bit (and enjoy some doughnut holes). There was fishing and sledding and general playing on the frozen lake and in the snow. Lily had a blast. Unfortunately Eli didn't feel the same. I think it was just too much for him. He was just plain cold and yet was not happy being all bundled up. He was content if someone was holding him outside while we watched the traps being set, or fish being caught. He actually did last for two hours. Overall though I think we'll wait a year or two until Eli's 2nd ice fishing trip!

The good news from the trip was that we caught 4 brook trout!! This is by far more fish that I have ever seen caught ice fishing so it was pretty exciting (especially since we were only out there for two hours). Lily caught two of the brook trout (she pulled them in on her own)! The one she is pictured with here is a 13 inch brook trout! She was so excited to catch them, but wasn't as excited to hold them up for a picture so we just let her kneel by her big catch (even then she looked a bit nervous)!:) Alex (Brave's little boy) caught the other two fish (his sister Hannah had a great time, but wasn't so interested in actually being the one to pull the fish in). The kids were so excited about the fish they caught that they started calling themselves members of the "Big Fish Team." I think her great grandpa would have been proud!