One Fish, Two Fish, 3,4,5...and Six

Last weekend we went ice fishing with friends of ours- the same ones that we went ice fishing with last year (I think we must make it a tradition)!  It was so much fun.  Eli was excited from the moment he and Joe brought home the bait the night before- he just loved watching the fish swim around in the bucket.  The morning we went though got off to a rough start when we discovered that Joe's ice auger was at a friend's house- which meant a lot of extra driving.  The road leading to the pond was horrible and icy and took twice as long to drive as it should have- so long that Eli fell asleep on the way there.  And once we got there is was windy and brisk.  When the family fishing next to us said they hadn't caught much I sure had my doubts about how well our ice fishing trip with the kids would go.  But we did have our portable ice shanty with a heater (a must, I think, when doing stuff like this with little ones), and our box of munchkin doughnuts (also a must)!  And despite our initial doubts this turned out to be our best ice fishing trip yet!  All of the kids were really excited about every step in the process from watching the holes be drilled, to scooping the ice from the holes, to helping pull the lines.  The cold didn't really bother them at all and they happily came running whenever an orange flap popped up!  Of course they also enjoyed running around the pond, being pulled in the sled, climbing up the hill, warming up in the shanty, and eating doughnuts- but I really think they loved the excitement of catching the fish the best.  Lily reeled in the first fish and it didn't take much convincing to get her to hold her fish this year (Eli, on the other hand was interested but also a little scared of the fish flopping around on the ice)!  And each of the kids (Eli included) got a chance to reel in a fish!  After a couple of hours out on the ice (yes, they made it that long) we caught 6 beautiful brook trout and I think we easily could have kept catching more!  And in the end Eli did touch one of the fish!  Our trip ended with a little sledding down the hill and fish in the freezer for dinner another night!