Happy Apple Farm

An afternoon trip to Penrose to pick some apples...

the tractor took us out to the fields and the driver told us where to find different types of apples

Zach could not get to the apples fast enough

we thought because of their size that these must not be ripe or good, but they are actually tasty (tiny) galas

Lexi liked them too

Zach kept saying, "I found a fresh one!"

we also picked some red delicious and some jonathon's for apple cobbler & apple pie

they also had blackberries and raspberries but those were pretty well picked over- we'll have to come back next aug. for those

a piece of apple pie that was pretty well devoured by Zach

and our yummy apples decorating our table

Josh's First Catch Ever!

and second, and third and... our little fisherman concentrating on the task at hand (he has been waiting to do this FOREVER)
After only about 5-10 minutes using a lure- he's got a bite!!!!

(you can double click on the photo to enlarge it- he's got a pretty good smile going on:)

There's the beut! (Dave wasn't sure if it was "keeper" size, but Glen's advice, "I'd say if it's his first fish- it's a keeper!" Good advice!

proud fishing moment- looking down at his first catch chained up.

back to fishing

and another one's biting! This time with the power bait.

hooken' it up

so peaceful (right up our 'man of few word's' alley- to look out on the beauty and not say a whole lot)

and bite number 3!

he wasn't very fond of the whole, take the hook out, touching it part.

fish #4

and #5

catches of the day- while trying to stay as far away from them as possible.

Exciting day for our little/big guy!

Final count:

Josh- 5

Lexi (with help of Glen & Josh)- 1

1- got away (the BIG one of course!)

2- thrown back

So we came home with 6 fish and 1 very happy 7 year old!!

Labor Day- Fishing!

Dave and the boys were going around the house getting ready, saying, "Let's get ready to rumble..." (with the fish!) so Lexi went and got her hat and shoes and sweetly said, "Daddy, I'm ready to rumble."

Happened to get to see quite a few of the hot air balloons from the balloon fest floating around town as we drove by.
We headed up towards Woodland Park, but about Cascade took the Pike's Peak Highway (that takes you to the top of Pike's Peak- which we have yet to do) about 5 miles up you come across 3 lakes (Crystal, and North & South Catamount)- beautiful lakes and only 40 min. from front door to fishing!

snacks are key for this girl!

anytime Dave went to help Josh, Lexi stole his pole- she was pretty interested in trying.

Zach was much more interested in sticks, rocks, etc for most of the time.

Zach's pretend pole with a stick and line

Lexi was not afraid of the fish and wanted to touch them and hold the chain. She was a lot less squeamish than Josh about that.

Zach did get into the real thing for about 10-15 minutes

Fishing with our buddy, Glen. He let us share his fishing spot and then let the kids use one of his poles, gave them pointers, let them roll the power bait and grab the fish with his net (as well as giving us his chain to chain them up) Nice man who had fun with the kids and helped us catch much more than we probably would have on our own.

Lexi rolling up the power bait- our fisherman in the making- who also talked to Glen about her pretty Dora shoes and wondered if he had any. She's girly girl too!

Zach had fun playing with all the fish hanging out on the chain and ended up a very wet and dirty boy (as well as happy and tired- 2 hour nap after that outing)

Dad tried out the lures and the fly fishing- no catches but in fairness, he did spend most of his time helping the kiddos.

sweet memories...

We got there about 8:30am and left about noon- a wonderful way to spend a morning!

At home Dave cleaned out the fish- to which Lexi commented, "poor fishies" and asked "are you getting the seeds out?" Josh's comment was, "I'm not interested in dead things!" We used some lemon juice, butter and garlic, wrapped them in foil and put them on the BBQ. Lexi, Dave and Rico had their share of it- I tried a few bites and don't think the boys would even take one bite although they had talked about wanting to cook up their fish. Maybe in a few years.