Family Fondue/Fly Fishing

February's ABC Dating letter was the Fantastically Fun and Fabulous letter 'F'!  We really wanted to go ice fishing for this date as it was something neither of us had experienced.  Unfortunately with the way the winter has been going we were a little weary of going.  So we planned on doing a family fondue night and letting the kids share in the fun dinner with us.  (We did watch a film afterwards to have our date time without them).  On, Saturday February 18th, this is what our dinner table looked like:

I had had fondue at both the Melting Pot as well as another non-chain fondue restaurant and for a girls night at our house.  Brian and the kids had never had it.  We made up some cheese fondue and had celery, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot sticks and bread cubes to dip in it.  We also had a pot of hot oil to cook our chicken and beef in.  It was a fun dinner for Angela and Connor because it was so hands on.  Due to the heat it was very hands off for Emeric but I still think he enjoyed the food.

Dessert was chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and oreos to dip in it.  Nothing like a filling rich dinner and dessert for a date night with the family!

Now fast forward about a week.  We were told by our ice fishing friends, Kyle and Sarah, that the lakes were at about 5" of ice which is just fine for walking out onto them and for fishing.  So on Sunday February 26th we got to experience a day of ice fishing.

We had these two sleds full of gear, a collapsible ice shanty and a cooler that we hauled out onto the ice. 

Here is a view of a few ice shanties on the lake.  Shortly after we arrived there were even more plus people just sitting on buckets over their holes.  That seemed a little silly to me because it was quite windy that day.

Brian got to run the auger and drill some of our holes.  We had some holes inside the shanty for "jigging" which is just fishing with a little pole and no casting, you just drop the line in and wait.  We also had four holes outside with tip ups in those.

 

This was a fun picture to show the thickness of the ice.  You can see the crack in the ice on the lower right side of the picture...We were told that since it was so cold that day that the ice was growing.  We were frequently hearing (and even feeling) the pops and cracks of the ice as this was happening.  It felt very weird!

This is a tip up that is set and ready to go.  We had little, maybe 3", minnows attached to the lines.  The theory is that when the bigger fish eats the minnow he will be hooked and that will cause the flag to tip up.  We are then support to yell "tip up" really loud (as it makes the other fishers jealous) and then go get the fish.  This did happen once for us, but unfortunately the bigger fish had only nibbled on the tail of our minnow so her never got hooked.

This is a view of the inside of our ice shanty.  You can see the two openings in the floor as well as the on jigging pole.  There is a propane space heater which was very nice for keeping us comfortable.  I was able to have my gloves of the entire time and never felt cold.  Sarah and I sure enjoyed the nice amenities!  On the table above the heater is the camera monitor.  That day the water was pretty murky so you couldn't see anything unless it was right next to the camera but we did get to see three fish.  I could sit there and watch my pole bobbing up and down and see the fish swimming up to look at it and then wait.  Then swim up again and wait.  Darn fish were just teasing me.  Unfortunately we did not catch anything.

  

But we sure did have fun trying!  On a side note, when we got to the lake we noticed something sticking out of the ice.  Brian and Kyle were pretty sure it was somebodies trailer.  Before our day was done and we left the ice, the looked again and realized that the whole thing had fallen in.  Yikes, how was the ice thick enough for us in one spot but not for something else there.  It was explained to us that the trailer was much heavier than I so I would be just fine.  After we got off the ice and we were loading the car up and man came over to use and said that there were about six people four-wheeling on the lake that morning when it broke through.  I didn't understand if it was one four-wheeler and the trailer that went in or more but regardless, bummer.  Fortunately, it seems like the people made it our just fine and so did we.

Emeric is off the Sassa!

Emeric has been off of his sassa (pacifier) for about a week and a half.  This past Monday, February 6th, he had taken one out of his room to play with.  This was a big "No No" as he was only to be using them while he was in his bed.  But alas what two year old listens completely to his mother?  Before I chose to get it from him and put it away he had lost or misplaced it.  That was okay because we had one more, no worries.  Then the very next day, Tuesday February 7th, he did the exact same thing with his other sassa.  You would think he and I would have learned the first time.  That night the five of us were frantically searching every spot in the house we could think of to find the two lost sassas.  NO LUCK!  Brian and I decided it must be time to wean Emeric.  We knew we had wanted to do it sometime this spring but we were no really committed to doing it now....but we knew we were not driving to the Wal-Mart to buy more.  We were quite nervous about this and had even joked in the past that when we weaned Emeric Brian would have to sleep in the camper so that he would actually be rested for work.  That first night was absolutely amazing.  Emeric must have been exhausted because he went straight to sleep with no fussing.  He did get up a little earlier than normal the next morning but truly 6:00 AM is not that bad.  The next night was not quite as good, he cried for about ten minutes.  Again that is not that bad.  He has been good ever since.  His nap times have been a little hit or miss, some days he sleeps, some days he plays.  He has more play days than sleep days, but he was already starting onto that before he lost his sassas.

Then this past Tuesday night, as I was putting Connor to bed, I found one of them!  It was hidden between Connor's mattress and his bed frame.  Oh how badly I wanted to keep it.  I thought just to give it to him when he is fussing and things would be all better.  Or to give to him at nap time so maybe he would sleep.  But no, I had to remain strong, so into the bottom of the trash it went.  I only hope that I find the last one too or else Emeric would keep it.  He had been asking for his and I would tell him it is gone.  Then he would ask if Daddy could find it.  That has stopped now.  He will comment on other kids who have theirs and we will tell him they are babies and he is a big boys so he doesn't need one.  He hasn't attacked anyone and stole theirs so I think maybe we are all okay.

Super Bowl

So the Super Bowl was a couple of weeks ago.  I had no idea it was upon us until the Wednesday before.  I don't think I even knew who was playing until the day before and you know, I still have no idea who won.  Aren't we just the epitome of "All American"?  We didn't even turn the TV on once.  This is what we spent all afternoon doing:

  

The weather was wonderful (sunny and not too chilly) that we spent it outside.  Brian had a little work to do that Connor helped him with when he wasn't riding his bike around the block.  Angela was practicing her jump roping skills as well as trying to improve her speed races on her bike.  Emeric played for a little bit but then just sat back and watched everything that was happening.  It was a great afternoon.

That evening, very last minute, we invited some friends over for dinner.  We ate; then the kids played while we enjoyed some adult conversation in the hot tub.  All in all, much better than vegging out in front of the boob tube.

January - Photos of Kids

Enjoy these photos!

Angela:

Enjoyed her holiday vacation and visiting all of the family.  It was much fun to see Uncle Tim & Aunt Readah's new house.

Enjoying a little bit of ipad time with her brothers.

Just after our first substantial snow, Dad took her and Connor to one of the local sledding hills.



Connor:

He really loves to help shovel the sidewalks!  I hope that it will last for a few more years.

Having fun sledding.



Helping Dad work on the hot tub.



Emeric:

(On the right) Practicing some dance/silly moves with Connor.

Hamming it up for the camera.  "CHEEESSSSEEE!"



Nothing like a little boy in a dish towel dress.