Bear Lake Day 3/4

Our boys love spending time with their cousins.

The big reason we went to Idaho Falls was so that Bob could take us fishing. The problem was that Bob's boat was having a little trouble. He and Dad had stayed up late working on it, but it still needed some finishing touches on the motor. It wasn't until after lunch that all the boys got on the road up to Ririe Reservoir. We launched the boat and hit the water. 

Dax was bursting with energy and excitement, but before we put the poles out, Bob set the crawdad traps. We were all intrigued and excited because we'd never trapped crawdads before. Then we put the poles out and almost immediately we had success. It was an amazing day fishing as we pulled in a total of ten fish. We would have done even better if we hadn't forgotten the net, because at least three fish got away as we were flipping them into the boat without it. We were so busy catching fish that we barely had time to bait poles in between catches.

Everyone caught a bunch of fish.

They had so much fun!

Dax loved it most of all!

After a few hours we went back to check the traps. There were only 5 crawdads when we pulled them up, but Bob rebaited them with the guts of the fresh fish we'd caught and moved them to another spot. Then we fished for a few more hours. We were almost as successful with the fish, but the crawdad traps did a lot better. One of them was packed with 9 crawdads, and all together we caught 27!

They had more fun catching the crawdads.

It was a totally new experience!

We didn't get home from the lake until almost 8 o'clock. Steph and Mom had spent a great day watching Abby play softball and doing some shopping. They'd whipped up some tacos for us, too. The tacos were great, but still Bob threw a few fish on the barbecue and started up a big pot of boiling water. We all watched as Bob put cajun spices, onions, carrots, and sausage in the boiling water. Then he plunked all twenty seven crawdads into the boiling water. Eventually, they started to float to the top! None of the Ockeys really loved the stew, but the Ferlans made it disappear before bedtime. 

Mom and the girls did drinks and softball.

Abby and Kate were so nice and cleaned our van.

Stephanie does not like crawdads.

The kids took turns holding them.

Mom wasn't too sure at first. 

But luckily, it didn't pinch her.

Bob cooked everything up deliciously!

Bob had one more surprise for us, too. He pulled out some fireworks that he'd been saving. Each of the kids got to shoot off a roman candle, and there were plenty of other bangs, pops, and sparkles, too. We had such a great day, and we can't wait to go stay with the Ferlans again!

The kids played a lot of baseball!

Everyone got a chance to do some fireworks.

They thought it was so cool because we don't usually do fireworks.

Seth loved it.

The kids liked staying up late!

Our last day in Idaho was fairly short, but we did get to visit the zoo. Idaho Falls has a fairly large zoo, and we loved seeing some of our favorite animals. Seth loves snow leopards right now, and he was excited to see them. Mark loved the birds. Dax was happy reading all the information signs. Mostly, we liked spending time with the cousins. 

After a few hours at the zoo, we went to see Grandma and Grandpa Daniels. After a couple of hours, we hit the road, making it home pretty late.

The zoo was our last adventure!

Seth is about the size of an eagle.

Crazy kids!

Oh Dax! We love how you sleep in the car.

Bear Lake Day 2

The night was cold, but there was a heater in the wagon. Nobody complained, and we were actually quite comfortable. After cleaning things up, we headed over to the restaurant at Conestoga Ranch for breakfast. The boys did well with their meals, which was nice. 

We snuggled in the morning to warm up.

Breakfast was delicious and fun in a tent.

Our next stop was the beach. The sky was clear, but it was still pretty cold. The boys enjoyed the kayaks, but they mostly stayed out of the water. Seth was partial to building in the sand, but since we had forgotten the sand toys, he mostly had to use his hands. Still, he had fun playing in the shallow water. Dad and Mom stayed up on dry land, but it was cold in the shade. We ended up with sunburns because we needed the heat. We also missed the cousins quite a bit, so it wasn't the ideal day at the beach. It was beautiful, though, and we still had a nice time.

It was really peaceful at Bear Lake in the morning.

We were celebrating Seth's birthday. He was so happy to be at Bear Lake.

The boys love to paddle their own kayaks.

They also like to stand on them like paddle boards.

Mark loves the lake.

This is how Dad kayaks.

Mom, Dad and Mark went out for a race on the kayaks.

Mark won!

Who let Dax take pictures?

Dax is always happy in the water.

It was a great day at Bear Lake!

We picked up shakes and changed into our regular clothes at the shops nearest North Beach. Then we headed back to the bike shop for our ride. We had so much fun on the bikes! Dax enjoyed the speed on the first half of the ride, but after the owner saw how fast he was going, he turned down the max speed. Dax was so sad, but he made the best of it. We rode all the way to the top of the marina. The owner followed along in his truck, taking pictures for us, and for his website. It was another opportunity to do something that we would have missed without free access from our website. Mark declared the ride as good as the bird refuge, and Seth enjoyed his time in the trailer, so everyone walked away happy. 

We all needed some shakes and fries.

The power bikes were so fun!

The bikes were easy to ride and very fast!

Mark loved speeding along with no work required.

Seth was such a trooper since he had to ride in the bike trailer.

The overlook of Bear Lake was beautiful.

We will let Seth ride these bikes in a few years.

Mark speeding away again!

Dax loved it, too!

Dad didn't pedal once! 

The clouds posed for a pretty picture.

It was getting late so we headed north toward the Ferlans. It's a two hour drive, and we had to stop for dinner, so we didn't get in until late. At least we got to see some cousins, though!

Bear Lake Day 1

Our first vacation of the virus year was a short trip to Bear Lake. We got a deal on a wagon at Conestoga Ranch, but there were a few problems. The first problem was that we couldn't get multiple nights at the ranch. We solved that by adding two nights at the Ferlan's house. The second problem was that it was freezing cold and a bit stormy when we woke up to leave for the trip. That didn't stop us from hitting the road early, though.

We drove directly to Hyrum Canyon in Cache County because we wanted to try a new waterfall hike. The drive was so beautiful, we were really excited when we finally reached the trailhead. We were extra excited to see a bunch of baby skunks along the drive. It was only a little muddy, and though we had several slips, we found the waterfall, and the rain passed us by. It was a really nice waterfall, too, the thirty-sixth we have visited in Utah!

We saw a family of skunks! They were adorable.

Dad was "horrified" to see so many skunks running around!

We hike in all types of weather!

We spotted this beautiful golden eagle.

Since it was so wet, we saw lots of big worms.

The boys were excellent hikers!

We found a fun chair made out of rocks.

There was a fun teepee to check out on this hike.

Dad likes to get right under the waterfalls!

It was a beautiful waterfall!

We loved how green it was!

Mom fell and got quite muddy!

Mark is almost taller than Mom (he is standing on a rock in this pic).

Jolly Ranchers change are our hiking treat!

After lunch in the van on the drive back to Logan, we stopped at the zoo. The boys love buying bird food so that they can feed the ducks. They did plenty of that, but they also fed a few larger birds. Their favorite was the pelican. He couldn't swallow the tiny nuggets, but he would open his mouth and beg for them just like the other birds! The sandhill cranes cried for food so loudly that we had to cover our ears! We had a great time seeing all the other animals, too.

We always enjoy a stop at Zootah.

We love feeding the birds.

Seth was the most excited to feed the babies.

Dax takes awhile to warm up, but he finally fed the ducks.

The pelican was the funniest of all!

We checked in at Conestoga Ranch and went over to our free power bike ride. We made a deal to ride and promote some electric bikes, and even though it was getting late, we headed over to the shop. Just as Dad and Seth got outfitted and started down the road, the rain and cold came up. Before they could get turned around and back to the shop, they were soaked. No one else even got to ride. We knew we needed another adventure.

We loved staying in the wagons.

It was so fun inside, too!

Dad got soaked, but had fun!

Luckily, there's nothing like a trip to the Bear Lake Bird Refuge. We started off really well, spotting a bittern before we even got on the road. It was so cool to see. In seconds, it sidled back into the grass across the river and disappeared. It turned out to be a really good day on the refuge. We saw a few baby animals, including some different kinds of ducks. One favorite was a ruddy duck doing a strange bouncing type of dance, but there were also herons, cranes, pelicans, and osprey. There were even some beautiful rainbows. It turned out to be a pretty great night despite the rain and cold.

There was a double rainbow. It was amazing!

I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the picture!

Sandhill Cranes with their baby!

We saw another skunk! Ha ha!!

Seth spotted this bald eagle from a million miles away.

We are now awesome at spotting bitterns!

There were lots of ruddy ducks around. 

The rain lightened up, so we enjoyed s'mores outside our wagon.

Mom LOVES s'mores!