Ockey Family Adventures: Bear Lake Day 2

I love my dad photo bombing in the background.

Today was Sunday, and because we are missing church every Sunday in June, we decided to attend Sacrament Meeting here in St. Charles. There is a small ward of mostly visitors that meets at 9 am. They had Stake Conference last Monday, so today was Testimony Meeting. There were four testimonies, three from visitors and one from a summer resident. We were just happy to take the Sacrament, and it was a good experience for the boys. Also, we had a good laugh about the Sacrament. The Bishop didn't tell us the water had been boiled until after we'd taken it. He said it was a trial of our faith! (Did I mention St. Charles was under a boil order due to the flooding?)

Hattie was much nicer to us this year than last year!

After we got home, we headed over to the lake. The boys loved the kayaks they got for Christmas, and even Seth was fifty yards out, paddling on one side to turn, just like we'd taught him. The water was really cold, so no one swam much, but we kayaked all over the lake.

This picture is taken from the road. That's all the beach there is this year!

We bought the boys life jackets for thier kayaks.

They are all able to steer easily.

Dax took his cousin, Abby, for a ride.

Mark took Audrey out, too.

Bob's boat came to shore, but the kayaks scared it away!

Dad even managed to get a turn in the kayak.

It is so nice of my Mom and Dad to take us to Bear Lake every year!

We were pretty surprised Seth could turn around and come back when we called.

Dax is always the most daring child!

He saw people paddleboarding and decided to give it a try.

It doesn't look too cold, but it was in the 60s, and the water was freezing!

Then Uncle Bob asked us to if we wanted a ride in his new boat. Of course, we all did. Mom did really well in the boat, but the boys got bored fast. They wanted Bob to fish. We trolled along with three poles out until we final got a bite. Then Mark and Dax took turns reeling in a 15 inch rainbow trout (Seth wasn't interested). Uncle Bob throws the little ones back, and the boys were glad to see their fish swim away.

Seth just wanted to drive the boat.

The boys were happy to be in Bob's boat.

Dad was just happy to be with Mom!

Bear Lake is always so pretty. And Mark looks good, too.

All the boys took turns with Uncle Bob's practice pole. They were learning to cast.

After a little while it was time to take the boat back in. Dad picked up a pole and started to reel. He asked Mom if she wanted to reel, and she did. After a minute, she started to complain, "This is too hard!" and sure enough, her pole was bent nearly double. Bob confirmed that she had a fish on, so Mom continued reeling. Pretty soon she landed a 22 inch mackinaw (lake trout). Everyone was excited, and Uncle Bob agreed to cook it up for dinner. When we got back to the house, Bob started dinner. He grilled salmon and steak and cooked Mom's fish up, too. It was a wonderful meal, and even Mark ate steak and fish.