Week of Fish

Last week was FISH WEEK at the Smithson house.  I have decided to divide the summer up into subjects. We started the summer with fish because the kids would be taking swim lessons and spending a lot of time in the water.  I thought that we could learn about other water creatures.  We started with the trip to the fish hatchery and fishing as I already mentioned.  Here is a picture of Melanie trying to get a run away fish (He jumped right out of the bucket... silly guy!)  

 Swim lessons started on Tuesday.  The kids got a good start on swimming this summer.  I'm really excited about how well they have done already.  Last year, their lessons didn't start until the summer was almost over.

 We read a lot of books about sea creatures.  Oliver wanted to get books on Clown Fish.  Noelle wanted to read about Sea Horses.  We also got books with whales and jelly fish.  We have learned a lot of fun facts this week.  We have also done some projects.  On one afternoon, we painted with forks.

 Another day, we played with bubbles... because, why not?

 Thanks to some coupons we had, we took a field trip to the Sea Life - Arizona.  It was fun to see some of the animals up close after learning so many things about them.

 They even got to touch some!

 Sea Turtles and Sharks!

 Sea horses are really cool.  Fun fact, they don't use their tail to swim... they just it to hold onto things!

 Later, we used our fork paint pictures to cut out sea animals and make our own aquariums.

 Noelle's Aquarium.

 Melanie's Aquarium.  (Oliver made one too, but it's not pictured)

 Melanie even wrote a book about Clown Fish (a non-fiction book).  She did a great job with the facts and the illustrations.  I love it!

It has been a fun week of fish!

Fishing on Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, our family took a trip to the Fish Hatchery!  It was a fun family trip.  Oliver LOVED seeing the fish splash around in the water.

Then we went to Rancho Tonto and did some of what we call "Lazy Man Fishing".  Lazy man fishing doesn't involve bringing anything except ourselves and a cooler of ice.  They provide everything else, and the fish are practically jumping from their private pond and into your bucket.  Which is fun, but also means the fishing part is fast (You pay per fish and if you caught it, you bought it.)  We had planned for that though.  Rancho Tonto has a big grassy area and a Ramada equipped with nice grills that "fisher-folk" are allowed to use.  We brought up chicken and some yummy sides and BBQ'd.  It was fun.  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

After spending several hours there, we headed to Payson, played at a park (the girls did some ice blocking), had dinner, and then headed home.  It was such a wonderful day trip!  I only wish I had pictures from the ice blocking.  Melanie has already started begging for us to go back to Payson for more ice and hill fun.

Something Fishy...

Saturday was amazing!  We had such a wonderful time as a family.  Brandon planned a trip (just for the day) out of town.  It was our family and Brandon's best friend's family.  We had a great time together.

We first stopped at the fish hatchery.  The kids LOVED it!  I took some pictures, but they don't do the visit justice.  You can't see Oliver dancing, giggling, and saying "Fishy!  Fishy!" from the pictures.  But it happened, and the happiness was contagious.

 

 

After we walked around and checked out the hatchery, we made our way to a private pond and picnic area.  Brandon grilled us an amazing lunch.  Yum!  And while he prepared the food, the girls explored.

 Then it was time for some fishing!  Brandon, Melanie, and Noelle each caught one.

 The children were fascinated by the fish in the bucket.

 So funny, The little boy kneeling over the bucket is Rafton.  He is our friend's 2 year old son.  He and Oliver were checking out the fish by themselves.  I was watching, and saw Rafton pick up a rock, walk over to the bucket and hover for a while.  He and Oliver got right over the bucket and were looking down when Rafton dropped the rock (a little one).  Well, the fish was apparently spooked, as it kicked it's tail and splashed water on both of them.  They didn't know what to think and both ended up running to their mommies...  but as a bystander, I thought it was rather hilarious!

 After the fish were caught, we relaxed, played tag, giggled some more, and enjoyed each other's company. 

 Then we got back into our car and went for a drive.  Eventually we all met up in Payson for dinner and then headed home.

Brandon!  We LOVED the trip you planned!  Thank you for a great time!  The weather was amazing too.  I didn't ever want to go back home.