Winter Play.

There's this sweet little pond nearby that is stocked with about 500 trout each winter.
And it's just for kids.
Now weren't my boys just in ice fishing Heaven when they heard this news a few weeks back.
Ice fishing is one of their most favorite things.

And so....
We donned all of the winter layers of gear that we could possibly find, we made up a thermos of hot chocolate, and we purchased ourselves some wee little bait fish.

Speaking of bait fish...
Want to know what happens to whatever little fishies don't end up with a hook speared through their spine? They end up in a fish tank on my boys' bathroom sink as "pets."

"Please, ooh pleeeeez can't we keep them Mama?  Pleeez can't they be our pets?  Just til they die?"
And so...the murderers become lovers of the tiny little minnows that are left over until they are flushed to their watery grave as they each die off one by one by one....  How precious.

But I digress.
Back to my boys' love of ice fishing....

Can anyone find the baby?  Clue:  She sleepeth beneath the black blanket...

So.
This is how we have spent just a few of our Family Day's this winter.  If my boys had their say-so in the matter, this is how we would spend every. single. Family Day this winter.

I like it.
I don't love it.
I hate being cold.
So we compromise.
I get a Big Daddy coffee on our way.  And sometimes on our way home, as well.

But, I do love that this little pond is so close.  We can scoot over for just a couple of hours, and then we can scoot back home - or over to Starbucks - if anyone (read: me) gets too cold.

Each kid is allowed to pull up two fish apiece.  And with a pond this size stocked with that many trout, they can each get their daily allotment really quite quickly.  And it's really pretty fun and exciting to watch the arrows fly up when a fish bites onto the hook.  Everyone goes running and whooping across the snow to see who can be the first one to the flag to pull up their prize.

For a few months, Kev worked for some friends who own a business making ice fishing traps.  While he was there, they gave each one of our kids a trap for their very own - which was so kind of them to do.  London even has her very own pink trap for when she gets a little older.  It's pretty sweet.

This was London's first experience ice fishing.  Once she woke up from under her 8 million blankets, we put her in her snowsuit and took turns wearing her in the back pack.

London:  "Heeeere fishy fishy!"

Kaden likes to fish with a little jig pole, so London kept him company at his "lucky hole" for part of the time. When she got bored watching Kade, Kevy threw her up on his back while he made lunch.

Good thing she's chill.
She got flung around a lot that day.
Poor baby girl.
Welcome to the world of boys.

It was a good day.

~ Sweet, simple fun.
~ Little boy joys - hot dogs and hot chocolate.
~ Rosy cheeks.
~ fishing success.
~ Piping hot coffee.
~ New wonder on a baby girl's face.
~ Wide, open spaces.
~ Fresh air.
~ Cold noses.  Warm hearts.
~ Time with Him.  Time with us.
~ Reminders of childhoods past....

 #5152-5162 ~ My Joy Journey.

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."

And so...
Even though the calendar promises spring to be but three weeks away...
The days are still cold, and the snow is still deep.

But, we wait.
And we see winter through the eyes of little boy wonder...and baby girl awe.
And we are content.