Mel and Ally on the boat

Not sure what they are looking at but they must have spotted something on the shore. It was getting late, around 7:30-8:00 pm and we are heading for home. You can see the sun is just barely on the mountain tops, this is the best time to see bear or deer or herons on the river banks.

Melissa on a kayak with a fish

This is a funny video of Melissa trying to land her fish when she is on the kayak. We, of course, offer very sage advise as she struggles!!

Biggest Fish!

Emily caught the biggest Bass of the day.

Patrick caught the biggest Catfish and biggest overall fish of the day.

Patrick and a Bass

We like to fish from the kayaks just to add a bit of difficulty to the game. Here Patrick shows the bass he landed. Also he did it without spilling his beer!

Playing on the River

All the kids were home this weekend, so we spent the day on the water. We loaded the boat (and I do me LOADED!!) and headed out for a day of fishing, swimming and sunshine. This picture shows all of us girls with a fish on. Ok, they are small but they still count. I caught 34 fish in the first hour and half we were there. They were mostly bluegill and a few crappie. We have quite the competition for first fish, most fish, biggest fish, smallest fish, most variety, last fish. Notice how we are the only ones on the water (or even in sight) back in our favorite fishin' hole.

Fire in the Canyon once again

Picture credit: USDA Forest Service,Bart Singley photo

The canyon is once more on fire. Lightening storms are to blame and we are smoked in. This picture is an aerial view of the canyon which I thought was most impressive. Credit for the photo is listed above.

You can just see the river on the left side of the photo, you can't see us, we are under the layer of smoke hanging above the river. It has grown since this photo was taken on the 14th of July. It is called the Battle Creek Complex an is about 20 river miles from the house, so we are not overly concerned with it getting to us. The Forest Service have been working to set up fire lines in prevention of it coming south.

Ally doing a belly flop off the rock.

We were swimming in our favorite spot and Ally loves to jump from the rock to fetch stuff. It has been hot here, usually getting to 110 degrees in the afternoon, so being on the river is a good thing.