Dead Horse State Park

This past weekend the kids and I joined my parents, Christopher, Kenya and her girls camping up at Dead Horse State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona.  The kids had a blast exploring, metal detecting, fishing, and making campfires. 

The kids hiking one of the many trails.

One of the few bridges left standing on the Arroyo Nature Trail after monsoon rains.

Max and Jackson found a crawfish in one of the creeks.

Emorsyn and Noah searching for buried treasure.

 

Emorsyn and Alora made quite the bug collection while hiking.  Here, they collected 11 cicada shells (only Alora would touch them).

Jackson just HAD to swim in the creek, even thought it looked like an alligator swamp.  He did find a couple of random "treasures."

Max found a bunch of what he thought were oysters, so he tried to crack them open to find pearls.

Emorsyn caught the first fish.

Grandpa caught the smallest fish,

Jackson and Max proved that you didn't need a fishing pole to catch fish.  They actually caught 2 tiny bluegills in their water bottle contraption.

Grandpa teaching Alora how to fix tangle fishing line.

Grandpa teaching Noah how to hook a worm (Noah felt too bad for the worm to actually do it).

Family Fun in Show Low

Last week the kids and I joined my entire family up in Show Low, AZ for a fun weekend at the Wiggins Family Cabin.  We planned on fishing a lot, but it was so windy that the fishing was horrible, and despite the cabin having fun "toys" like a pool table and air hockey table, the kids weren't permitted to make the outside fires they were planning on.  Everyone still had fun and we improvised making s'mores in the fireplace. 

Grandpa Frye with his granddaughters Alora, Emorsyn & Hadley

Alora caught the first and largest fish of the weekend.

Grandpa caught the most fish but they were so tiny.

Look in the fish's mouth!

When you can't build a fire outdoors, you improvise inside.

Catching crayfish

Uncle Teaaron hold "Billy Bob Joe," a crayfish Jackson caught for the kids.

A huge 3-4' snake we stumbled upon while checking out the area at Fools Hollow Lake to fish.

Grandpa foolishly thought he could pick up the fish because he didn't think it was poisonous.

Fools Hollow Lake, Show Low, AZ

Kenya with one of her two fish caught at Show Low Lake.

The Frye Family

Fishing in December

It's only day 2 of Christmas break and already the kids are begging for something to do.  Noah has been begging to go fishing.  I managed to rig 2 of our poles and reluctantly took the kids fishing this morning at North Lake.  What was I thinking?!  It was overcast, chilly, and I had forgotten my jacket.  I prepared the kids that due to the weather that the fish probably wouldn't bite, but I was wrong.  Within the first few minutes, Alora snagged a big carp.  While we trying to reel that one in, Jackson set down his pole (not knowing he ALSO had a fish) and it quickly disappeared beneath the murky water.  We never could find his pole, or that stinkin' fish!   

Overall, the kids caught 5 large carp.  Despite being cold, they were pretty excited at their efforts.