Teach a man to fish...

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." These are just a few highlights from the annual fishing trip out on the big lake last July. Fishing is one of the things S loves to do and he's passing it on to his sons. This time he took along a friend and his son, too. They caught a fair number of big salmon, which we got to eat for dinner that night. I got to try out a few new recipes, and they were all delicious. J, in one picture is attempting to eat some fish eggs that were found in one of the salmon. I don't think he actually ate them. And, boys do funny things like kiss fish - even though it looks more like the fish is going to take a bite out of his chin. It was a good day for them and a good dinner for the rest of us.

Chillin' at the pool

Purchasing a family pass for the community pool last summer was a great decision. For a relatively small amount of money (considering the size of my family, that is) we had access to the public pool for the entire summer. A friend of mine (shown here) suggested it. I must say, it was nice to have something to do, when there was (to quote my kids) "nothing to do". We would go, the kids would wear themselves out, eat a snack, and at the end of the day we'd go home and have some quiet time. And as a bonus, E learned how to get around in the water without a life jacket or raft. I guess that's what happens when you go to the pool every other day. I have finally reached the point where I don't have to watch my kids so closely while at the pool. That made for some pretty relaxing days for me. I loved it so much, I'll probably get another pass for this summer. The new baby can sit in a stroller in the shade -- I can't wait!

Old friends

Last summer we got the chance to see some friends from college. They were out this way from Utah for a family reunion and made the extra drive up here to see us. What a treat. Here are the dads enjoying giant glasses of chocolate milk (made from whole milk, of course).

This one is funny. Our oldest and their youngest enjoying some computer time. D always seems to attract the little ones.

And, as usual, J hangs out with the pretty girls. It was fun to see how well our two sets of kids got along together. They seemed a little like cousins and most of them had only just met. The last time we saw them was in Chicago when Ni was a baby. They only had one at that time. Time flew by and the kids kept coming - for both of our families.

The moms pose with all of the kids. We had 11 kids in the house! And they were expected their sixth. We were glad they came. It was fun to talk about old times. Great memories!