Polliwogging at Pillsbury Crossing

My mom gave us these boots this Summer. Char liked them so much that he claimed them as his, even though he would have to jam his big feet in to get them to fit. He has finally given up the fight and passed them down to their rightful owner, McCabe.

 A little while back our family visited a new outdoor spot called Pillsbury Crossing. The spot is known for how the river bottom is made of limestone where the rivers cross. Our family hiked around the river trails for a while before we spotted bullfrog tadpoles! James and the boys were thrilled with our luck so we spent our remaining time there hunting them down to bring home as pets. That is, we'll raise them till they go through metamorphosis and then we'll let the little froggies go free. We all think they are pretty cool little creatures, but I'm not going to lie; they don't look any different than they did two weeks ago. I thought they would be frogs by now! At any rate, we like our little friends and enjoy the company they bring to our kitchen counter.

I adore his little skippy run. He wants so badly to keep up with his big brothers!

 To get Char to stop tantruming (his go-to response to anything that he doesn't like and how he spends the majority of his time), we played a game of follow the leader. You can't really tell, but James and McCoob just scaled a very large boulder to keep up with the leader of the pack.

 Polliwogging is hard!

 L:James and McCabe hunt for polliwogs R: Char found the tiniest little frog I have ever seen!

 L: Mason striking out on his own  R: McCabe, trying to make the most of his lot after being abandoned by his family

 Char and Cabe inspect the tadpoles.

Our polliwogs in their fishbowl. The fish that you see in the picture are now all dead. I have no idea how that happened. One minute they were all swimming around happily and the next every fish was belly up. Maybe they died from fright after discovering that they would occasionally have to share their bowl with polliwogs AND a hammerhead shark. Yikes!

Swimming with Aunt Kafleen

We spent the evening at our new favorite Tuttle Creek. It was beautiful as always. I was going to brave the snapping turtles and swim tonight, but once I kayaked out to the middle and saw fish rising that were as long as my leg, I sorta chickened out. Maybe next time. Our happy time at the lake reminded me of another happy lake night that we spent with Kathleen in June. She snapped some great pictures that I have been meaning to share on the blog ever since.

Note that Kathleen and I both have the same bathing suit. Apparently, bathing suit shopping in May and June is way too late in the season. It had been about five years since I went shopping for one (four Summers of being pregnant in a row will do that to you) so I was a little out of the loop. The only place in town that had anything left was Walmart. Poor Audrey ended up having to match us as well when she came into town.

When we finished playing at the lake, we ran home, got dressed in our super-dupers and then went for a relaxing bike ride around the back roads. It was such a fun night! We miss having family so close.

Tuttle Creek Fishing

James has a very rigorous schedule these days. He is up and out the door by five-thirty, is in class from 8-5 and then has to return for more studying after dinner. Because of this, we have to get creative when planning our family time. Yesterday evening James surprised us with the idea of spending our dinner break fishing. We were all tickled pink but probably no one more so than Mason! This boy has really taken to the sport and can now do nearly everything by himself. And boy is he pleased with himself! You've probably heard of whistling a happy tune, but when Mason's happy (which is about 99% of the time) he deedles a happy tune. It consists of about three notes and a whole bunch of D's. It goes something like this: "Deedee-diddly-dee. Dee-dum-diddly-dee!"You can hear him happily deedle away throughout the day but when he's really excited, his deedles turn into rapid fire! Last night was no exception!

This drum was huge! Probably at about two to three pounds! Mason was beyond pleased with himself. While he was reeling him in, he said, "This one's a big one! Three hundred and fifty dollars!" I have no idea where that came from.

 Char kept catching catfish of all sizes.

 James, removing the hook from one of the catfish

 Char liked catching the fish, but even more, he likes playing with the fish for a little while after. Lucky for everyone, catfish are amazingly tough little buggers. Thank goodness, since Char's releases around the most gentle. Boy does that little guy have a good throw!

 Mason can now do almost all of his fishing prep work by himself. Char and McCabe are happy to let Poppy do it for them while they explore.

 McCabe decided to try his hand at the sport.... but ended up spending the rest of the time rooting around for food.

 Cabe

 We found this HUGE dead carp a little ways down from us on the bank. Just slightly too big for Mason's net

 Our Tom Sawyer

 If Mason's Tom Sawyer, then Char is Chuckleberry Finn....and he almost got swallowed whole in a little quicksand/mudsand patch. No joke! He was up to his waist when I heaved him out of there! Luckily he made it out with his shorts (partially) in tack! :)

 This is a bluegill fish but Mason thought it should be called a checkered fish due to his cool scales.

 Right before heading out, Mason found a little crawdad. Hot dog!

Our view from the dock. That floaty thing is a fish feeder that goes off every so often to keep the fish happy. Mason thinks he's the worlds greatest fisherman, but we don't have the heart to tell him that this feeder should be getting most of the credit. 

One of my biggest concerns about moving to Kansas was not thinking it was very pretty. I LOVED how beautiful Cache Valley was and how accessible outdoor activities were. I was afraid that everything would be flat and drab. Thankfully, now that I am here to stay, I am finding that it is anything but that! Hot dog! Manhattan, Kansas is situated in what they call "The Flint Hills" which means that it is the part of Kansas that has hills. I actually don't think the neighboring flat corn fields are ugly, but my heart yearns for trees. Thankfully Manhattan delivers in that department!

This last Sunday we went on a family stroll/hike to the top of the hill directly behind our house. This is about the size of the CLU hill that I grew up by but sports a large "Manhattan" sign with letters painted white to welcome all the newcomers. Earlier in the week, the boys and I found out that there is about a 5-10 minute hike leading up to the letters that starts just five houses down from us, so Sunday morning we headed off to show Poppy. There certainly are perks to having church at one in the afternoon!

The boys were pleased as punch to show Poppy the way

Watch out! Two scary monsters! Poppy was terrified.

Note that all three boys were wearing green. In fact, the entire Sieg family was, as per Mason's request.

 After a bajillion stairs, we made it to the top! In case you were wondering, this was our view:

But more importantly, This is what we did at the top of it:

The boys turned the slick white letters into fun slides. The first time we hiked, McCabe nearly killed himself when he decided to run (out of control) down one of the steep letters. Yikes. Thankfully, I learned my lesson the second time round and stuck by his side like glue.

 There are all sorts of bugs to greet you at the top of the hill:

Char made a little blanket for his grasshopper.

James may or may not have found the hike has thrilling as the rest of us did....but that may be due to the fact that he spend a great portion of it doing this:

But all in all....

  ....it was a great way to get our energy out before church!

Our little street