Hays-Z Days: Fishing in Wisconsin and Mother's Day

We went up to Long Lake in WI to visit Dan's parents. We were planning on mostly fishing, as Dan's dad always wants Dan to come up for the fishing opener. We weren't able to be there the first weekend of May but made it the following weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We were even able to go in the water a little (well, the kids anyways!). We thought the water was cold but the kids didn't mind at all. Levi wanted to put his swimsuit on anytime he wasn't eating or sleeping! Elise liked the water too but didn't like her life jacket! It was very restrictive.

Dan went in the water one time, until he realized how cold it was!

One night, we went to go out for a boat ride. The boat was having some problems with the gas line. We finally got the boat started and then it quit as we pulled out of the dock. We pulled back in to the next dock and saw a man standing on the shore. He had a beer in his hand and had obviously been up at the bar for a while. He came down and offered to help us get the boat going. Dan was in the back with the kids. I was in the passenger seat so I was holding onto the dock (we didn't tie up). As the guy was trying to help Dan's dad, the boat kept drifting away from the dock. Eventually, it got far enough away that the guy fell backwards into the water! He came up and exclaimed how cold the water was! He walked back up to shore and came back onto the dock. The guy continued to help us, even though he was soaking wet and managed to get the boat started. We thanked him and continued on our way. The boys were in shock from watching the whole thing and were worried the rest of the trip that one of us would fall in!

Levi did try fishing but was much more interested in playing in the sand and water. He also enjoyed helping us get minnows.

Elise enjoyed the boat and was the minnow girl. She would scoop up a minnow with the little net, then grab it and bring it to us and say "here you go!" She also enjoyed watching the fish we caught!

Isaac loved fishing and wanted to fish every chance he got.

Levi, Elise, and Dan

Isaac and Jenny

Dan and Elise

Isaac and Levi

Levi and Jenny

We got pretty close to shore on one of our fishing expeditions. We managed to see a sandhill crane on shore! Dan's dad drove over a rope in the water and Dan spent quite some time unwrapping it. We were in a couple feet of water at that point.

Isaac and Dan fishing

Grandpa Stan and Isaac

Jenny, Dan, Elise, Levi, Isaac

Dan got pooped on by a bird. The funny thing was, earlier I had thought a bird pooped on me and he thought it was funny. Thankfully I wasn't the target!

Elise was a daddy's girl!

We did great catching crappie and were able to have a fish fry!

We went on a hike one afternoon. Donna, Elise, and I went back to the van while Dan and the boys continued a little further in the woods. When I was walking back, I noticed a couple ticks on Elise's pants. We checked ourselves and didn't find any others. When Dan got back, I told him to check himself and the boys. We found a bunch on his pants and socks. Levi had several on his pants too. When we got back to the camper, we checked again and found about 6-8 in Levi's hair. They were everywhere. We took off our clothes and put them in a bag. After we were in the camper and showering, we kept finding more of them from our shoes. Donna found a deer tick in the corner of her eye and Levi had a tick on his belly. Later, when Donna went to bed she found a deer tick behind her ear! Fortunately, most of the ticks we found were wood ticks. In all, I think we found about 20-30 ticks!!

Dan and Grandma Donna

Isaac checking out the beaver marks!

Levi checking out the beaver marks!

Elise, Jenny, Levi, and Isaac

Elise playing in the sand. She loved throwing rocks in the water too!

Isaac and Levi playing in the water.

We drove back to Dan's parents' house on Sat and spent the night there. We celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday morning before we headed out. Levi made me a necklace in his class. His teacher had taken a picture of a drawing he made and printed a thumbnail, then attached it to the necklace. Isaac made me a "mom" out of plastic beads. Elise gave me a handprint with a picture. I also received a nice card and a gift certificate.

Grandma Donna

Donna and Dan

Rachael, Cindy, Isaac

Our niece Bethany graduated from University of WI at La Crosse on Sunday. We met her and the family at Famous Dave's for lunch. It was fun seeing all the cousins and meeting Bethany and Naomi's boyfriends. It was a short visit but we had a fun time! The boys were so excited to see their cousins since it had been a long time.