A little fishin' and a little runnin' means a good weekend for all!

I don't have much time...  but I wanted to share some pictures from our first boat trip of the season.

Daddy found this beautiful wildflower

Naptime

Dane netted these fish for me all by himself!  He did such a great job and was SO PROUD!  (Kimber was sleeping on Clint so he was out of commission for a little while...  but Dane stepped up and did great!)

The two fish that he netted for me... 

Then he helped net this big one!

This was a really nice trout.  Clint landed it with Dane's help on the netting part!  We ate it the next night and it was delicious!

Then on Sunday we ran the Icebreaker...  I ran the 5 mile run, Clint and Brock did great doing the 3 miler, and then we all ran the 1 mile run with Dane.  It was super fun even though it was actually really hot. 

 Dane was super excited to pose with the penguin!  Holy cow, I totally didn't envy the person in that outfit...  I bet they were sweating like crazy since it was like 80 degrees.

Easter eggs and some fishing fun!

I haven't updated for a bit...  Been kind of crazy around here, but that's actually fairly normal!  So, I've got a lot of pictures to share! 

First, let's start with some Easter Egg dying fun!  I thought it was probably against my best judgement, but we had fun anyway!  Dane did really well, Kimber was kind of my wildcard and needed a little extra attention, and even Clint joined in on the fun!

Notice that Bones is laying in his favorite spot under the table...  Hoping for some kind of treat to fall off the table....

I don't think that green dye was quite what Bones had hoped for.

Then last weekend we had some fun fishing...  On Friday we headed upriver and lucked out with nice weather a few fish decided to bite!  Dane was thrilled with this nice brown and was even more excited when we kept it and ate it for dinner...  That kid LOVES fish... Kimber is thinking this is pretty fun stuff too!

We found this big crawdad too!

Saturday we headed downstream to one of our other favorite spots.  The "good" fish aren't biting yet...  we are a little early for that, but the kids still loved catching a goldeneye!  Dane caught it on his pole and everything!

Then Kimber stole his fish and he had a heck of a time getting it back.

To those fathers out there who are lucky enough to have a little girl...  this is a good read!  Made me cry a little as I thought of how lucky I am to have an amazing father who taught me so much, made me tough, and still calls me by the great nickname...  "Squirt"!  I love my Dad!

I also know that I have married a wonderful man who will hold Kimber accountable, teach her about the great outdoors, and will always save a special place in his heart for his little girl! 

Enjoy this read... I did!

http://www.soulneeds.com/articles/view/641/50-rules-for-dads-of-daughters#.T38ScS6xwqa.facebook

Monday's trip to Benton Lake...

Benton Lake is this great Wildlife refuge that isn't too far from Great Falls.  Every spring we head out there to see all of the ducks that come there to nest and raise their young.  We are a little early this year so there weren't very many ducks yet, but we still had a great time.

Here is Kimber checking things out!

 There are lots of fun things in the water to catch!

 Minnows and freshwater shrimp were the main things that we were catching...

 The kids were intrigued by all of the little bugs that were flying around. 

 Gotta love the long boardwalk!

 On Tuesday, Dane got to take all of the fun critters to St. Thomas to show off!  He thought that was pretty great!

Our little tadpole is now a guppy!

Fearless...  That was the word that several people used to describe Dane during his last set of swim lessons...  Jumping off of things and going down the "big slide" were his favorite parts!  He had a great instructor named Zach who was super patient and let Dane have some fun.  When he started out he was a "tadpole" now he is a "guppy"!  Here are some pictures of the fun!

You will see he has two little squares on him...  they are called butter cubes and give him just enough floatation to help a little.  If he doesn't paddle and kick, he will still sink, but if he works a little they help him out.

 Look at those muscles!

 Last week we were on a drive and I saw this...  I didn't realize that there were Hauptmanns in Montana! :)

 Last Friday was Dane's eye surgery.  The procedure was pretty simple, they just put a stint into his tear duct to keep it open.  In 3 months they will pull it out and the issue should be resolved.  We took him to Missoula to have it done, and he did have to go under General Anesthesia.  I must say, he did great with the whole "you can't eat after midnight" part.  We thought he would complain a lot since his check in time was 12:45, but we talked to him a lot about it and he was great.  He didn't complain about being hungry once, even when it got delayed another 1.5 hours.  Of course Clint and I were both starving because we couldn't eat or drink in front of him!   

Here he is enjoying a movie on the way over.  Holy cow, when did my baby become such a big boy?????? 

 Dane was pretty nervous when we got there and was more than happy to just relax with Dad while we waited.  (He did hate the "tiger pajamas"!)

 Then they came and gave him the "silly juice".  We could really tell when it kicked in.  Our quiet, nervous boy started giggling and thought he was so funny!  They said it makes the separation part a lot easier so he doesn't get super upset when they take him, and it did seem to help.

 Coming out of the anesthesia was pretty awful.  He wanted the IV out and we had to physically hold him, which made him more angry, upset, and combative.  The nurses kept saying, "this is normal"...  well, a kicking, crying, inconsolable boy is not normal to us!  But, eventually he calmed down and they let us go home.  The nurses were all really great though and helped us as much as possible!

Then we all went to McDonalds for some chow!  Holy cow, Dane made up for missed meals!  (I think we all did!)

 Sunday my mom came over and showed us this cool trick with a broom.  I just had to post the picture!  It is literally standing up on its own and stayed that way for a while until one of the kids knocked it down.