First fishing trip of the year!

The first fishing trip of the year is usually a total crap shoot. You just never know what to expect in terms of weather, fishing, road conditions, gear reliability, etc. Fortunately here in Colorado we can fish all year round so one doesn't typically get too rusty between hanging up the waders in November and heading out for that first day on the water which for me is usually around late February. Fortunately, today most everything went about as well as one could ever hope for the first day out, particularly in February at 8600 ft of elevation!

This time of year I usually head up to one of my favorite places, Spinney Mountain Ranch on the South Platte. This section of river, a three mile stretch between Spinney Mountain Reservoir and Eleven Mile Reservoir, is called the "Dream Stream" due to the huge trout that come in from the lake to spawn in the spring and fall.

Now in regards to getting the bugs out on the first day of the season... well the weather was superb - no wind, bright and sunny, and about 45 degrees. The roads were clear, no snow and the dirt river access road was dry (when its muddy, it gets really nasty!). The fishing really couldn't have been better for this time of year - I landed 4 and lost 2 in the period of about 3 hours. Unfortunately today was my day to pay tribute to fly fishing gods by jumping into an icy stream on an excellent fishing day with a pair of very leaky waders. This of course poses an obvious dilemma and after chasing this fish down the river with one leg full of water and a small chilly trickle starting on the other leg I started to wonder just how long one could really go without any feeling in their feet before any permanent damage set in... As it turns out, longer than I would have thought!

Dressing up for Church!

Kate and I volunteer with our church's high school youth group and this last week they had a Father - Daughter, Mother - Son dance. We bring Elizabeth with us each week so she got to get all dressed up as well and was as cute as a button. Elizabeth really enjoys interacting with the teens and in some ways she is even better than us at meeting the new kids!

Happy Valentine's Day

Elizabeth does not quite understand Valentine's Day but we sure did have fun getting her dressed in red and pink for a few photos. Lately, it has been difficult to get her to smile for the camera so we try every trick in the bag from yelling Elmo to "I'm gonna get you" but lately those don't work either. Only whispering "mamma dadda" real soft gets her attention and then she repeats it back over and over again. It's the cutest thing ever.

Sunny Colorado

One of the best parts about living in Colorado is that while it does get cold during the winter, the sun still comes out almost every day - and as you can tell from these pictures, its bright!

So what better way to roll down to the park on a cool, sunny day than with your cool hat, fun shades, the ever so appropriate Marty the Moose jacket, and of course your favorite "MeMe" ("Binky" in Elizabeth) . Elizabeth just loves her buggy rides to the park. On days when we can't go due to weather or schedule, she will stand at the door to the garage or the back door, holding her jacket and saying "par" ("park" in Elizabeth). She get's very upset when we can't go. Elizabeth's new thing (she of course has a new thing every week) is that she enjoys looking for airplanes. Today at the park, she spotted an airplane before Kate did.