Monday, February 27, 2012

Ice Fishing

Ice houses on Grand Lake.

When you live in Northern Minnesota, you have to find ways to entertain yourself during the long, desolate, torturous winter months. Most of my ways of entertaining myself involve indoor activities: baking, sewing, knitting, playing board games, reading fiction...


Dana pulling a fish up hand over hand.
Dana caught this guy, but we threw him back.



My children, on the other hand, enjoy many outdoor activities, including ice fishing! And, at 34 1/2 years old, having lived in Northern Minnesota for my entire life, I had never once been ice fishing. So a couple weeks ago, my wonderful father in law invited the 4 of us fishing with him in his new cozy, clean ice house. 
Nora got the only "keeper".

 The girls did most of the actual fishing while us grown ups kept them company. Dana was up to her elbows in the minnow bucket at least half the time we were out on the lake. She just pushed the sleeves of her pink floral dress up as far as she could first so they wouldn't get too wet.


Kevin spent a lot of time in the ice house as a kid.

I didn't really know what to expect out of this experience. I was way overdressed. Bev tried to tell me that the ice house is about 65 degrees but I couldn't wrap my head around that. So I had polar fleece leggings on under my jeans and 3 long sleeved shirts under my parka, and I could hardly bend my arms and legs. 


This was obviously not Dana's first time. She was a lot more practical with her wardrobe choices, which is funny since she was wearing a dress under her snow pants. 

Now that I know what I was missing, I am pretty excited to go back. I plan to bring my knitting and some treats next time, and I will be smarter about what I wear. I could get used to roughing it in this ice house!