Four Mellor Kids Join the Fun (2/16-2/17)

Brenda dropped Tyler, Dallin, Kaleb, and Haylie off for a sleep-over Sunday 

evening, 2/16. We were excited to have them, but missed good ole Hayden!

On President's Day, Grandpa and Kaleb took the others 

to the dairy to see all the baby calves. Kaleb know all 

about it from his weekend visit with us in January.

 Each baby calf lives in a little house like this one.

Dallin discovered that when the calves are hungry, they can be a hand full.

This little calf was everyone's favorite.

The big cows were eating, so Grandpa showed the kids how to 

kick the hay up to the manger so they could eat every last straw.

You'll notice that Grandpa is on his phone.  

That was me calling to see how things were going.

Malea was my photographer that morning.

Aunt Malea, who once worked at the dairy, gave everyone a tour of the milking barn.

After the tour we played games in our back yard for a while, waiting 

for the temperatures to rise a little, before heading down to Yuba.

Colton and Malea stayed home to work on
homework, but the rest of us went.

This is one of the two ice fishermen we saw.  

The ice is so honeycombed that we were surprised.

We didn't dare drop rocks from the bridge for fear
of annoying the ice fisherman, but we found a place west of
the bridge to throw rocks and break the ice.

Kaleb is ready to launch his big boulder.  

Notice how well his camouflage pants blend in.

Tyler wants a picture of the shock waves
created when a big rock hits the ice.

With Hulk like effort Tyler hurls a big rock.

I captured the big splash but not the shock wave. ):

Haylie, Dallin, Andrea and Tyler are all enjoying the sound of breaking ice.

All the turbulence from the rocks caused
 great air pockets to gather under the ice.
The new challenge was to break a hole in the ice 

above the air pockets to allow the air to escape.

Aunt Andrea and Haylie on the concrete
wall just beyond the spill way.

We'll take an orange vest for Kaleb next time.
He kept almost disappearing.

This picture will have to be on our family calendar next year. 

It captured the essence of our great day together.

This the the view of the spill way from our rock skipping location. 

Grandpa was giving free rock skipping lessons here.

Dallin gives it a try!

Andrea and Tyler had a big kid adventure
exploring the flow regulation tunnel.

Grandpa gives Haylie a few pointers.

Not bad form for a two year old rock skipper! 

Here we go to check out the ice piles on the dam.

Someone had caught this nice big pike and left it cooling on the ice.

Today we found more typical honey combing in the ice blocks.

Grandpa showed the kids how to break off the little 

shards of ice crystals.  They loved it!

This is Kaleb on ice!

Haylie, Grandpa and Dallin

Kaleb found the reservoir's measuring stick. It is made out of concrete.

Dallin joined him before we all climbed back to the road on this concrete pathway. 

If the water came to this mark, it would indicate that it was 76 feet deep.  

This is also the year I graduated from BYU and Grandpa and I were married!

This concrete worked well for a ramp up, but not so well for a luge track down.

Haylie is helping Grandpa up the ramp. 

Dallin and Kaleb were playing "King of the Rock."

Haylie joined them for "No Big people allowed!"

Tyler and Andrea had been on their own adventure
 so they got to the reservoir after  us.

Tyler was certain he could make it as far out as the ice fisherman. 

He went slowly and carefully, testing every step.

When he was satisfied, he turned back.  

Did you notice that Andrea stayed on the shore today?

On our way home we came upon a cow that had recently given birth.  

This little calf was still wet!

Apparently we stopped too long!  This is a "Do you  mind? I 

just gave birth without an epidural and you are in my space" look.

Of course any great day ends with a buggy ride with Grandpa!