Hardy Highlights : Daren's Last Year in the 30's

Amy and Tim brought Wii Sports Resort when they came to visit and Daren LOVED it. He decided that was what he wanted for his birthday.

Daren turned 39 on August 16th and we had such a fun day! Some years Daren has to work on his birthday. It all depends when school starts. But this year, school started late enough that he was still free and we got to spend the whole day with him. Daren has been wanting to go to the fish hatchery north of Lone Pine so he decided his birthday would be a good time for that trip. Plus, I had this weird idea in my head of what a fish hatchery was and I had no desire to go. I couldn't tell him no on his birthday though. And he was right-it was fantastic! It is so pretty there and the kids were having such a wonderful time. I definitely want to go back. It had a small lake filled with trout. There were so many that if you put your hand in the water, there was no way you weren't going to touch a fish. They sold fish food that we bought for the girls to feed them. It was fun to watch the little feeding frenzies when someone would throw a bunch into one spot.

The hatchery building was a cute, old, stone building with a little gift shop and a short tour. Although the tour wasn't long, it was still very enjoyable. Inside we saw a ton of little baby fish (fry). The guide let all of the kids take a pinch of crumbled fish food to feed to the fry.

We finally needed to leave because we had to get to swim lessons. We were already going to be late because the hatchery was a little further away than we had planned (about an extra half hour) and we didn't want to leave right after getting there. While we were driving home, I got a call from Mat Krugman (their swim teacher) on my cell phone and he said we could come a different day so we didn't have to miss part of our lessons. Since we had the extra time, Daren decided to turn up towards Kennedy Meadows and explore up there a little. It was nice and we saw a deer, but unfortunately the girls and I were not prepared to be hiking. Daren was the only one with hiking shoes and all of us girls had on either crocs or sandals. So we didn't stay too long before we headed back home.

We ended the day with a family dinner and cake and ice cream.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAREN!

Natalee feeding the fish

Mackenzie feeding the fish

Four cute girls

Haylee feeding the fry

Kelsey feeding the fish

Daddy and his girls

I think it's a rule in our family that we must take a picture by every horse we pass, real or fake.

Mackenzie made a new friend named Ella. She still talks about her and tells us that she misses her.

Daren holding Nathan in front of the hatchery building.

Daren feeding the fish-not hitch hiking.

Me with the kids (minus Kelsey).

We almost had to go home when we realized that we forgot to bring a dog on a leash, but luckily Natalee realized this sign just meant if you did bring a dog it had to have a leash. Phew!