Me, My Kids, and Salmon

Last week the kids and I walked down to the river to watch the salmon spawning. It is amazing that after 3-5 years out in the ocean, those fish know exactly what river, stream, creek to swim up to return to the place of their birth!!

Look right in the middle of the picture: do you see the salmon?

See the fin to the right of the grass?...

We sat and watched the female dig her nest out in the gravel of the river bottom. She would swish her tail then swim forward a bit. But the second the male would swim up to her nest, she would circle around and return to her nest. I guess she was telling him, she wasn't done yet.

They did that about 4-5 times. It was interesting to watch.

In one hole, we spotted 7 salmon. It was hard to take pictures with the glare off the surface of the water.

After watching them for about 45 minutes, we began to walk back through the pasture towards the house. The girls skipped along, holding hands:

We stopped to listen to the coyotes howling and yipping on the hill behind the house.

All I could think was, "Thank You, God! Thank You for allowing me to raise my kids this way. For Your awesome creation that we can watch and hear!"

"Sing to the Lord,

For He has done excellent things;

This is known in all the earth."

--- Isaiah 12: 5