Family Sunday: Fishing at Rock Creek

For Family Sunday this week, we took a little drive to Rock Creek. (That was after we dressed up for church, and realized it was an hour earlier this week after getting there...ooops!)  The river is about half an hour away and is the same place we went last year this time. This year however, we didn't drive way back in the mountains. We stopped at the same place we found last year and had enjoyed so much, except when we got there, the wooden bridge was washed out...

 Perry found a similar spot in the same general area, just up the creek a little ways. Again, we had to hike through a jungle with our cooler full of dinner and drinks, a cooler of ice in case we caught a fish, the pack-n-play for Charlotte, the umbrella for shade, the fishing poles...So much stuff to pack around!

 As soon as we got to our spot, Hunter was very eager to get in and swim. JP didn't even want to get his feet wet at first because it was too cold. Unfortunately for him, we set up camp in the middle of the river, so he had to cross over a couple puddles...can you say meltdown?

 Charlotte spent most of the time in the pack-n-play because she kept tasting the rocks... Yuck!

 In the picture above, Hunter waded out into the river on the right until it was about waste high and then decided he didn't want to swim any more and came back to shore. Meanwhile JP is exploring on the shore and throws out the comment, "Oh-pa. It's getting pretty deep over here!" as he's standing in ankle deep water... While Hunter dried out, Perry got the poles together and then then five of us crossed the river at the end of these rocks. I had Charlotte in my front carrier and my camera strapped onto me. I took it *very* slow as the water was up to Charli's toes, but according to Perry it wasn't very deep... Yeah, because you're tall!

 Once on the other side, the boys spent some time casting their line into the water. Hunter is getting pretty good, but JP could use some work still. 

 Charlotte and I had fun watching. I was just thinking about what would happen if Charlotte dropped her snack cup and then a minute later she did, and as soon as I realized it, we were running after it. It floated up the river instead of down so it was a pretty easy retrieval, but still, I panicked for a second.

 After eating dinner of lunchables and sandwiches, Perry took Hunter and JP up the river to do some more fishing while Charlotte and I played. She LOVED playing with Hunter's hat. She's getting such a personality and it is so adorable. In fact, last night, she played with one of Hunter's shirts for 2 hours! Who needs toys?!

I suspect we'll be back soon. It was so peaceful there and everyone had a wonderful time, until it was time to go, then things got ugly pretty quick! But overall it was an afternoon well spent, even if we didn't catch anything!

Hunter's First Fish

After a long day in Philipsburg, Perry and I took the boys down to Georgetown Lake to go fishing while Charlotte stayed at the house with Grandma.

 On the way to the lake, Perry flipped a 180 so we could check out the moose grazing in the field not far from the road. So cool! I don't recall seeing moose before.

We stopped at a couple places to check to see if the water was good for fishing. The boys had a different plan...

 After I snapped this picture of Perry, simply because I love the background, Perry asked Hunter and JP to take a few pictures of us. At this spot on the lake, we weren't going to try to fish, but we told the boys that if they would take a picture of us, we'd go get the fishing poles.

 A deal is a deal. I retaught JP how to cast and he became super excited when his lure got stuck in the water.

 Perry retaught Hunter how to cast off.

I watched him cast off a couple times, and then this happened.

Uh...dad. I think I caught one...?

 Perry and I were not expecting this at all! Hunter was SO excited!

 Perry tied Hunter's rainbow trout up to a rock until we were ready to go. 

 In the meantime, the boys had fun poking at it. 

Like I said, this kid was SO excited just to walk his catch up to the car. When we pulled up to the house, JP announced quite sadly that "Hunter's fish is dead, mom!" Uh yeah... it's been dead since we got to the car!

 But Hunter even more excited to show grandma, Barbara and Scott!

 I have been waiting for the day when my kids catch a fish, mostly because I wanted to see the look on their faces when they held it. I love Hunter's faces! I can't wait for JP to catch one!

 When we were done taking pictures of Hunter with his trout, Perry showed him how to fillet it. 

JP cracks me up in these videos. Be sure to watch his facial expressions!

Hahaha, you have poop hands!

Hunter helped season it too. He took it very seriously.

When we left to go fishing, I asked Hunter and JP if they would eat the fish if they caught it, and both said no. I told them if they would try it I would try it. Hunter ate it and it looked like he didn't hate it, but also didn't want more. JP surprised me by having two bites! And yes family, I did try it, and I still don't like it. 

A Fishing We Will Go...

First thing: I bought my first fishing license yesterday! I remember fishing with Grandpa Mike when I was young. I don't recall if I enjoyed it or not, but I do know I hated eating fish. I believe Grandpa Mike's rule was if you catch it you have to eat it. And I still hate the taste of fish. So maybe that's why I stopped fishing...? 

But regardless, Perry enjoys fishing. I've told him plenty of times that I would go fishing with him, as long as I didn't have to eat the fish. Heck I'd even cook it for him as long as I didn't have to eat it. So with that out there, we finally took the boys fishing yesterday. And of course Charlotte too. But she slept for the entire day. It didn't even seem like she was with us. I had to wake her up twice to feed her, and then she was back to sleep. 

It goes without saying, she was a little angel all day :)

For our little fishing trip, we traveled up Rock Creek, about half an hour out of town and stopped at a nice little spot that was shallow and calm enough for the boys to play in. They we so excited to see baby fish swimming along the shore. While Perry did a little fly fishing, the boys tried to catch the inch big fish, with no such luck. JP also hit a little milestone. He willingly pooped outside in the "wilderness" since there were no outhouses in sight. Hunter already accomplished that feat a while back in our backyard....

When they weren't trying to catch the baby fish, they spent a lot of time throwing rocks until Perry was done fishing. Then we packed up shop to look for a better place to fish.

We found one a little way up the road so we parked and had our lunch before climbing down the hillside, which is quite difficult with a baby in a carseat, that I didn't realize until we were halfway down that she was not buckled in (thank goodness I didn't slip), and a baby bag. But once we were there, the boys were super eager to start fishing. 

I think in this moment, Perry loved being a dad and showing his son how to fish. 

He also had to show me how to fish...and then I had to teach JP. I'm pretty sure he thought we caught his lure every time we reeled it in. He was so excited! Before we left town, we had stopped to get my license and while we were there, we each picked out our own lures. Of course JP's was green... 

When JP wasn't fishing with me, he was fishing by himself with his stick, and the sunglasses I found at our yard sale.

We were going to cross this bridge that was just above the spot we were at, but I told Perry there was no way I was going to cross it. I watched people and it shook! Not for me. (Kelsey- your fear of bridges is completely rational!) Instead Perry took the boys up there one by one to let them experience it. 

Once that spot was over crowed with people on the other side, and kids throwing rocks off the bridge, we packed up again to find a new spot. We drove and drove and drove because Perry had a spot in mind and we hadn't passed it yet. There was a lot of "Oh I remember this" and "We're getting close, I just know it!" Before we knew it, we were 17 miles out on a gravel road with pot holes and we still hadn't found "the spot" so I suggested we turn around and take them to Rainbow Bend, which is along the way to the cabin. 

I gave Perry a hard time, once we found his "spot" was rocked off to vehicles around marker 12. So we continued on with our plan. Typical Perry was still stopping and looking for other places along the way back when he came across a path with a wooden walkway. He followed it while we waited in the car. And this is now where we'll go when we talk about "going fishing." So again, I packed Charlotte into our new spot with the carseat and her bag. We were literally walking through weeds and grass taller than me. I felt like I was in a jungle...and I didn't like it. But both Perry and Hunter enjoyed fishing in the new spot.

I did have to eventually put Hunter's pole away as he wasn't understanding the casting part and after getting his hook caught in Charli's blanket earlier in the day, and almost hooking JP when he was reeling it in, it was time to be done. 

On the way home, Hunter was in the back singing "Very happy, so very happy because I have Jesus in my heart" over and over for about 15 minutes. It eventually changed into "This is the day the "Yord" has made, let us be glad!" And then there was JP, "You're singing it wrong!"

But like a little trooper, Charlotte remained asleep. My plan was to keep her awake all evening so she'd still sleep at night. After dinner I was super tired, and when I laid down for a few minutes, I became super nauseous and very dizzy. I hung out over the toilet for a while and shortly after returning to my room, Perry brought Charlotte back because she puked all over the couch. 

In other news, we finally got a swamp cooler...and now our house is much cooler, but very humid. There's no winning...