Gone Fishin'

Last Saturday we finally made good on our promise to take the children fishing.

After picking up a few supplies the evening before at our friendly, neighborhood Wal-mart, we embarked fairly early Saturday morning to a State Park for our fishing expedition. We haven't visited this State Park before and while we only went to a tiny section of it, we enjoyed our visit and plan to return again.

We found a "Kid Fishing Pond" for 16 and under w/parent assistance allowed in the area and thought it was the perfect spot to give the children a try at fishing that day. This was not the first experience they'd had with fishing, but it has been a little while.

Miss Baby doesn't look too happy here - maybe she knows *she* isn't going to be fishing today...poor girl!

Preparations ensued....

Miss Baby was entertained....

...and soon they were off and fishing...

Miss E ....

Miss A on the pier wondering when her fish would come in...

Mr. E getting some last minute coaching from his Daddy...

and Mr. A who fishes with much style....here's the windup.....

Often returning for help w/tangled lines or to get a new worm...yes, I helped put the worms on...as a mother of 5, it doesn't pay to be squeamish!

Here they are on the pier - I walked around to the other side w/Miss Baby in the stroller....

After a while here on the pier and surrounding areas, we moved to the other side of the pond....that's when the excitement started!

Fish # 1 was caught by...uh...Miss Baby, yes, that's right, because parents are only to assist, remember? And, well, I was assisting her....

Don't worry, it was too small to keep anyway!

Then, shortly thereafter, fish #2 was caught by Miss A!

Again, too small to keep, but what a thrill for Miss A to catch her first fish ever! Yay!

Then, as we were getting ready to leave.....fish #3 to a VERY excited Mr. E! His first fish to catch ever!

Does his Daddy look proud or what? :) Great job, Mr. E! Too small to keep, but that's ok :)

Then we began the walk back to the car and what's this? Wild blackberries? Hooray! We paused for a few mn. here.....

Picked a few for Miss Baby to enjoy - everyone else picked a few on their own :)

and then the rest of the walk back to the parking lot/van....(imagine music from "The Andy Griffith Show" here)

The ride home was pretty quiet....

Leaving the park....

and, finally, back at home - Miss Baby was glad to be released from the stroller/carseat....

All in all, a fantastic day w/the children. 2 of the 5 caught their own fish for the first time - yay! Everyone enjoyed the day...it wasn't TOO hot even though it was very hot...shade helped a lot...the girls got to pet a horse in the parking lot when we trekked up to the bathrooms...wild blackberries...no one else out there for most of the time we were there...and only one mishap w/a hook that thankfully wasn't too bad. Whew! I think we'll be going again soon...but this time....not only will I bring the sunscreen (no one got a sunburn!), but I will be getting some bug spray...we brought home one thing we didn't intend.....CHIGGERS. Soooo glad I didn't let Miss Baby out of the stroller while we were out there - I can't stand the thought of her being eaten up by those horrid bugs. I guess the children moved around more than CKB and I because we got the worst of them, but that's ok.  :) It was a great day :)