gone (went) fishin'

since the heat wave finally broke last week, we have found ourselves outside quite a bit. suddenly the ideas of the park! and bikes!! and walks!!! are good ones.

marc headed to the garage one afternoon, and emerged with all of his fishing gear. he spent the next hour outside, getting it all cleaned up and re-strung. then he said, "we're going to get bait, then we're going fishing."

okay then.

(this was actually a smart idea. my dad and his brothers have gone fishing Up North every year for, like, the last 102 years, and the rule is that once a boy in the family reaches 13, he's allowed to come. the Roush Family Right of Passage Into Manhood or something like that. i don't know. i don't have the right chromosomal make-up to be invited. regardless, henry hits that milestone next year and will get to go ... the boy needs to put in some serious fishing time before then.)

so in the car we went, to buy worms ("ammo for fishing," harper called them. which, truth be told, is pretty accurate.) and then head to our lake.

the sun was just starting to go down, and marc had high hopes for catching something.

he got harper going with her pole ...

then got henry and himself all squared away.

for the first ten minutes or so ... nothing. harper go cranky and antsy and started banging around. the guys told her to knock it off because she was scaring the fish. she argued back that there were no fish. the boys responded with exasperation, "because you're scaring them all!"

it was lots of fun.

then ... henry caught a bluegill.

and then another. and then he snagged a crappie, but couldn't land it.

this gave harper hope (even though she was totally bitter that her brother was catching fish and she wasn't.), so she persevered. and then ... she caught a fish.

and then henry caught one ... then harper ... then henry had another ...

a school must have arrived, because as soon as a kid would put a pole in, the fish bit.

poor marc didn't even get a chance to really fish. no sooner did he cast, then a kid had a fish and needed him. a few times, marc was helping one while i had to help the other. there were too many fish.

a good problem, i guess.

soon, the sun officially set and the mosquitoes came out and that was the end of the fun. in all, about 16 bluegill and one crappie were caught over the course of the hour. a successful outing, and now henry is one step closer to going Guy Fishing next summer. (the other steps involve preparing him mentally and emotionally for things like no running water, no internet, and skinny-dipping in the freezing water ... with his dad and grandpa and great uncles ... to bathe.)