Jun 10, 2018

To Fish or Not To Fish

6/10/2018 — cori
Last weekend Chuck got the fishing bug. He's had it for a while now, but this weekend we were finally able to do something about it. At first he wanted to fly fish. Then he went out pricing all the gear. We don't have that much money. But alas, that did not deter him. He would find a way to fish. So we did it Mallott-style (remember the "Frisbee Golf" adventure?). We headed to the local Walmart to procure cheap fishing poles, lure, bait and tackle and whatever else comes in those little boxes. We asked about a fishing license and learned that Colorado has one free fishing weekend a year and this was that weekend. Can you believe it?! Of all the weekends to pick to attempt our first fishing, this was the one. It must be a good sign. We packed out picnic lunch (but forgot the chairs - but remembered bug spray and suntan lotion - so it was a wash) and headed for The Great Outdoors. Actually, we drove 30 minutes to the Poudre Canyon.


This is the ultimate vision Chuck had in his head - everyone enjoying fishing in the river on a nice hot sunny day. And we did achieve that by the end of our 3 hours there. But notice, even in this picture Chuck is not holding his fishing rod. There's more to the story than meets the eye.

This is what the first few hours looked like. Chuck assembling all the fishing poles.

Chuck teaching the kids how to hold the rod, add the bait and lure or whatever.

And how to cast so as not to hook another human or tree. Notice our lovely pile of stuff placed so precariously close to the water's edge.

Meanwhile, since I didn't have a lovely camping chair to sit in, I decided to put these little babies up. Thank God Chuck remembered our hiking backpacks. There's always a place to hang a hammock and I feel as though I found the perfect place.

From my picturesque perch, I was able to document this whole fiasco event. It did require that I step in the ice cold snow-melt runoff that is the Cache la Poudre River, but I was ok with that. I've walked the Narrows in the Virgin River before, I'm ok with numb feet. It's a small price to pay for fun and beauty. 

While Chuck and the kids were busy I found all sorts of beauty around me.

Flowers pop up in the most unexpected places.

The butterflies were abundant and unafraid of the camera.

One of the hammocks was supposed to be for Chloe, but she found a better perch.

Bennett only had to cut his line one time and only lost his hook once. Chloe, however, expertly got her line stuck in a tree. That one took some time to rescue.

Alas, Chuck doing what he envisioned - fishing in the river. He finally got a chance to cast his line and he was happy. We didn't see one solitary fish this entire time, nor did we catch any. But that's ok. We came for the experience and we got that in spades.













Second Time's The Charm

6/10/2018 — cori

Bennett has now joined the ranks of: Fellow Driver. Let's welcome him to the club everybody!


Yes, I'm aware that he's holding his license upside down. I take what I can get.

Unfortunately, he did not procure this precious luxury on the first go around. As we're learning (and by 'we' I mean 'Bennett'), he needs two tries at most things in real life before the concept or idea or lesson finally sticks in his head. Examples include but are not limited to: Learner's Permit (two attempts), Algebra 1 (2 years in a row), Driver's Exam (failed first time, passed on the second). He's more of a "Learn-as-you-go" type personality not a "study-before-hand-and-learn-it" type of guy. Either way, we're still proud of him. We knew he'd achieve his goal eventually. He's a very good driver: cautious, law-abiding, and attentive. He might not have a clue about where's he's going, but that's why we have the lady in Googlemaps who is able to tell us exactly how to get where we're going. Even though he has his license now, he is still the same Bennett who lives by the same motto he did as a small child: "Tell me exactly what to do and how to do it." Emmett from The Lego Movie is his Spirit Animal.



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