Shooting stars, fishing and floating

School starts back next week. 7 days to be exact. I could tell you the hours and minutes but that might sound like I'm counting down. Wouldn't want to give that impression! (wink wink!)

Jeff is on vacation this week so we had the opportunity to take one last mini-vacation before school starts. We spent 4 days at the New River. It was wonderful and relaxing and we didn't want to leave. The first night there was all stayed up late to watch a meteor shower. Wasn't much of a "shower". More like a drizzle. But we saw some impressive ones. And it was just fun to sit out under the stars and wonder at God's amazing handiwork. We don't do that often enough.  This pic was taken at some point over the weekend, not the night of the meteors.

The next day, some friends came up for the day. We played in the river and went fishing and had dinner. Then they had to head back home. Hopefully they will be able to come back and stay longer next time. The boys all had so much fun playing in the river.

We all went fishing the next day. No one caught anything but river weeds but we still had fun. Jeff probably spent more time fishing than anyone. He never used to be into fishing but this year he even bought us fishing licenses'. I have enjoyed it as well. It's actually very relaxing and something we can all do together. The boys like to switch between fishing and throwing rocks in the river. What is it about water and rocks that boys just can't resist? Drew and Gabe spent a long time just throwing rocks, sometimes at each other, mostly at the reeds and grass growing out of the river, sometimes at the rapids. I'm sure the splashing wasn't helping Jeff catch any fish but they were having fun so no one seemed to mind.

We also went on a quick float trip down the river. Wendy drove Drew and the floats a short distance down the road and dropped them off, then came back for me, Jeff and Gabe. It was only about a 10 minute float trip down the river back to Wendy's house but it was fun. We went over some little rapids, got stuck on some rocks and saw some wildlife. Wendy and David are going to investigate a longer trip soon so we hope to do that next time. This was more of a "trial run" for the boys. Gabe was very nervous about it at first but after about 2 minutes he was loving it.

Here is the blue heron we saw all weekend long.

Hope you have had a wonderful, fun-filled summer.

The Big July 4th Guided Fishing Trip!

Wendy's husband, David had a wonderful idea. Since we were going to be at their house on the New River the weekend of July 4th, he wanted to take Drew on a guided fishing tour. This is where you drive to Tangent Outfitters, get on one of their boats with a fishing guide, and he takes you out on the river so you can fish. They know the best places to fish and provide tips and assistance if needed. It's an all day adventure.

Drew was very excited about this idea. They left the house at 7:30am. Wendy and I didn't hear from them all day. And it about drove us crazy! We couldn't wait to find out how it went! Well, finally they returned at 6:30pm. Drew had so much fun! He caught 16 fish, the longest being around 15 inches. I asked David if he thought Drew got bored at any point. He said that Drew was casting his line until they pulled the boat out of the water. And he's ready to do it again!

Drew got to sit in the front of the boat so the guide could help him.

Casting his line out. David bought him a nice fishing pole and his own fishing hat.

Here is the "master fisherman" with one of his prized catches! (Notice he won't touch it!)

And here is his Uncle David with his own catch of the day. All total, they caught around 43 fish. A great day!

We finished out our day with a ride in the Man Buggy down to the neighbor's house. They were having a huge party with lots of family and friends. We stayed to watch the fireworks and the boys got to play with sparklers. Drew even got to set off several Roman Candles. That scared me just a bit! Everyone had fun and are now safely tucked into bed. I hope you had a fabulous 4th, too!

Oh yes I did!

I don't like fish. That's not news to most of you. I don't like to eat fish or even the smell of fish. But when your oldest is off on a special fishing trip with his Uncle David and your youngest wants to go fishing too, what are you supposed to do?

"Don't go out too far, Gabe."

 

"But I need to go out to those rocks! Mom, I got my line twisted!" So out I go to fix his line.

Just a few short minutes later: "Wow! Gabe, you caught a fish!"

(in my head: ewww! ewww! ewww!) 

"EWWW! ACK! I can't believe I just did that!"

Seriously we had so much fun! Gabe even showed me how to use his fishing rod and I tried it out for a while. I didn't catch anything but it was fun. Gabe is really enjoying fishing but he also had fun just climbing around on the rocks and playing with his boats. Drew and Uncle David are on their way home now. I can't wait to find out how their big trip went. I'll post (hopefully with pics) soon!

3 Fish!!

Happy 3rd of July! Today we went to the Harrisburg 4th of July Parade. We had a wonderful time. It's always a great parade. The kids came away with lots of candy and goodies. More pics to follow.

As soon as the parade was over we hit the road and came to Wendy's house at the New River. Almost right away the boys wanted to go fishing. David took them down to the river and had to remind them how to use their rods.

Then they headed out into the river. It was a little deeper in some places so David had to carry Gabe.

But Gabe caught 3 fish! And he was the only one to catch anything. The first one got away and they released the other two. He was so excited!

Drew is getting pretty good at casting. Tomorrow, David is taking him to Pembroke where they will take a guided fishing trip on the New River. He's so excited. He should catch lots of fish then.