Fishing Fun

Michael likes to go fishing. I've been fishing... I'm not sure if I've ever used a pole. Or if I've been fishing since the age of single digits. And there's fishing here at the ranch, so we all went as a family and with some friends. Ivan thinks it's pretty dang fun to fish. He even understands how to reel it in and when he gets stuck he usually asks for help. I let Michael fish, since he's doing it to catch one and eat it, and I helped Ivan. I would cast for him and let him reel. He got bored after a little while and walked around with Charlotte. Then I got to fish. A couple casts in, and I caught a bass! Woohoo! It was really fun. And weird. Once you catch the fish, what do you do with it? It's too small to keep so you have to put it back. And I've been reading Montana Outdoors, cuz it has amazing pictures in it :) and you should be gentle with the fish to ensure it will survive the catch and release process. And since we could see an alligator hanging out in the far corner of the pond, I thought I should give this guy his best chance. By the way, the name of the pond we're fishing at is Square Hole. Real clever. And the road that the pond is on, it's named Gator Branch, but what do the locals call it? Three House. Did you know there are 4 houses on this road? Who would have guessed.

Charlotte's a natural.

Michael showing Ivan how it's done.

Michael's first fish. I think he caught a couple that night, and more after we went for our walk.

I caught one! Ivan thought it was so cool!

After I got the fish out of the water, I had to hold it. Ew... Ew. But then I could take a picture with it and try to get Ivan to touch it. He was pretty excited to see the result of fishing and was suddenly all interested in it again. By this time Charlotte was pretty upset, probably because no one was paying attention to her. Then I found out the real reason. She had fallen and gotten her hands all dirty in ashes from an old fire and then wiped her eyes with said dirty hands. Silly head. Now her face is all dirty. Then I had the idea to use the pond water to clean her off. What a great idea that was! Now she knew where the water was and mom said it was ok to play in it. Ugh. She got so wet. Then it was Ivan's turn.

Before

After. I don't know how that girl manages to get so dang dirty all the time!

Wil helping Ivan fish. Charlotte just playing in the water. And me, well I'm just standing there looking pregnant. 

The kids were obviously done fishing and getting pretty unruly, so I let Michael and his friend Wil fish a while longer and went for a walk with Wil's wife Jess. I really like Jess. We just think alike. So we took the kids and walked down the road a ways. Charlotte wasn't super interested in walking so Jess and Ivan got much farther than we did before I realized just how far behind we were. By the time we caught up, they disappeared! I did find them, they were visiting with one of the people living on the road there. Well, in a house on the road. They would be in the fourth house on Three House road. Tiffany, who lives there, has a little boy that's Ivan's age and they love each other. They are in the same class at church so Ivan just walked right up and started playing with him no problem. Tiffany has a bunch of chickens and some dogs and rabbits and my kids thought it was so awesome! We stayed and talked and hung out for a while so the guys could fish. They have a slide and a trampoline and Tiffany gave us juice boxes. Ivan was in heaven. Charlotte too! It was really nice to meet more people in the area. I've seen Tiffany and her family around church but we hadn't ever had the chance to meet and talk before. Hopefully this means some play dates in the future!

An alligator just waiting for us to slip and fall into the water. 

Ivan thinking that scaring all the little tiny fish away is great fun.

Isn't it pretty? This is just right across the street from the pond we fished at.