Saturday, June 29, 2013

Vacation Part 1


Our vacation didn't start out great because we missed our flight :(.  Luckily, we had Finding Nemo on my computer to keep the boys occupied as we waited patiently to see if we could get on the next stand-by flight.  We made stand-by just barely!  I'm so glad because the boys were very excited to be going to see Nana and Papa and if we didn't make this flight we would have had to wait for two days until the next available flight.  Plus, all of our luggage made our first flight.  The very nice flight attendant was able to move people around so that we all got to sit together.  The flight was a short and pretty uneventful flight!  Anderson even said that he was not scared (he recently flew with Christopher and wanted Christopher to put the plane down.  I think a small plane was a bit much for him!).



One of the first things on our agenda was to go fishing!  Nathan has been dying to go fishing.  Papa got all of the fishing gear and we headed out to the Millpond.  On the first try Nathan got a bite and as we were reeling in the fish it got away :(.  We kept on trying and did get one more bite, but the fish kept escaping.  Like Papa said, "the fish were teasing us."  Anderson also got to try his hand at fishing.  We plan on going back in the early morning or early evening when people are not on the Millpond and it will be easier to catch a fish!

We went swimming at the Millpond.  Nathan has been trying really hard to wink with one eye and this is him attempting to do so :).  The water was a bit chilly, but after you are in it for a little bit it doesn't feel bad.  The weather is supposed to be in the 90s, so I am sure that the water will feel great!



While we were at the Millpond a young boy caught the above fish with his hands and then let it go.  Then a dad saw this and he caught the fish and showed his kids.  While the guy was holding the fish Nathan said that he wanted to hold the fish.  The guy told him that if he caught the fish he could hold it.  He let the fish go right in front of Nathan and since the fish was a bit traumatized from all of the holding it was not hard to catch.  It was like Nathan found his best friend!  He didn't want to let the fish go and he kept bringing him above water, which I told him not to do.  There was no talking Nathan into letting the fish go.  I kept explaining that the fish needed to go back to his home and if we held him too long he would die.  I also said that I had no way of keeping the fish because we didn't bring a bucket.  I also told him that if we kept the fish it would die a slow death.  I imagine that when you are fishing there is a way to kill the fish right away so that they don't suffer a long horrible death?  Anyway, I finally got him to let the fish go and at first the fish was not swimming and kept floating on his back.  I thought for sure he was going to be a goner!  Then he started swimming.  Nathan followed him around and then the fish went into the deep end and that is when Nathan lost it.  He started crying and crying.  It was the worst thing that could have happened to him at that moment.  He continued to cry for about 45 minutes.  While he was crying it was time to leave and he wouldn't leave with me.  My dad had come to get us and Nathan was kicking and hitting when we tried to get him into the car.  I understand how heart broken he was, but since he was not being nice and listening he lost the privilege to go back to the Millpond later that day or the next to go fishing or swimming :(.


Yesterday we headed up to the Sand Pond with our friends Jessica and Jamison.  I was hoping that this pond would be fish free, but I wasn't so lucky.  We got there and the boys get in and there are little fish everywhere and tadpoles!  The tadpoles/frogs were very easy to catch and this is one that Nathan caught.  I think that he held this frog for almost the whole time we were there!  It is a little crazy because the frog part looks like it is a developed frog, but it still has a long tadpole tail.  I thought that this frog was also going to die at the hands of Nathan because he didn't seem to move when Nathan would put him down.  He eventually went on his way, so I think all is good.  There were some older boys there and they had nets that they would share with Nathan.  Nathan was having so much fun trying to catch fish and the tadpoles.  He wanted to keep these too, but again I said that I didn't have a way to keep them and they should stay in their home.  All of these trips makes me realize that I need to go buy the following:

-Nets (plural because Nathan doesn't like to share with Anderson and Anderson wants to participate)
-Bucket
-Goggles for Nathan
-Rafts.  While out I realized that it would be so nice to have a raft to float on
-Pool noodles (2)
-Maybe a life jacket for Anderson?  He doesn't know how to swim, so it might be nice to have him wear one if wanted to venture out further into the pond.

We are having a great time so far!  We went to the community dinner on Wednesday night, which was a lot of fun.  Nathan got to have his favorite dinner of pizza!  We got ice-cream last night and I think that I will probably gain a few pounds on this trip!  Nathan and I have gone bike riding.  There are some hawk like birds that have a nest in one of the trees above my parents house, so the ground has been littered with feathers that are very cool looking.  The boys go out every day and collect the feathers.  That is it for now.  We plan on doing lots more before we leave!

-Heather


Saturday, June 1, 2013

Pirates!

The treehouse needed one last thing...