Fish Stories

About 5 years ago we went up to Maine over the 4th of July holiday and rented cabins with several of our friends, went white water rafting, and had a great time. Unfortunately (my choice of adjectives, not Jason's), one of those friends brought along his fly fishing gear and spent some time introducing Jason and Chris to the sport (hobby?). They came home excited and addicted, and spent hours on their cell phones comparing notes and several lunch breaks at the Orvis store in downtown Boston spending lots of money on "necessary" equipment. At first they were limited to the Jamaica Plain pond and weekend trips to the lovely Oxbow in Western Mass. We had some good times with Moores, Jenkins, and Hansens...the boys fishing the bass hole or sitting on logs on the river at midnight drinking soda and talking, me hiking with Alyson and later, with our kids, the girls shopping at the Yankee Candle flagship store, and all of us eating brunch at Equinox in Vermont or just hanging out, even if the accomodations were a little...well...let's go with "rugged." These trips branched out to include boys-only overnight trips on the Green River in Utah when 2 of my siblings were nice enough to get married there during the summer (Jason is eternally grateful). Jason did attempt to get me involved, dragging me out to fish near his parents' house when Ethan was just a few weeks old, where I discovered that communing with nature by wading in a stream and tossing a hook covered in fuzz at a slimy fish was just not my idea of a good time. After a while, somehow, they got turned on to saltwater flyfishing for striped bass. This required even more gear and allowed them to spend their Saturday mornings wading off Castle Island or the North Shore, or even, in Chris's case, casting off Boston harbor during his lunch hour, surrounded by curious tourists.

In true Jason fashion, it's not enough just to fish a couple of streams during the summer or off the coast near home. He then had to get into saltwater flyfishing for bonefish, a small but feisty fish that hangs out on tidal flats in the Caribbean. His first attempt was on our trip to the Virgin Islands. He didn't get any bonefish, but he did have fun watching a curious sea turtle swim around him and eventually he caught a juvenile barracuda. And I got to sit on my own private section of beach on St. John and look at this:

Why don't we live there?? Anyway, his most successful attempts at bonefish have been in Grand Bahama, where he went with me in 2006 and then by himself last year, when he had an experience that is by far my favorite fish story. In the Caribbean, Jason hires a local guide to take him around the flats. The guide stands on a raised chair in the back of the boat and uses a pole to maneuver the boat around the flats, sights them and tells you when to cast, etc. On the morning he went last June, they hadn't had a lot of success. It was shark mating season, so there were hoards of sharks covering the flats. After a frustrating morning of casting, Jason finally hooked into a bonefish. It put up a huge fight but was never able to get off the hook. Just as Jason was sure it was tired out and was ready to reel it in, a shark grabbed on to it. At this point, the guide flipped out, for two reasons. First, he has a vested interest in making sure Jason is successful, since his tip and reputation depend on a happy client. Second, if the sharks learn, over time, to recognize a hooked, gimpy, fatigued fish as an easy meal and associate that with the boats, it will create a huge problem for the flyfishermen. Apparently the guide decided his best course of action was to jump out of the boat, grab the oar, and slosh quickly through the flats to the shark and the bonefish. Then he started wailing on the shark with the oar, at which point the shark realized the easy meal was not worth the cost, and took off. The guide picked up the now completely exhausted bonefish and started running back to the boat with it, screaming, "It's a monstah!!" in his Bahamian accent. He told Jason it was the biggest bonefish he had seen anyone land in the last 6 years. Jason got a great catch (which he then released, of course), the guide got a great tip, and both went home with a great story.

Besides the bahamas, the other prime place to bonefish is in the Florida keys, which was part of our reason for going there recently. April is supposed to be the best time, but the conditions (overcast, windy) were so bad the morning Jason went out that he didn't see a single bonefish the whole time. Instead, the guide had him try his hand at tarpon, which he was able to sight but not hook. He did, however land this:

It's a bonnethead shark, the smallest in the hammerhead family. Jason can't seem to have a fishing experience without getting a shark involved.

State Park Sunday

This afternoon after church we drove a little over an hour to a state park that we wanted to check out. We loved it! It's gorgeous and only about a half hour from where my brother and parents live. We're already making summer plans that include overnight hikes with my brother and his wife while my parents babysit all 4 grandkids (none of them know about these plans, yet, though...) We did a fairly easy 2.6 mile loop. Ethan did great and didn't start begging us to carry him until just about the end. We hiked down a steep embankment (there were stairs) to Raven Rock, an enormous rock that stands along the river bank.

Ethan loved looking for spiders and their webs, bees and beehives, beetles, ants, and various other insects. He loves them and wanted to squish all of them. It's a very complicated relationship. We had a long philosophical discussion about the pros and cons of killing insects while enjoying the beauty of nature. It went something like this:

"Mom, look, I found an ant! Can I stomp it?"

"Ethan, we only kill bugs when they're in the house. We don't squish bugs in the forest."

"But, mom, I'm a good bug squisher!"

"I know. Leave the bugs in the forest alive. Keep walking."

"But, mom, I want to squish it!"

"You can't squish it when it's outside. Keep walking."

"But, mom, why??"

"Because. Keep walking!"

I am aware I used a classic mom cop-out response. The truth is, if I let him do it to even once, we would still be in the forest. Is a desire to kill insects an early sign of antisocial behavior? Please say no.

Along the way back we stopped at an overlook with a great view of the Cape Fear river and the flood plains beyond. It was a gorgeous, fun day and the predicted thunderstorms never appeared, thankfully. 

A couple with their 2 large, mean-looking dogs were hanging out at the overlook. One of the dogs was muzzled, so I asked the owner if it was because he barked. He replied, "He bites." As we were leaving, Ethan pointed at the dog that was muzzled and asked, "Is he eaty?" I kept asking him what he meant and he kept saying, "You know, eaty." Finally he said, "Like the man said the dog who's eaty." At this point Jason realized that Ethan had equated "biting" with "eating" and then made up his own adjective. It must be kind of scary to think a dog your height was willing to eat you. Sometimes I'm so fascinated by how Ethan's little mind works. I have nothing to say about this picture except that I really, really love this little guy.

Cabinets!

We came back from vacation to find the drywall up and completely taped...hooray! On Wednesday they installed all the cabinets (kitchen and bathroom). We didn't get to pick the cabinets, since they were ordered when the house was framed (before we got involved). I hated the color of the sample at the design studio so I was extremely relieved to see they are much darker than we expected. We have been playing with the idea of painting them white, but after seeing them installed, we are going to leave them as is.

Kitchen cabinets

Master bathroom

It's starting to look more and more like a "real" house.

Life is Great

So sad when vacation ends. We managed to cram a week's worth of fun and relaxation into 3 days. On Thursday we woke up at dawn to go scuba diving. The water was warm and gorgeous and we had a great time. We got back and immediately got into the hot tub to warm up (it was overcast and windy all morning but luckily warmed up in the afternoon). We ordered lunch by the pool and laid there for a couple of hours, then decided to check out Key West, which we had heard so much about. Key Largo is the first island closest to the tip of Florida, and Key West is the last, 100 miles southwest. The drive was beautiful and we stopped and shopped along the way.

We were crossing one bridge when a rescue vehicle stopped traffic. If you have to get stuck in traffic somewhere, that's the place to do it. We got out of the car and visited with the other passengers around us. A helicopter flew in from the south and landed right on the bridge, then an ambulance drove up and they transferred a patient onto the helicopter. It was probably about a 45 minute delay, but it was a nice excuse to get out the car and enjoy the view.

Shortly after that, we crossed Seven Mile Bridge. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Just as we were pulling in to Key West, I pulled out a pamphlet to try to find things to do there. We read about the nightly sunset celebration held on the west side of the island, which seemed fun. Every night street performers and vendors gather and draw huge crowds to watch the sunset and party. We parked the car and arrived about 45 minutes before sunset. There was a cruise ship docked, so it was packed, but we were able to get an outdoor table on the harbor with a great view. On the East Coast, we don't have a lot of opportunities to see the sun set over the ocean. It was very cool.

We ordered dinner, watched the sun go down, and watched the crazy street performer next to us with his trained house cats. He had them playing leap frog and jumping through flaming hoops. I've never seen anything quite like it. We loved Key West and are so glad we made it down there. Right before we left we had to visit the southernmost tip of the continental US, which is closer to Cuba than Miami. We had a long drive home. It was a clear night with a full moon and very fun, but towards the end we were both tired and fell asleep almost as soon as we arrived (if not a few minutes before). Friday morning Jason arose at 6 am to go bonefishing. (More on that later.) I slept until 8, went for a short run, then went to the spa for a massage and facial. I finished up just as Jason pulled in. We checked out of the hotel and drove to Everglades National Park, where we saw alligators along with a bunch of other wildlife.

There are several alligators in this picture...I swear.On the way to the park, we stopped at a fruit stand that has a great history and makes to-die-for fresh fruit milkshakes.

We had some time to kill before we had to be at the airport, so we did some shopping at Aventura Mall, where we went with the Moores years ago after we got off our Caribbean cruise. We reluctantly checked in at the airport, ordered some dinner, and even more reluctantly got on the plane. If we didn't have kids to go back to, we may have just abandoned all our responsibilities and stayed down there forever. We had a great time. We arrived home at 1:00 am tired but happy to see our kids.

We woke up on Saturday and got to visit with Todd (and celebrate his birthday), Ashley, Toby, Ben, and meet adorable Chase for the first time. He has the most amazing blue eyes and great hair. I fell instantly in love with him. It did make me sad to see how huge Colin is compared to Chase. It's just a reminder that he is growing up way too fast! The boys had a great time with Grammy and Papa while we were gone. The weekend visit with everyone was fun but controlled chaos, without the control part. It's kind of impressive how loud 5 tiny little boys can be. I can only imagine what it will be like at the beach house this summer. On the positive side, most of the time they were making happy, fun noises rather than trying-to-kill-each-other noises. The flight home was crowded, delayed, and an overall pain, but we survived. The kids did pretty well...Jason and I were tired and over it. Maybe we were just sad our vacation was over. It was too fun!

Life is Good

The view from the balcony of our room, just after sunset, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

We just finished the first day of our much-needed 3-day vacation. Monday afternoon we flew with the kids to New York. They were angels. They are the perfect age for flying and the flight is the perfect length (only 1 hour) for kids. It was great to see Papa and Grammy. On Tuesday we visited the gorgeous dam near their home and met Papa for lunch, spent some time in the hot tub (Colin heaven), played trains, watched TV, and relaxed. 

This morning the alarm went off at 4 am...just 3 hours and 45 minutes after I'd gotten up to take Ethan to the bathroom. I was so tired I seriously considered canceling our vacation just to get more sleep. Then I realized I would get a lot more sleep if I actually got up and flew somewhere sans kids, so I made myself get out of bed. Here's how we spent our first day:

4:45 am: Leave for the airport. Luckily the kids are still asleep so I'm able to avoid the tears (mine) that usually accompany my leaving them to go on trips with Jason. I highly recommend sneaking out in the middle of the night. I only cried a tiny bit the night before as I was putting Colin to bed.

7:00 am: Flight takes off. Jason and I promptly fall asleep. I wake up as we're landing in Ft. Lauderdale. 

10:30 am: Call Grammy on our way to get our luggage. Make sure the kids aren't completely freaking out that I wasn't there when they woke up. Neither kid cared much, and Ethan is too busy playing to talk to me. This actually makes me feel good. Pick up a rental car (a cute little 2-door convertible that we don't feel cool enough to drive) and drive to the keys (Key Largo, to be exact).

12:00 pm: Lunch on a dock overlooking the Atlantic. We eat and watch a dolphin swim around the flats. We've been at our destination for approximately 12 minutes before we're both completely relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

1:00 pm: Shop for gifts for Grammy, Papa, and Ethan, so they'll all consider letting us do this again sometime. 

2:00 pm: Check into the hotel. Call the kids on the computer to show Ethan what we bought him and to remind Colin what we look like. Call Morgan to wish her a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Morgan! Nap briefly, then go lay on the beach and nap some more. 

4:00 pm: It gets temporarily cloudy and windy. Move to the room to nap even more.

5:00 pm: Run 4 miles. (Seriously.)

6:00 pm: Return from run and immediately go jump in the pool, then the hot tub. 

7:00 pm: Clean ourselves up.

8:00 pm: Go to dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Eat bread, wings, filet mignon, and key lime pie (of course). Undo any good effect achieved by the earlier run.

9:00 pm: Call Grammy to make sure the kids went to bed okay. One in-law is extremely patient with my many obsessive-mother calls and the other tells me to stop calling (I won't name names since they are in fact doing me a favor and I am in fact probably annoying both of them). Considering I'm in the same time zone and it's free for me to call, I think I'm exercising quite a bit of restraint already. Get to the room in time to watch the American Idol results. 

10:00 pm: Debate between falling asleep immediately and updating the blog. Fall asleep as I'm updating the blog. Please excuse any typos.

We are getting up at 7:00 am to go diving. Then we'll probably do some more napping. I love vacation.

A Draw

This week had some really bad moments and some really great moments. I don't remember much in between. We've all been dealing with a mild (thank goodness) GI bug so there were some rough days towards the beginning of the week. At one particularly tense moment Tuesday evening, after a series of unfortunate events, Ethan said, sadly, "I miss Daddy." I couldn't have agreed more, even if it did make me feel like a bad mom. In an attempt to get dinner made without Colin melting down from hunger, I gave him a teething biscuit. He loved it, but this is the price you pay for a contented baby:

I'm not sure the full effect is coming across. Here's a closeup. It's in his hair, on his sleeves, and all over this high chair. He loved every second.

You would never know from these pictures that my house was a disaster, Ethan had been crying about 10 minutes before, and that I was on the verge of losing it. I put the kids to bed, spent some time in the fetal position under my covers, then watched American Idol and The Biggest Loser and felt much better about life. I really love those shows. After months of dealing with the drought, we have had overcast, rainy weather for what feels like weeks. We have spent a lot of time playing inside. On Sunday, we made Jason a treasure map of the first floor of the house, which led to another treasure map of the second floor of the house, which led to a treasure (cookies) hidden in Ethan's room. It was so fun and I wish I had taken pictures of Ethan's sweet, excited face when Jason (finally) got home from work and went treasure hunting. One of the many things I adore about Jason is his ability to walk in from work and immediately pick up with Ethan as if he has been here all day. They are so cute together.

Colin has discovered toys and is loving them. He thinks they taste great. He has resumed his regular sleeping schedule and his cheerful disposition is back. I am very relieved. Despite the bad start to the week, it ended well. We had some really fun days together just playing and hanging out. Last night, I was finally able to use the gift certificate my in-laws gave me for my birthday. I went and got a 75-minute Pedicure of Death. They have a more fancy name for it but mine is really more appropriate. There was a funny moment when the pedicurist asked, "So are you going to prom tomorrow?" Ummm...what....as a chaperone? I had forgotten to put my jewelry on so I wasn't wearing my ring, and she had been dealing with prom customers all day, but still. I don't look that young. I took it as a compliment. Anyway, my feet are soft and ready for summer and my toes feel pretty. Thank you, Ann and Randy! This morning Ethan started soccer. He is on a team with his friends Ryan and Jack. They just ran drills this morning. Ethan had a great time and was so excited to wear his shin guards and show off his super soccer kick. If you recognize that quote, you have a 3-year-old. We spent the rest of the day visiting with my family, including my brother-in-law Greg, who was in town. It was so great to see him!

Now I have to get organized and packed because we are headed to Grammy's house on Monday. Jason has a few vacation days left to use, so we are dropping the kids off and heading to Key Largo BY OURSELVES for 72 hours. We cannot wait!

Moving along

Poor little Colin. We have had a rough 2 days...for him, at least. He's got a constant runny nose and seems to be in pain, isn't napping and isn't happy. As a result, I am exhausted and headed to bed very soon. Here he is this morning before the I-can't-nap-even-though-I'm-exhausted cycle began. Okay, these photos are making me look like a liar, but I'm trying to be a good mom and not post the ones where he looks miserable. I have them, believe me. From the brief 30 seconds between the time the crying started and I put down the camera to console him, of course. The house is coming along. We are supposed to get the drywall up next week (fingers crossed). Here are some pre-drywall images, which really aren't that helpful. Office with garage beyond Family room (from kitchen) Kitchen with dining room beyond Front stairs View out the back. Just over Jason's left shoulder is a 5,500 acre state park with hiking and biking trails, a lake, and camping. View out the front door. That's a retention pond across the street behind our car. I'm officially going on record with this prediction: one of my kids will land in said pond at some point in the next 10 years. I am mentally preparing myself to go in after them...or maybe I'll just stock the garage with a life preserver. Front of the house ("duh," you're thinking) I also need to mention for posterity that I ran (okay, fine...jogged) my first race (5K) last Saturday. I was proud of myself for doing it, even if I wouldn't exactly describe it as fun. I beat my training pace and didn't walk at all, so I was happy overall. And sore. Still sore, actually. Luckily I had Jason and my dad running on either side of me. Jason did a great job of pacing me and talking me through it, and my dad did a great job of keeping up the conversation to distract me. I don't think I would have done it without them...thanks, guys! As usual, thanks to my mom for leaving her house at 6 am on a Saturday to watch my kids so Jason could join me. I've run out of ways to express how grateful I am for all you do for me! One last parting shot of Colin. Considering he's been asleep for over 5 hours and he looks so darn cute to me in these pictures, I'm forgetting what he put me through today. [Please excuse the runny nose and the drool. He is sick and trying to cut teeth. It's not the most attractive combo.]

Dear Grandpa

Thank you so much for the awesome bookshelf you made us! We love it!!And a big thank you to grandma, who kept all 4 NC grandkids overnight last weekend. Jason and I loved every minute of it. Sorry you didn't get more sleep...but we really, really appreciate you!!! There's something in me that won't let me post without showing pictures of my kids. We had some gorgeous weather last week so had to spend some quality time at the park with Ethan's friends.

(L-R: Mason, Ryan, Ethan, Elijah)

Last week I put Colin on the floor on his back after his bath and ran to get a diaper and his pjs. I came back to this. So cute.