Friday, April 25, 2014

Backyard Adventures

Final shots from our trip last weekend.
 










One son is noticeably absent.  He did make appearances out-of-doors but the lure of The Great Brain and Beetle Bailey kept drawing him back to the couch.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Easter Best

The Old Testament reading on Sunday was Psalm 16.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Favorite Easter Traditions

Not wanting to be accused of being a spendthrift,
 we squeezed all the fun possible out of our Easter eggs.
 
 
First off, there was The Coloring of Easter eggs with Grandma while I was busy with something else.
 
 
Then there was The Hunt, alternating between front and back yard
 (and refereeing of children who wanted to do the hiding).
 
 
And lastly, there was the well-known pastime, The Easter Egg Shoot.
 
 
 
No one was going to eat any of the eggs, so why not use them for target practice?
 
 
It was an eggs-ceptional idea.
 
 
Really, no yoke.
 
 
Andrew's quite the crack-shot.
 
 
 I handed off the baby to my gun-totin' hubby and took a turn.  Perfect shot!
 
 
I think this is destined to become a family tradition.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Fishin' With Grandpa

Doesn't every good fishing trip start with a drive down a dirt road?
 
 
Dirt roads are plentiful in Mississippi and we tried out several.
 
 
This particular one led to the land of a friend.
 
 
 
 
Apparently the pond hadn't had much use lately and the fish were hungry.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I was sure we could count the adventure toward some Scout achievement.
 
Lesson one: bait your hook.
 
 
It wasn't so hard as long as we had worms, but when they ran out we had to use crickets.  Yuck!  I lost several when they jumped on me.
 
Lesson two: unhook your catch.
 
 
Stephen was pretty excited about this; the others less so.  Having been stuck myself years ago, I was a little nervous but I figured since I was making the boys do it, I needed to give it a go.
 
 
(This was actually Andrew being brave).
 
 
And what about Tootsie?  I was so afraid she'd decide to go swimming.
 
 
Instead, she amused herself with the caught fish.
 
 
I found one that appeared to be asleep and she carried it around.
 
 
I turned my back, and this what I saw.
 
 
Yes, she licked the fish.
 

Matthew is old before his time.  Not only does he like checkers and horseshoes, he's decided to buy himself a fishing pole.  "You know, at that store where we got the camping stove.  I bet they have lots."  (Otherwise known as Academy Sports).


 
It was a wonderful afternoon.