So last weekend, John came over to see the kids before I went to work. I had some errands to run, and when I came home, they were all sitting on the couch, dressed, (relatively) clean, and very, very excited.
"What's going on, guys?" I asked them, curious about what possessed them to put on actual clothing that wasn't pajamas on a weekend. A few seconds later, the plan was laid out for me. The kids had been begging for...well, just about ever to go fishing, and John thought it was a good time for us to finally give them what they wanted and thought it would be something fun for all of us to do.
Or for them to do, that is. I don't fish. But I did agree to photograph any fish we might catch, and so we headed out into the muggy, hot Florida day to head to the pier.
John threaded all the hooks with live shrimp, which was gross. Well, I thought it was gross. Ava and Jace thought it was pretty darn cool.
Jace was very, very interested in the shrimp swimming around in the bucket. I had to yank his hands out of there about fifteen times.
Once the hooks were in the water, I figured it was time to relax, but if you hadn't noticed, there isn't a whole lot of relaxing when there are four kids running around. And five if you count John, of course.
I did get the chance to get some cool pictures of everyone, though, while I was keeping the kids from jumping into the ocean and keeping Seth from throwing his cochlear implants in after them. That was super fun.
Seth was a little excited about being out on the pier. He wasn't a fan of his baby buff, but it's been the best option for us to keep his CIs where they're supposed to be when we're out and being active.
Actually, one of us did manage to relax during our day of fishing. I want to hang out in a stroller in the shade and take a nap. Evany has no idea how much she's lucking out right now!
Jace was the most patient of all the fishermen. He never took his eyes off the bobber.
I am completely in love with Seth's chubby almost two year old legs and his adorable shoes. I love baby shoes.
Ava had a blast keeping an eye out for fish and manatee. She's our animal lover.
Seth was really interested in what in the world everyone was looking at in the water and had to have a look himself. He reminds me of a puppy with oversized paws.
Jace hunkered down to wait out the fish. He didn't want to give any of them the chance to get away.
Of course Seth had to try to wrest Jace's pole away from him. Because that's what Seth does. He wants whatever everyone else has.
Finally, they got one on the hook! It was wily and swam under the dock, but John managed to reel it in, and the kids officially caught their first fish!
Ava was intensely proud, if you can't tell, while Jace was a little more wary about the jumping around this fish was doing.
It was a hot, humid, sweaty day, but it was totally worth it. I love that the kids are getting old enough to have actual memories of the things we do with them. A fishing day was right up John's ally...I'm wondering if maybe they'd be interested in a spa day next. I could totally rock that out.
