So Sam spent the night last Friday night at my parents house. My dad called me Saturday morning to see what we were up to and if we wanted to venture to Trout & Berry days with him & Sam. I'm always game for something fun, so, why not?
They have this fish catching contest of sorts. You pay a dollar to go jump into a hay bale/tarp made swimming pool that's so full of trout you could walk on them. Certain fish have a tag on their gill. If you catch a fish with a tag on it you win a prize. They do these by age starting with 2-3 yr olds and working up to women. Oh, did I mention that you catch the fish with your hands?
Brooke was all game until she realized I was going to stick her in the pool with the fish! That's when she decided to cling to me and cry! Ha! Silly girl! She LOVES fishing. I was surprised at her reaction. I kept pointing the fish out to her and telling her to "grab it!" I'm pretty sure she thought I was insane. I put her hands into the water to try and help her and she immediately pulled them back out of the water and put them up by her chest. I finally reached in and just pulled one out for her. I was showing it to her and she was still crying. I told her to touch it and she did NOT want anything to do with that! So, being the awesome mom I am, I rubbed it against her hand! I told her that we'd go get a bag for her fish and to come with me. Once I go the fish in the bag and handed her the bag (so she wasn't actually touching it) she was just the proudest thing in the world! You would have thought it was the biggest fish she'd ever seen! Later she told us she didn't like it because the fish were "tickling my feet!"
Up next was Caleb. He ended up going in with the 7-8 yr olds because he missed the 5-6 yr olds (that's when B went because she missed her age group). He had told me he didn't want to do it. When I told him I'd go in with him that's when he decided it might be ok. He wasn't too keen about getting into this pool either. I was trying to tell him just to use both hands to reach in and grab the fish around its belly. When that didn't work I told him to scoop one out and just toss it over the edge onto the grass and we could go get a bag. We finally got one out for him and got it into a bag. When we had go over to take Brooke's out there were some guys there with knives and we thought they were going to filet it for us. No, they just cut the dang head off. Stupid! So we told Caleb to let his fish keep its head!
Now Nash I wish I had had a video of. Sam had my camera and was off by the bouncy houses. I thought for sure Nash would have this down. The kid is fearless. He had his pant legs rolled up and had watched every group before him go with intense concentration. I figured he'd nail it. Oh. My. Hell. The kid was HILARIOUS to watch! He got in the pool and would barely stick his fingers into the water and then jump away and pull them back! I kept yelling at him to put both his hands into the water and just grab it around the belly. Nope. Then I told him to just scoop one out of the edge. Nope. At one point he quit his dancing and climbed onto the hay bales around the edges and tried to get one with one hand that way. Nope. Poor kid ran out of time and never got a fish. Later he told me that he didn't like them by his feet. I told his dad that he needs to spend a lot more time with the fishies! If his mom is willing to stick her hands into the pool and grab two different fish for two different kids AND she gutted both of said fish all by herself, he should be able to grab a fish! Or at least not dance around in a pool filled with them and make himself look like a spastic wild man!
Here's where he's on the edge of the hay bales
Anyone that knows my dad knows he's a balloon hating Nazi. I was shocked when he told the kids they could get a balloon animal. Caleb got a green octopus, Brooke got a blue horse & Sam & Nash got green one eyed monsters.
Sam also got grandpa to cough up the money for this adorable hat. She sure loves her hats.
