You Know You're a Redneck Family When....

You get dressed in clothing covering every part of your body, spray yourself with mosquito spray, and head out into the back yard at 10:30 at night to pick nightcrawlers.

It rained most of the day today, so Mike put batteries in the flashlights, recruited the kids for his cause, and the four of them are out in the back yard looking for nightcrawlers for our fishing trip this Friday.

Me, the smart one, stayed behind in the garage, watching them as they bend over trying to catch the slippery little worms. Mike comes into the garage shaking his head, "They're quicker than I remember. I can't catch em."

To which I say, "Maybe you're just older than you remember."

So, Mike has given up already, but the kids are still at it. Tristan with the flashlight, Rebecca with the bucket (empty so far), and Timothy bent over, determined to catch at least one.

Family Fishing Trip

Yesterday, we took the kids out on our first fishing trip of the season. And what a blast we had! We made two trips to the lake, got rained on, caught fish, got snagged on the lake's bottom, lost a couple of lures, and had lots of laughs.

We started out the day at the park across the street for Timothy's baseball game. They played the best team in the league and even though they lost, they gave them a run for their money. The final score was 8-6. Timothy hit one out into the outfield for a double, caught a fly ball for an out, and scored one run.

After the game, we came home and got the rods ready for our fishing trip. After changing line, attaching the lures everyone wanted to use, and making sure the life vests were on board, we headed to the lake. On our way, the skies started getting darker and darker. I had checked the radar before we left and it just looked like a few stray showers, so we went ahead and left.

Well, by the time we got to the lake, all the other boaters were heading in. The dark clouds were producing lightning and being in the middle of the lake during lightning is dangerous. So, we went home, had something to eat, and waited the storm out.

When the skies cleared, we loaded up and headed back to the lake. This time, we got on the water and headed to one of our favorite spots. Rebecca was the first to get her rod in the water, and as the rest of us are messing around trying to get ours in, we hear, "Hey People! I've got something here! And it's pulling!!"

So, Rebecca caught the first fish, a nice sized walleye that went into the cooler. I caught the next one, also going in the cooler. Mike and Tristan each caught a walleye, but they were thrown back to grow some more. Mike actually caught another one that he was going to keep, but he handed it to Tristan to put in the cooler, and it wriggled right out of Tristan's hands and back into the lake. That was hilarious!

I also caught a big catfish, which was a blast to bring in! It fought and pulled. It took me about ten minutes to get it into the boat! It went into the cooler too. Catfish is yummy!

In the end, I caught three fish, Tristan caught two, Mike caught two, and Rebecca caught one. Timothy didn't like the type of fishing we were doing, so he complained most of the trip and didn't fish much. We came home with three walleye and the catfish.

Oh, I almost forgot! Those stray showers that showed on the radar? Yeah. Even though we waited out the first one, there were other smaller, less threatening showers behind it, and we did end up getting wet. But the good thing about that, it seemed that the fish bit better during the rain! As long as there was no lightning, we stayed out. It was so worth it!

Good News

The boat that Mike has been working on to fix the motor has been on the water and is in perfect working order!

We have two boats. One for the smaller lakes (this is the one that was out of commission for two years) and a bigger boat for fishing Lake Michigan. Mike decided not to put the bigger boat in the river this year because the gas prices are just way to high, and with a 100 gallon tank, it was going to cost too much to use it.

So, the smaller boat that has been sitting for two years came out of retirement. Mike fixed the motor and we took her out for a spin this morning. What a wonderful ride! The weather was perfect and it felt good to be back out on the water.

This afternoon, we're headed out to another, bigger lake to fish for some walleye. I bought a bunch of new lures last night at Fleet Farm, so I can't wait to see how they work. Mike usually just rolls his eyes at my choice of lures, because I usually buy the flashiest, prettiest ones I can find. But you know what? I usually catch fish on those gaudy lures! So, hopefully after this weekend, I'll have some big fish tales to tell. Wish me luck!

So Much For That

Wouldn't you know it? We get all ready to head out on the boat and as we're driving to the lake the sky starts getting darker and darker. Off in the distance, you can see the rain coming down.

Oh what the heck. It's only rain. We'll still head out. It may miss us.

Then, a bolt of lightning. No way in hell I'm going out in a boat when it's lightning. So, our fishing trip turned out to be just a joy ride with the boat hooked on.

On a brighter note, the Mike's Hard Lemonade should be just about the right temperature by now. I think I'll go grab one and sit in the garage and watch the storm.

Let The Weekend Commence!

The kids are gone until tomorrow evening.

The Mike's Hard Lemonade is chillin' in the fridge.

We're headed to the lake for some much over-due fishing.

And I believe a bonfire is in the works for later tonight.

Life is good!