Fishin'

On Memorial Day we took the boys fishin' for the first time! A whole bunch of people from Mark's side of the family got together to visit grave sides, eat at Mark's grandma's house, and to go fishing at a fish hatchery. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids excitement, and the hatchery was in a beautiful area too. We started off my familiarizing the boys with the fish, and we let them toss in fish-food and watch the fish swarm.

Then Noah was ready to catch his first fish! Here he is fishing with his grandpa...

Here is a shot of Mark and Noah just as he pulled out his first catch!

And here's a video clip of Noah catching his first fish. I love hearing him say, "Mommy, I got a fish!"


Noah was a little concerned about the erratic way a fish flops around on the line...

...but before long Mark had him comfortable enough to touch it and talk about the fish.

It was fun to fish with "the cousins" too! Mark's older brother had his 4 cute kids there fishing...here he is with Ava, Spencer is to her right, and Zach is next to him.

And here's cousin Jake holding a fish that he caught!

Next it was Lincoln's turn to go fishing!

Here is Lincoln's first struggle with a fish...and it looks like Mark is teaching him the joy of catch and release.


They did decide to catch one to bring home though, so here is Lincoln catching his first fish!

He was also really concerned with the unpredictable way that the fish flopped and flailed around on the line. He got a very serious, nervous expression on his face and each time that he'd reach his hand out to touch it, he'd jerk it back with nervousness.

Here's a short clip of his cute little concern...


Here Mark is trying to quell Lincoln's worry, and show him about our scaled friend. I love the way that Lincoln's little tongue is sticking out as he concentrates.

Then, as you can see here, Lincoln warmed up to the idea of touching the fish - and he wanted to grab it right out of Mark's hands.

A cute shot of my three boys and Lincoln's fish. As you can see, Lincoln is still concentrating on trying to grab it out of Mark's hands...I couldn't say anything to coax Lincoln into looking at the camera.

Then Noah wanted another shot or two at fishing. He was so cute how he confidently put out his line and brought in his fish (oh, the joys of fishing at the hatchery)...

One last fishing clip. I'm not sure what the thing is about kissing the fish (does everyone who fishes do this?), but Mark was trying to get Noah to kiss the fish as it flopped around on the line. Pretty funny.


Apparently the spastic flopping of the fish was still able to instill fear in Noah though...

But, after Mark is able to hold it still in his hand Noah didn't seem to have any problem fulfilling his dad's request to smooch his fish. I guess that's one way to thank something for being your future meal.

Noah fishing with his cousins and grandpa.


Pretty area, huh? Too bad you can't see the majesty of the mountains as our backdrop in this picture very well.


Oh, yeah - and I really was there too. Here I am with Lincoln throwing in fish food and watching them swarm.


Our little family of four.
It was a fun afternoon, and I really enjoyed watching the boys fish with their daddy - especially since fishing is something that Mark has so many fond memories of doing with his dad.