Bloopers! Bloopers! Mommy look, I caught another Blooper!

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Happy Easter to all of you! In celebration of Easter we decided to take the Monkeys out this evening to be Fishers of Fish, (seein' as how they're a bit young to be Fishers of Men). It, being Texas in April, is already too hot in the day to go out for long. This expedition was co-inspired by an ad campaign that has been running on the local cable network, "Take Me Fishing" where you hear voices of small kids saying "Take me fishing. I'll be (blank) before you know it." Well, the one that got to me, was the little girl, maybe 7-8 yrs old, saying "Take me fishing. My wedding will be sooner than you think!" Well, as a mother of 3, including 2 little girls, it sorta hit home harder than expected. Boy, they sure do grow up FAST!

Anyway, Town Lake called our name, and off we went, after loading up 2 adults, 3 Monkeys, a cooler of food, 5 fishing poles (3 cane, 2 baitcasters), 4 folding chairs, a stroller, a can of Genuine Canadian Nightcrawlers, and a can of sweet corn. Town Lake is a nice city park, next to the local sports complex, and has a lot of nice family facilities. We opted for the empty west end of the lake, and saw only the folks who like to walk for exercise around the lake.

After offloading all the Monkeys, and the gear, we proceeded to bait hooks. I started Emmie out with corn, and Eli was started with worms. As the worm hit the water, you could see the little bluegill swarm the hook! Almost immediately, with Dad's assistance, Eli had landed his first ever fish! Photos were taken and the fish released. Eli was mighty proud! So was Daddy!


Eli's first fish!

Well, after no success with corn, I switched Emmie over to worms. She liked playing with the worms. No fear of slimy worms in my girls! Hehehe...Being the meanest Mommy in the world, I told her she could eat worms for dinner if she didn't catch any fish! Soon Emmie had landed, all by herself, her first bluegill too! Being only 4, and new to the concept of fishing, and to bluegill, she instantly renamed the fishies "Bloopers".


Emmie's first Blooper!

So, we spent the next several hours until dark, yanking little Bloopers outta the water, petting the Bloopers, and throwin' em back. Ever notice how kids always have to pet the fish? Emmie must have caught about a dozen all by herself, and Eli too, with Dad's help caught about as many. Even I caught quite a few--in between untangling snarled lines, rebaiting hooks, shovelling food into Olivia (who was mostly content to watch the proceedings from her stroller), unhooking Bloopers, unhooking the line from the tree overhead, etc. Amazingly, not one child managed to set a hook in themselves, their siblings, or their parents! Even more amazing, none of us managed to fall in the lake!

We only quit when it got dark--that's how much fun the kids were having. The Monkeys weren't the only ones having fun too, ya know... We gotta go fishing again, soon!

Oh, and the remaining nightcrawlers? They got released too! They're going to help aerate this hard old heavy clay soil around my cherry bushes! Lucky survivors...