Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lessons in Camping ...

Our first fishing event in
Arizona was quite amusing. Not only did Brian label me a high mainetance camper, but we forgot camp wood and flashlights. We had lots of food and lots of blankets though. Also, the girls learned that outhouses are disgusting, smelly and dirty. They much preferred our little pink potty in the privacy of our tent to the smelly fly ridden outhouse. I couldn't blame them much. There's an art to camping that I just lack sometimes. We hope to go more frequently as this did put lots of family time together and help us just 'be' without the pressures of job, callings, bills, cell phones. I also learned a bit of geography. Apparently, when the description was mentioning 17 miles S of Heber, it was talking about Heber, AZ not Heber UT. Who knew? I just assumed because it was a Heber, and a mormon sounding name it was in UT. Well I guess as someone once said, "You know what assuming makes?" Yes, the day before the trip I sure felt like an ars as Brian was explaining to me how this was completely on the opposite side of Arizona no where near UT. So, next time I'll have to pay more attention to the maps. But honestly, this lake was the most bug free, picteresque lake I've seen in a long, long, time. I think the fish were safe to eat, too! That beats out Lake Erie by far, and the Maumee River where we grew up. The girls wanted to get daddy a fishing pole for fathers day so we did. He hadn't been fishing in years, and I've never been fishing. Trying to buy a fishing pole while they all really look the same is very difficult. We hope we picked out a good one and to avoid liability for silly bait, I had the girls pick out a few hooks and bait things. Chleo and Eva went with daddy a day before the trip to get Barbie fishing poles from the other mass store out here. No options really but I'm glad they're happy with Barbie. These even had little butterfly's on the end so Brian could teach them to cast without killing someone. Eva was hoping to catch a Pinkie Pie fish, and Chloe was truly grateful not to have really caught anything. Although she does have quite the fish story to tell about losing her hook. We'll let it slide. She's 5. Fun camping stories' is where it's at for us. Not always reality. We could see the fish although they swam right by our hooks. I couldn't understand why there was such little talking associated with this bonding sport. Very guy-ish. Not for me as we all can presume. Chloe wasn't bothered by long silence, nor was Daddy. We fished until the sun went down and then came back with sunrise. Beautiful!!
The fishing trio. Chloe has found a new love, Eva has found out a new 'unfavorite', and Daddy has rediscovered the art of fishing.
Gabe and I hung out with the snacks.
We were blessed by the presence of some Bald Eagles. Chloe spotted them, and I said, "sure, honey. maybe." And ya know it? She was right!
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1 comment:

Dreierpartyof six said...

Awesome Camping trip! Love the eagles!