Fishing with Grandpa

The boys and me were able to go fishing to grandpas special fishing hole on the last day of our trip in Washington. Grandpa is a member of a fishing club that leases out a small 3 acre pond in Ellensberg Washington.

For about two weeks before we left for Washington, I would get an occasional call from Scott. He was really excited about taking the boys fishing on this lake because it has some really good sized Rainbow Trout in there. Se with all of these high expectations, we went out on the water. Grandpa and I forgot about life jackets, so we did the appropriate thing and loaded the kids on the boat. We figured if one of the kids jumped in we'd be able to rescue them. Wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done, but we did come back with the three boys we set out with.

AJ did really well in the boat. He was a little afraid at first, but it quickly wore off as he was helping me reel in his first fish. It was about a 14 inch Rainbow which was the smallest fish Scott has caught or seen caught in this pond. A few moments later, Britten reeled in another fish on my rod. This one was much better. It was about 8 inches in size and again broke all of Scotts small trout records. Finally a little while later, I got a big hit on the pole. It tool a few minutes to get it to the boat. When we did, we weren't disappointed. It was one of those lunkers we had been wanting to catch. Unfortunately, it ended up breaking the line as Scott was trying to situate his pole, the boat motor, and the boys who all seemed to gravitate towards him. So we all saw the big one, but it ended up getting away. We figured it to be better than 30 inches and 12-15 pounds. Now, it is nothing more than a fish story.

Moments after this fish ran off with my lucky fly, Scott had a big hit. He reeled it in and found a pretty good sized Bluegil on his hook. I laughed because Scott was really talking this lake up. Then a while later, Scott hooked a decent trout and brought it in. The kids examined the fish and took a picture with it. Moments later, I caught another fish that wasn't quite as big as Scott's, but better than any of the fish I'd caught to that point. Then, we went back to shore and left back for Cashmere to do one last whitewater rafting trip.

Scott seemed disappointed in the trip but he was nice to take us. The boys loved hanging with their grandpa no matter how the fishing was whether good or bad, big or small. These boys are lucky to have such great grandparents in their life on both sides of the family. Not everyone is that lucky.

Trace "Happy Boy"

Trace really enjoyed his time with his grandparents in Washington. He was awesome on the drive up and back. I am sure that having him ride in the front with us didn't hurt. There isn't an airbag in between in the middle seat of the truck so we put him there. He was all smiles the entire way up, but a little sick of the drive on the way back.

Trace is all smiles all the time it seems. He rarely gets to fussy and enjoys the attention he gets from all of his brothers. His brothers always sing the "happy boy" song to him that we have grown to love that we would hear every day when picking JD up from school. For whatever reason, Trace gets a big grin on his face when we sing the song to him.

He is a handsome devil I will have to admit. He is a great blessing to our home.

Anthony J

What a character this little guy is. He was a lot of fun on our trip to Washington. He was actually really well behaved in the truck ride up there, and really quite excellent for us while at the house. He as usual wanted to be a part of everything.

AJ is always into something. He is always trying to egg his brothers on and tease them. Especially Britten. He has a special ability to tease and annoy Britt. Since I spent the morning and early afternoon with Jaden and Britten playing golf, I decided to take AJ on a drive and show in the power of the Wenatchee River up past Leavenworth where the canyon really drops and the river is running fast and wildly. I thought he would really be interested, but I think the whole time he thought we were going to jump in because he was really freaked out by the whole thing.

Up the canyon, there is a dam where the water slows down coming from Lake Wenatchee. It is really pretty and you can often times see Bald Eagles in the area. There is quite the waterfall created from the dam of the water which is what really scarred AJ.

We stopped a couple times down the river and took a look at the different parts of the river, saw a couple waterfalls from the spring runoff, as well as an old bridge. The river is dangerously fast but awesome to watch, and even funner to raft. At least in the right spot, and not where we were looking at the river. That would be a death wish!

Leavenworth Golf Course

A couple weeks ago, we spent about 6 days or so up in beautiful central Washington. Marti's parents live right in the Cascade Mountains in a small town called Cashmere Washington. It is near a larger city called Wenatchee. Wenatchee is a river city as it is located on the Columbia River. About as big as the Mississippi, but about 10X's prettier. I know, I have seen them both.

Scott, Marti's dad took Jaden, Britten and me golfing to the Leavenworth Golf Course while we were there. The golf course is located in Leavenworth Washington, a Bavarian Village. The course has a pretty river that runs right by it. The Wenatchee River.

Jaden and Britten really enjoy golfing and especially with their grandpa. Grandpa got them both really nice kids golf clubs for their birthday and they have been out a couple times to play since. They play all the time in the back yard with the practice balls I got for them.

Jaden's shot is coming around as he is starting to develop a decent swing for a 7-year old. Britten still has some work as many times we need to turn him in the right direction before he tee's off right at us. But it is funny anyways. Scott and I were allowing JD and Britten to tee off, then pick up their ball and drop where Scott and I had hit to. On a few holes, I let JD just play all the way to the green with his little iron. On the last hole, he played from the tee until he hit the ball in the hole. It was a 160 yard par 3. I think he actually got a 7 on the hole which wasn't bad for his second official time out. He nearly chipped in a shot from about 40 feet. It hit the stick and spun off about 3 inches.

As always, our Washington trip was full of fun and great eats. We love it up there and always want to move back after we visit. We'd love it there, but we are where were supposed to be. At least for now....