Welcome to my blog! This blog is a tool that I am using in an effort to lose weight. My hope is that by publicly tracking my weight and my efforts to reduce it, I will do just that. However, there is more to my life than just trying to lose weight. Along the way, I will share some of that also. Thanks for reading.

About Me

My photo
South Jordan, Utah
I am the husband of one,and the father of four. Most days I even like them all. I love them every day.

Friday, October 29, 2010

DOUBLE THE PLEASURE

Today, was a day that I have been looking forward to for a couple of weeks.  My day once again began before the sun came up.  But this time for something fun, not another run.  Today when the sun came up, it found me sitting on a boat at Strawberry Reservoir.


Strawberry is one of my favorite places to go ice fishing.  But today was the first chance I had to fish it from a boat.  My friend Eric, and his friend Jake, invited me to tag along with them.  I was scheduled to work today, but was I going to let that stop me?  Not a chance.  One phone call to the boss with a little coughing and moaning to sound convincing, and I was free to fish.  Just kidding.  I would never do that.  He reads this blog on occasion.

We trolled all around the whole Renegade area of the reservoir for about 7 hours without landing a single fish.  We got the occasional strike, but failed to set a hook in one.  After all those hours of talking about our wives and how lucky they are to have us in their lives, we accepted defeat and turned toward the boat ramp.  It was time to get home to those lucky women.  I don't know which wife is the luckiest.  We are all three pretty cool dudes.  I will leave that up to the wives to fight out.

As we were approaching the boat ramp, literally within a minute of reeling in our lines, Jake hooked into one.  At the same time, I felt one on the end of my line.  Because they hit at the exact same time, my first thought was that our lines had crossed.  I figured that one of us had hooked a fish and that's what we were both feeling.  As we were reeling in our lines, I was secretly hoping that the fish would be on my Jake's line.  To our surprise, we reeled in untangled lines.  As our trip was concluding, we had hooked into a double.



We drove all around that reservoir for 7 hours, and it took coming back near the boat ramp where it all started before we landed a fish.  A bad day of fishing?  You bet.  Was it better than working?  You bet.  Will I do it again?  I hope so.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL

So, it's been four days since my last post.  I could blame it on being really busy.  I could blame it on a bad weigh in Monday that I haven't wanted to post.  I could blame it on being really tired, both physically and tired of blogging.  As I knew it would, this blogging takes a lot of time.  It gets late at night and I just feel too tired, too unmotivated, to sit down and blog.  And I don't know if anyone is reading this stuff anyway.  But I do enjoy going back and reading my past posts.  And I know I will enjoy it even more a few years from now.  So, I will keep blogging.

You probably noticed my reference to the Devil in the title.  It seems like I am crossing paths with him with increasing frequency.  A recent post title also referenced the Devil, when Brooke and I visited his kitchen.  And my weigh in on Monday was definitely influenced by him.  They say that all bad things are from the Devil, so that's my excuse for gaining 2 pounds last week.


That's all I am going to say about the weigh in.  It was definitely depressing and left me questioning if this is all worth it.  But it was just temporary depression and I will not be denied of my ultimate goal.  It was his fault.

Monday we also received our first snowfall here in the valley.  I stepped outside that morning, saw the snow and felt the cool breeze blowing on my face, and couldn't help but get excited for the ice fishing season that will soon be here.  So after the depressing weigh in, and dropping Chase off at school, I took a short drive up the canyon on my way home.  It was beautiful!  The colors of fall covered in white snow.  Someone was definitely at work in all His beauty, and it wasn't the Devil.

 

 

 

 

After returning home, Heidi and I decided it was time to get moved in to our new house.  I know we have been here for four years now, but that didn't stop us from having a move in party.  We purchased some patio furniture for our back yard this summer and wanted to place it in the basement now that the snow is starting to fall.  That meant that we needed to go through the boxes that have been sitting mostly untouched for the last four years.  We needed to discard some things, and rearrange the lucky items spared from the landfill in order to make room for the furniture. I should have taken before and after pictures because we did a really good job.  And now we are finally all moved in.  Send gifts if you want. (Heidi really likes Cabela's gift cards)

Tuesday morning I had another run in with the Devil.  Heidi and I hit the rec center for some weight lifting and a spin class.  We had a substitute instructor in spin class, you guessed it.  He tried to disguise himself as Randi, but he couldn't hide the horns sticking out of his head.  Some of the people thought it was just Randi in a costume, but the ride she he put us through, left no doubt.  Randi would never have been that mean.  I wasn't fooled.

BIG NEWS!   Today I signed up for an Ironman triathlon.


There is a little catch.  As the picture shows, I have two weeks to complete the required miles.  Which is a good thing.  It's going to take me that long to swim the 2.4 miles.  The bike, 112 miles, and the run, 26.2 miles, shouldn't present too much problem.  I just hope we have good weather and I can get my bike miles outside on my own bike.  I can't imaging riding 112 miles on a stationary bike.

I went to the fitness center today to get my run in on the track.  I went to run an easy paced 5 miles.  I never could imagine myself saying this, but I still felt strong after those 5 miles were done.  And it had only been about 45 minutes.  Remember when my goal for an hour run was 5 miles and I missed it by 10 seconds?  So I figured I would run the full hour before quitting.  Fifteen minutes later I ended my nike+ workout program and it said that I had run 6.66 miles!!!  That's right, I had been running with the devil.  I left him with 1172 calories to take back to hell and remember me by. 

After my run I went for a swim to see if I was up to the Ironman challenge.  I have mentioned before what a strong swimmer I am.  If I recall correctly, I think I said I can't swim to save my life.  That hasn't changed.  But I don't think that will be required of me in the 6 foot deep pool. Let's hope.  2.4 miles is 170 lengths of the pool at the fitness center.  That breaks down to an average of 12 lengths a day to finish in the 2 weeks.  Sounds easy doesn't it?  Unless you can't swim.  I figure that at least 3 days of the week I won't be able to swim, because of work.  That means I will probably need to average about 25 lengths a day, if I swim every day that I don't work.  Am I going to swim every day that I don't work? Probably not.  So realistically, I am probably looking at about 35-40 lengths each time I go swimming.  Does that still sound easy?  Maybe to Heidi, but not to me.  But today I swam 20 lengths before getting out.  I still felt pretty good.  I probably could have done 35-40, I think.  So considering that I had just ran a little more than 6.5 miles before swimming today, I felt confident that I could complete the swimming portion.  So it's official, I registered.  Beginning Monday I begin my quest to become an Ironman.  A two week Ironman.  Wish me luck.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

This weekend has been pretty miserable, at least as far as the weather goes.  Saturday we woke up to rain, and it rained most of the day.  In fact, it is now Sunday night and it is still raining.  Makes it hard to get outside and get some exercise in.  Maybe I should have waited until next Spring to start this weight loss quest.  Maybe not.  I can still do this.

Rain can make it pretty miserable for kids sporting activities.  Austin had his football game at 9:00 and it rained pretty much the whole game.  Heidi and I were both soaking wet down to our underwear by the time it ended.  We might need to invest in some good umbrellas.  We have one small one that is partially functional.  It managed to keep Heidi's hair partially dry.  I was hoping to get some good pictures of Austin, but wasn't about to pull the camera out.

Austin's team still managed to play a good game against the Jordan Beetdiggers.  They jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead, and lead 13-6 at halftime.  Austin's team seems to play good first halves and struggle in the second.  They played that way again and trailed 14-13 in the 4th quarter.  They had lost all momentum and it looked like the rain would wash away any chance of winning.  They found a spark somewhere in all that wetness and played a great last half quarter, winning the game 27-14.  They have now won 3 of their 4 region games, having lost their first game to Alta in overtime.

Chase's game got cancelled due to the weather.  Considering his team mascot is the frogs, you would think they wouldn't mind playing in a little water.  They mush have been playing against The Wicked Witches of The West.

Brandon's game was at 2:30 and the rain had let up by then.  Brandon has turned into a great defender on his team.  He is a lot of fun to watch.  His team won their game, as they always do.





The day ended with pizza and a movie.  We watched Iron Man 2 and took turns falling asleep on the couches.  Today was also the opening day of the rifle deer hunt.  It was one opener I didn't mind missing.  I'm sure it was pretty miserable out there today.  If it wasn't raining, it was snowing in the mountains.  The first snow of the year showed up on the mountains here in the valley.  It was a good day to be watching the kids and falling asleep indoors.

first snow of the year
On Friday I said that one of the benefits of running, is being able to go out for a burger every once in awhile without the guilt.  Well, today I experienced one of the non-benefits. 

With the rain continuing to fall outside, it looked like a day for the treadmill.  Hard to get excited about that.  The other option was going down to the rec center.  They have an indoor track that is about 0.10 miles around.  Still not that exciting, but it beats the treadmill.  My goal was to run 10 miles today, that's a lot of little laps.  So I started to run, hoping to not get dizzy.

Heidi ran 5 miles before going downstairs to do some swimming.  When she was done and came back upstairs, I was just about to finish 11 miles.  I finished 11 miles and stopped to get a drink.  Heidi came over and said, "what's that?"




Well, what that is is a running non-benefit.  It's a bloody nipple!  I've had this issue before, never this bad, and tried some different things.  The little round band-aids won't stay on, the big band-aids stick to my hair and hurt to pull off.  I thought that I had toughened up my nipples by now, guess not.  I guess I will need to keep looking for a solution.  And to think that I was worried about wearing the white shirt because I was afraid that when it got wet with sweat all my hair would show through.  Just shows the level of my dedication.  I will bleed if I have to, in order to achieve my goals.  When it's all said and done, 1966 calories are now hanging out at the rec center looking for a band-aid.

Friday, October 22, 2010

CHEATING WITH MY GIRLS

This morning I was again up at 5:30 for my morning run.  It is such a relief to get it out of the way in the morning.  Yesterday, I felt no such relief. 

Wednesday I stayed up until midnight watching the playoff baseball game that I had recorded earlier in the evening.  So when the alarm went off yesterday, 5 hours of sleep was not enough to give me the strength I needed to get out of bed.  I barely had the strength to reach over and hit the snooze bar those 14 times, or however many there were.  When I finally got out of bed, I of course was disappointed that I hadn't gotten up.  I gave myself the "it's ok, you can run tonight after work" pep talk, to lessen my disappointment.  So all day long at work I had the evening run hanging over my head, like a less than favorite customer.  Something you try not think about it, but can't help dreading having to deal with.  I knew I would be tired and in no mood to run.  But I kept reminding myself that my last run after work had been one of my stronger ones.  It wasn't working very good.  I needed wanted a good reason to justify not running.  Driving home after work I found the reason.

Herriman High School had their homecoming football game last night with Riverton.  There were a lot of people at the game, as both schools are very close, creating a natural rivalry.  Unfortunately, it's not much of a rivalry yet.  Riverton won the game 45-0.  Shortly after arriving home there would be a lot of people driving the roads near my house.  More specifically, a lot of high school kids driving the roads by my house.  Would it be safe to be running the dark roads with all of those kids out there driving around?  Remembering my own high school nights, I decided to stay in the house with the doors locked.

This morning it helped that Heidi was getting up to go to a spin class with her friend, April.  It's easier getting up to punish yourself when you know that someone else is up suffering too.  Is that mean?  I don't care if it is.  At 5:30 in the morning, I will take whatever motivation I can find.  Thanks Hon!  You're suffering is my motivation. It worked.  I felt very motivated this morning.  It was a great run.  One of my best yet.  It seems like I say that after a lot of my runs.  It really was though.  6.9 miles in one hour and seven minutes.  I dropped 1217 calories out there to find someone else that is lacking my motivation.  So if you're not motivated, you better not come near my house for the next little while.  Those little c's will latch on to you if they haven't already found a new home.

What's one of the best things about getting up for a run in the morning?  You feel a little less guilty when you cheat.  Today my girls, Heidi and Brooke, picked me up from work and took me out for lunch.  It was nice to be together without the boys for once. They had been out this morning shopping and doing other silly, girly things.  If I was going to cheat, it was going to be good.  We went to In-N-Out Burger for lunch.  It was great sitting next to the two prettiest girls there.  Thanks for lunch sweethearts.  I love you girls, "just the way you are."

Randi's Health Tips
  • Allow yourself ONE cheat meal a week.  Whatever you want to eat in that meal - do it!  Depriving yourself entirely of things you love will only lead to failure.  Be realistic and enjoy something you love to eat once a week.  One meal a week is not going to ruin your diet but one meal a day will.
  • Limit the amount of fast food you eat.  Eating at home is not always easier but it is always healthier and cheaper!  This may not always be possible buy you can learn to order healthier options or by choosing restaurants you know offer healthy choices.  Eating out frequently also teaches your kids to be selfish.  They learn to think that they can have individualized meals and that eating does not require any work.  Children need to be involved in the cooking and cleaning up of food at home to see that it requires work to provide food for a family.  They also learn to eat what the family eats -  not just eating what they ordered.  Teaching your children to cook healthy gives them invaluable skills not only for their future but for their future families.  YES BOYS CAN COOK TOO!!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

STANDING IN THE DEVIL'S KITCHEN

Today I had to run back down to Ephraim to meet Britnee, and pick up Brooke.  I know that she wasn't as happy to see me, as I was to see her.  She really enjoys her time with Doug and Britnee and their kids.  As sad as she was to say good-bye, I hope that a small part of her was happy to see her dad and be coming back home.

Running back down there gave me a chance to fish Snow Lake for a few hours again.  I went alone this time, no kids.  This always gives me mixed emotions.  I really do enjoy fishing with my kids, despite all of the frustrations that brings with it.  I feel a little guilty when I go without them.  But, I figured this would be my last trip down there this year and I really wanted to get some fishing in for myself.  And I had a new book that I wanted to start reading.  Sitting in a chair next to a fishing pole, with a good book, is about as good as it gets.  But once you add kids to that picture, it all changes.  There is no sitting in a chair.  My time is spent moving from kid to kid to untangle lines, re-casting their line because they wanted to reel it in and see if a fish ate the bait, applying band-aids, delivering snacks, drinks, etc.  And forget about reading anything for all of the same reasons.  I am happy to take the kids along and help them fish, but today I was going to be a little selfish.

What's wrong with this picture?
Absolutely nothing

The fishing started off very fast.  I had caught two fish in the first five minutes.  I was thinking that if this kept up, I wasn't going to get any reading in.  I guess I should be careful what I wish for.  After those first two fish, I had plenty of time to read.  No more fish.  I was reading the newest book by Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven.  I have read many of his books and enjoyed them all.  I'm sure this one will be the same.

While driving home, I decided to take the Mt. Nebo scenic loop.  I love the fall colors and wanted to get another look at them before they are gone.  We also stopped and looked at some rock formations that are called the Devil's Kitchen.



   

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR CHASE

This morning while Chase was in school, Heidi and I had a chance to go to the rec center together.  We don't often get a chance to exercise together, but I like when we do.  She is in really good shape and it motivates me to work harder so that she doesn't have to have an overweight husband.  It's always funner to work out when you can look at a hotty.  I just don't like to run outside with her.  There is no way that I can keep up with her and only get frustrated when I try.  But, anything other than running I really enjoy doing with her.

We got there early enough to lift some weights before the spinning class began.  The class was really good today.  It was a good mix of speed and hill climbing.  Randi had us riding a good amount of the time just below our threshold and crossing our threshold to see what we're made of.  I am obviously made of fat.  But she had it running off me and pooling on the floor.  It really felt good.  The ride was designed to increase our metabolic rate to continue burning calories for hours after the ride.  Nice to know that I am still burning calories while sitting here typing this.  Thanks Randi!

When we picked up Chase from school, the first thing he was talking about was balloons.  Chase is a balloon fanatic.  That might not even explain his obsession with them enough. He will drag these balloons around with him until the air is gone or they pop.  Then he will continue to carry the deflated balloons in his pockets after that.  If he doesn't choose a profession that has something to do with balloons I will be very surprised.  He is going to end up piloting a blimp, or a hot air balloon or something else that has something to do with balloons.  He started asking for balloons yesterday.  I don't remember exactly how the topic came up.  But all night last night that was all he was talking about.  Again this morning, it was all he wanted to talk about.  I told him maybe after school we could get some and of course he didn't forget.  His school is next to my job which meant that I would have to go in all sweaty and wearing my biking shorts.  That would not be a good enough excuse for him, so I didn't even try it.  Buy balloons we did, and he is still smiling.  Balloons... $11.75, making my kids smile...priceless.

Monday, October 18, 2010

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

Today is weigh day.  I was a little nervous for this weigh in.  This past week my body felt really tired.  I had pushed it pretty hard those first two weeks.  I subscribe to a couple of health/exercise magazines and they are always saying that you need to listen to your body.  My body was asking for a little bit of a break.  I did get a couple of good runs in this week, 9.25 miles last night after work, but that was it.  Not losing any weight last week after a hard week of exercise, had me a little nervous this morning.  I was just hoping that I hadn't gained any weight.  In fact, I waited until Heidi left this morning before pulling out the scale because I was afraid that I had gained.  So once she left, the scale came out.


Whew! what a relief.  This puts me a little ahead of my goal.  I wanted to weigh 225 at the end of October.  I figured if I could lose 8 pounds this first month, I would then need to average 5 pounds each month to reach my overall goal.  As excited as I am after just 3 weeks, I am cautious at the same time.  I know that the weight comes off quickly at first and becomes harder to shed as the body adjusts to the new demands being placed on it.  The challenge comes in not becoming complacent, continuing to work harder each week.  It does make it easier though when you step on the scale and see the efforts you make pay off.

So after all of the excitement this morning there was only one way to celebrate, go fishing.  Heidi had some meetings for work today, Brooke is still down in Richfield, Austin was in school,  leaving Brandon, Chase and myself on our own for the day.  I asked them last night what we were going to do today and they said fishing.  Makes a father proud.  It's moments like this that make being a parent worth while.  And this morning they hadn't changed their mind.  Fishing it would be.


not sure what Chase is doing,
but I think he's happy for his brother
fishing is only part of the fun

the only thing better than the fishing...
eating lunch


looking west
looking north

 As always, the kids out fished the dad.  In fact, dad didn't even get his own pole in the water today.  But  both of the kids were able to catch fish, so it was a success.  The whole day was a success.  Day won.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY TIME?

On Thursday I took Austin and Chase fishing at Snow Lake.  Brandon chose to stay home because according to him, fishing is boring.  I don't know where I have gone wrong with that kid. He has way too much of his mother in him.  The lake is located on the Skyline Drive above Ephraim.  This has become one of my favorite places to fish over the last couple of years.  It has provided a nice mid-day activity during the archery hunt.

Brooke is spending the week with her cousins Doug and Britnee and their kids in Richfield.  Britnee was nice enough to drive up and meet us in Ephraim.  This allowed us to have enough time to get a little fishing in before Austin had to be back home for football practice.  I really wanted to get a little fishing in since I don't get down that way as much as I would like.

In order to have time for fishing, we had to leave pretty early.  When Chase woke up, he was very excited to be going fishing.  He quickly got himself ready to go.  After getting ready, he looked outside and saw that it was still dark.  Seeing that it was still dark, he looked at me and asked, "why are you wasting my time for sleeping?"

Unless you ask Austin, the fishing wasn't the greatest.  Chase and I both got skunked.  Chase was a little distracted today.  There was too much fun mud to play in and hills to climb.  There was also a cool breeze blowing that kept him in the truck playing his gameboy.  Austin was top fisher of the day, catching 4 fish.  After he caught his second, I thought he might have found a good spot for the day and went and sat by him.  Sitting right next to him, he continued catching fish, I continued not catching fish.  Reminded me of the very first time we fished Snow Lake.  Austin and Brooke caught 10 fish between them.  I was sitting right between them and didn't even get a bite.  What a good dad to sacrifice and let the kids catch them all.

first trip to Snow Lake

Even having caught no fish myself, it was a wonderful day spent with the boys.  I would waste my time for sleep for a day like today, everyday.  I am a lucky dad.








Randi's Health Tips

  • Recognize that developing healthy eating habits is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children and grandchildren.  Not only are you teaching them good habits, it also means you will be in better health and will live long enough to spend time with your family.
  • Junk food is like junk TV or trashy music.  We are taught to monitor the media we expose our children to.  Why would you let them take junk food into their bodies?  Letting them eat unhealthy food teaches them bad habits just as detrimental to their bodies as watching bad TV is for their minds.  You are helping to prevent numerous diseases & obesity.  You are also helping them develop greater self-esteem by teaching them not to use food as comfort.  Teach them active lifestyle tips such as sports, running, biking, etc. to release tension and stress instead of turning to food.  Also teach them that eating is necessary to live, not a leisurely activity.
  • So your kids are as skinny as bean poles and they should just eat whatever they want - right?  WRONG! It is not about how much your kids weigh. It is about how they feel and their ability to stay healthy.  Chances are they aren't always going to be skinny and now they have developed bad eating habits that will follow them into adulthood.  Plus, they aren't able to get all the energy and vitamins needed to sustain growth and learn at school if they are eating junk.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

HOWLING AT THE MOON

This will be a short post, as it is now 11:46 p.m.  I just want to keep track of the efforts I am putting towards this goal of mine.  Afterall, that is the purpose of this blog.  Motivate me to exercise, and record the results.

This morning I had the hardest time getting up.  It probably didn't help that I didn't get to bed until 12:30.  After hitting the snooze bar 4 or 5 times, I just gave up and shut the whole thing off.  It was kind of funny though.  I just joined Facebook this week.  I must say that the whole thing is still kind of confusing to me.  There is so much going on the screen that my head hurts after a few minutes of looking at it.  I don't really like how it tells me everything that everyone is doing on Facebook.  "So and so are now friends."  "So and so just commented on so and so's page." etc.  This morning while I was pushing the snooze on my alarm, I was dreaming that it was posting on my Facebook page.  "Leon Huntsman has just hit the snooze bar on his alarm for the 3rd time."  So no run this morning.  But it felt good to sleep in.

After work today I had two options.  I could climb in my soft, warm bed.  Or, I could go for the run I didn't get this morning.  In my mind bed was winning.  It was cold outside.  I stopped to get gas on the way home and the breeze had me back inside the truck waiting while the gas pumped.  Too bad they don't pump your gas for you here, like they do in Oregon.  Not only was it cold, but I have to get up early again in the morning.  I am taking Brooke down to stay with her cousins in Richfield for a week.  The boys and I are going to go fishing at Snow Lake on Skyline Drive above Ephraim.  If I have to drive down that way, I am going to get some time in at one of my favorite lakes.

I chose to Win The Day.  I went for a run.  It turned out being one of my strongest runs yet.  And I got to try out my new running pants.  Probably wouldn't have been able to run out there tonight without them.  It felt great to get in 7.2 miles before the day ended.  I left 1290 calories out there howling at the midnight moon.

Now, I get to go to bed.  Give me a hot shower and I should be soundly sleeping in 30 minutes.  If you're awake at 6:00 in the morning, check my Facebook page to see if I am hitting my snooze bar.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

WE DID IT FOR THE WORMS

Have you ever gone fishing and purchased worms from a store?  If you have, you know where they're kept.  If you haven't, I'll tell you.  They're kept in a refrigerator.  So if I go fishing and don't use all the worms, what should I do with them?  Do I just turn them out, or save them for next time?  On occasion, if I think I am going to go out again soon, I will take them home and put them in the fridge.  Heidi has been a good sport about this, very tolerant of my worms.  However, my last purchase had been chilling a little too long.  Tolerance was gone, the worms needed to go.

The easy thing would have been to go out in the back yard and turn them out.  I haven't been known to always do things the easy way.  I wasn't about to change today.  I had a better idea, a funner idea.

Heidi was involved in some training classes for her job today.  The older three kids were in school.  So after picking Chase up from preschool, it was just the two of us for a few hours.  I'm sure that had I asked, other than eating them, he would have had several ideas of what to do with the worms.  Then again, that might have been one of his ideas.  Rather than giving him that option for lunch, we went home and made us some sandwiches.  We were going FISHING!

My favorite place to go fishing that is both close, and kid-friendly, is Tibblefork Reservoir in American Fork Canyon.  My kids all really like to go there.  It's a nice little mountain lake that is easy for the kids to access, and we rarely go home without them catching something.

We usually fish the side of the lake opposite the parking lot.  Often times, when we get over there one of the kids needs to go back over to the bathroom.  Sometimes I get lucky, and it's one of the older kids that can go back on their own.  Most of the times my luck is bad.  Before we left, I asked Chase if he needed to go to the bathroom.  No.  Let's go.


 

You have probably already guessed what happened when we got on the other side.  I hadn't even got one line in the water yet.  That's right. And it wasn't the kind that we could take care of behind the trees.  So, back to the bathroom.  While there, I figured I should take a turn too.  Why is it that when it's daddy's turn, the kids always stand there playing with the doorknob?  I knew that there were people just outside the door waiting to come in.  I couldn't reach him to pull him back, and the more I told him to leave it alone, the more he kept playing with.  I fully expected to be face to face with a stranger in no time.  Please, tell me that my kids aren't the only ones that enjoy giving their parents this moment of panic.

Not wanting to relive the last 30 minutes, I decided that we would just stay and fish near the parking lot today.  I haven't had much luck on that side in the past, but we were running out of time.  It was time to get rid of those worms.


 


Fishing with my children can be challenging in many different ways.  It almost always means that I don't really get to do any fishing for myself.  I can live with that.  I find enough days to fish for myself.  My challenge with Chase is he wants to do everything himself.  He doesn't like me to hook the fish and then let him reel it in.  He wants to hold the pole from the beginning, hook the fish himself, and reel it in.  He misses a lot, but he usually catches a few all by himself.

reeling in the big one
this is how you do it daddy

He is going to be a good fisherman.  I look forward to many years of being out fished by him.

Ahh...soft serve.
A perfect ending, to a perfect day