Fun Days in Forest-2

On Tuesday Houston had his braces removed after almost a year of enduring that hardship/blessing.  There are no good words for me to describe his happiness.  And, I managed to capture the exact moment when the first one was taken off.  Hard to do with a digital camera.

The dentist gave him a bag full of "forbidden fruits", which included pop corn and sticky candies.  I thought that kind of ironic, but then realized it could be good for business.  But when he got home, his favorite was there waiting for him.

I think the candies were called Neerdo, or something like that.  There was a crunchy outer shell and a soft jelly bean inside, sorta like Sweet Tarts.  Man they were good!  I had to keep trying them to get all the nuances....yeah, right. 

On Wednesday Barbara took Houston and four of his friends to Otter Creek, up on the parkway.  Patrick was in cub scout camp or he would have been there, too, of course.  Barb is part of a child care co-op that rotates responsibility during the week so none of the families have to shell out for child care.  It was a fun afternoon!  Houston actually caught a bream in a hand net after baiting them with bread.  Everyone was impressed!  Even me. 

This place is so peaceful.  These 5 boys played together for several hours without a single altercation of any kind.  They were never bored.   They were moving constantly.  A dead rat floating down the stream was the first thing to catch their attention, but far from the last.  There were crawdads, minnows, bream, suckers and all kinds of critters. 

Wednesday is "Men's Night" at the Crowder's, so we went fishing...me, Trey and the boys.  And did we ever have a grand time!  We caught 25-30 fish among us, with me missing the most by a large margin.  All but 2 were bass, and Trey caught the largest ones, as that is what he was fishing for.  Once we had 3 fish on at the same time!  And more than once we had 2 on.  It was one of the best times I've ever had fishing.  We really had a ball!

We laughed a lot, teased a lot and even when Houston got hit with a bream caught by Patrick, we still laughed a lot!!!  Because it was funny.   Houston insisted that I get a pic of this fish, although I'm not sure why.  Anyhow, here they are.

The memories of this day will stay with us for a long while.  The boys had never caught this many fish on an outing and it was surely a big day for me.   The fish tales began as soon as we got home and I hope they will continue for a while.  That's such a big part of the fun!!!

I had a big time at Barbara's and this pic captures that very well.  It's a hayfield, looking to the right of their back yard.  Their house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, which is true of most of the houses I've owned.  So there are no neighbors on that side, as you would expect.  It is just beauty.  Plain and simple. 

The next few days will be full of travel and business.  So it may be a few days before I post again,  Thanks for stopping by!

When I arrived here in Wooster, OH, I was bummed to find my TV lying on the floor, having jumped off its' wall mount.  I haven't had the courage to try it and see if it still works, but I will.  

Just had a huge bowl of gazpacho and I loved it!!!  And whether you like it or not, it does build character!!!!