Weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's!

We hadn't been to my parent's since Easter, so the kids and I made a short weekend trip recently.  John stayed home to mow the yard and go to a tractor pull.  Actually, it was kind of a tough decision for the kids whether they wanted to stay home and go to the tractor pull or go to Grandma and Grandpa Carroll's, but the grandparents won out:)  It was a perfect day to spend some time at the pond!  The kids loved swimming and jumping off the pier.  I even got in with them and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't freeze.

 After quite a bit of swimming, they asked Grandpa to help them fish.  Blaine eagerly dug up some worms with Grandpa and they learned how to put the work on the hook.

 They took turns fishing, each one excited for their next turn.  Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long since the fishing is pretty easy in Mom and Dad's pond.  A 30 second wait is probably about the longest you will wait for a fish to bite here!  Dad has fed the fish since they originally stocked the pond, so they are kind of "tame" fish.  Great fishing for impatient kids!!

 They would get so excited each time they caught a fish and pulled hard by themselves to get the fish up to shore.  Grandpa would get it off the hook for them, then they would toss most of them back.

 A few got put in the bucket, where the kids could play with them and pet them.  We ended up eating 4 of them for supper, along with many of the fish that Mom and Dad had caught on their recent week long fishing trip to KY.  Ava went out to help Grandpa clean the fish, but Blaine just said "blech!" and stayed in the house to play.  Ava apparently watched intently - she came back in telling us about Grandpa cutting their heads off, the fish blood and the one that was flopping around on the floor of the shop:)  She was also excited about the two girl fish that had egg sacks in them - and the fact that Grandpa fried and ate the eggs.

All in all, a very nice weekend.  Of course, also got in some quality play time with the cousins and got to spend some time with my Grandma Rupley for her birthday.  Hope we get some more fun weekends at the pond this summer.