"Fishing" Fun

My parents have a lake cottage that we love to visit in the summer. There is just something so relaxing about a lake house--especially one that includes grandparents! As the boys have gotten older, one of their favorite things to do with Papa is fish off of the dock, though I'm not sure Ryan or my dad enjoys it quite as much as the boys do. The fish probably like it because they know that the lure is really attached to the pole of a loud child! It's like a big flashing light that says, "WARNING! Stay away from that one!"

So, after Ryan untangled the line on my dad's expensive fishing pole for the umpteenth time last summer, we decided perhaps kid-friendly poles were in order for this summer. Last week I went to Target, bought some cute Cars and Star Wars poles that the boys were begging for, and walked out of the store, hearing that I was the best mom in the whole wide world. This lasted about all of one minute because as soon as we got to the van, Grant proceeded to pull something that broke the line, which then led to wailing and sobbing. (The child is seriously a blubbering mess when he's upset!) I said Daddy would try to fix it (Ryan loves when I say that!), and that seemed to momentarily calm things. I figured I couldn't figure it out, but we still had Jack's unbroken pole to use as a reference. Can you see where this is going? Yes, Jack broke his pole just before Ryan got home. So Ryan spent hours trying to figure out how to fix these $12 kids fishing poles.

After an evening of working on them and still not coming up with a solution, he decided to take them to a fishing store to see if they could fix these poles. The guy there looked at them, said it wasn't worth it and that Ryan should go return them. He also said he'd sell some samples for the same price as we'd bought the cheapo ones. This wasn't good enough for the boys, who really wanted the logos on them. The solution was stickers! We bought some stickers that Jack and Grant could use to decorate their poles. They loved putting the stickers on their poles, and we love that the poles seem to be nicer than the originals!

Once we got the poles home they needed to practice using them. I love these pictures! Do you think they'll get any bites if they actually sit this still and quietly? Can they sit still and quietly? That remains to be seen!

And little miss wanted to get in on the action but will have to wait a few years to join in on the fishing fun. Instead, she just gets to watch and learn, which I think she does often anyway. Hopefully she's learning all the GOOD stuff and ignoring all the BAD! Is it too much to ask that the third child be perfect?