Fishing is fun!

We had a fun, busy weekend. Sean flew up to Chicago in hopes of seeing a Cubs play-off game. That didn't pan out since the Cubs got swept in 3 games by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He decided to take advantage of the time in the Midwest and drove over to Iowa to see his family on Sunday. They were very happy to see him.

On Saturday, I took the kids to Home Depot for a workshop. Alex went last month with a friend and really enjoyed it. Each month, they have a different woodworking project for the kids to build. This month is Fire Safety Month, so the kids built wooden fire trucks. They had to hammer in several nails, put in wooden pegs with the wheels and then decorated them with stickers. The store also invited the Austin Fire Department to come. The firefighters brought a huge ladder truck and extended the ladder all the way. Then they showed the kids all their gear and how they put it on. The gear weighs 65 pounds and they have to be able to put it on in under 60 seconds. Emma was not happy when they set off the smoke detector. She remains highly sensitive about that ever since our little smoke detector incident this summer. She did wander over again once there was no detector in sight.

On Sunday, we went to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo. I've thought about taking the kids over the years and we've just never made it. It is sponsored by the TX Parks and Wildlife Dept and is entirely free including shuttle busses and parking. Alex and Emma both did some rock climbing. Emma was very leery to start, but she decided she would try it after much encouragement. On her third try, she made it up about halfway. She said it was really fun, so I hope she'll be interested in trying it again in the future. It was a perfect time for her to try since we didn't have to pay anything. After that, we went to visit the horses. Emma was thrilled to be able to pet them. She is horse crazy these days! Benjamin's favorite part was seeing the sporting dogs. They had about 10-15 labs, setters and pointers for people to see. I took Benjamin out of his stroller and he got right in there to mix it up with the dogs. They were licking his face, batting his legs with their tails, etc. He was smiling and giggling. When they were licking his face, he would tip his head down so they could lick the top of his head. That boy LOVES animals!

We haven't gotten to the best part though. While we were walking back to another section that had a giant pool set up with kayaks and canoes, Alex spotted a booth that said Casting Kids. The kids were given a rod and reel and were casting at a target. We decided to head over there so Alex could try it even though we had done a similar casting booth about 30 minutes earlier. We didn't realize that it was actually a contest where each kid got to flip, pitch and cast at a target to earn points. Flipping was from 10 feet, pitching from 20 feet and casting was from 30 feet. Alex's guide demonstrated each technique and then helped him practice a couple times. After practicing, each kid got 2 tries from each mark. Alex ended up hitting the bullseye for 50 points on flipping and got 40 points on pitching. He missed entirely on casting. When he turned in his clipboard, they told him he was the new high point scorer for the 7-10 yr old age group. This was at about 11:40 and the contest was running until noon. Alex spent a nervous 20 minutes waiting to see if his score would hold up. It did! He was thrilled. He won a rod and reel, tacklebox, and a fishing computer game. He also got a gold medal that he wore until we got home. He then took it to his baseball game and to school this morning. They also told him there is a state competition as well as a national competition. Who knew all this when he decided he wanted to cast again. Needless to say, Grandpa Hested was so excited. We could see his grin all the way down here! He said Alex's practicing this summer when they went fishing must have paid off. Dad said Alex was bored with a bobber and wanted to cast so Dad had to set him up with a different rod. I don't have any pictures from the event since Sean had the camera in hopes of capturing victorious Cubs. When he gets home, I'll take a picture of Alex with all his loot.

Whew, that's about it for now. It was a good time!

Have a great week!