one fish, two fish, sunfish, dogfish?

Fishing is Philip's new passion. Or rather, casting is his new passion. He received a "Spiderman" fishing rod for his birthday last September but hadn't had much use out of it as he didn't own hooks or bait. A week ago Saturday Kevin took him to Walmart and bought him some little hooks and plastic, rubbery bait. He was thrilled.

Last Tuesday, after a long day, he asked me if I'd take him up to the pond (right behind our neighbor's yard) for him to practice. We had been saving some bread to use as additional bait. So, we got all set up and he cast the rod. He threw the line like a baseball and so it bounced off the water and back onto the shore where Silas thought that perhaps bread had landed from heaven. He dived on it, gobbled up the bread...and the hook, and the bait. AGH!!! I freaked out! "Stop, Silas, STOP!" I tried to pull the hook out of his mouth but it was very obviously caught someplace in the back of his throat. He started making hacking noises and coughing up foamy blood. Thankfully, the Lord had given me presence of mind to put scissors in my pocket. I cut the line, knowing that now I had to act really quickly because the hook could travel into his esophagus or stomach. I frantically called Kevin from the pond. He urged me to call the vet and get the kids ready to leave. I called our vet who could not help us, but did give me the number for NC State Vet hospital. They were very helpful and gave me two very large price quotes on possible procedures. I was torn, for a minute. Then I called my good friend Cathy and asked if I could drop the kids at her house--yes! She graciously welcomed them, along with her 3 young grandchildren already in her home!

I dashed Silas into Raleigh and the short of it was that they could still see a glimmer of metal in the back of his throat so they sedated him and were able to extract it easily. Poor guy was very lethargic for the next few days, but seems to have fared okay overall.

So, what did we do the next Saturday? Kevin went out and bought another fishing rod--for the girls. And instead of catching a dog, Lydia caught a sunfish!

Everyone enjoys standing on the bank and hoping for a catch.

Or just even looking for fish.

And some people just hang out on the bank because I can't have people falling in the water as well!

Yesterday I took the kids back out and this time Philip caught a sunfish on his Spiderman rod! I have told the kids numerous times that I'm fine with them going out there, but I will not be removing hooks from mouths or anywhere else. They had all promised me that that was fine, because they would do it! So, Lydia's moment of truth arrived--she had to remove the hook from Philip's fish. She was scared and grossed out, but she actually worked at it for a long time and did it! Another day of firsts!!

First Lemonade Stand of the Season

The girls had been asking when they could do a lemonade stand, so Saturday afternoon, the weather cleared finally and they set up shop. They sold lemonade cups for a quarter and later added ice pops (also for a quarter). Through the generosity of neighbors they made over $14.00 on 45 cups of lemonade.

Yay! We're making money.

Yesterday I had them jointly make a lapbook to have the event count as an educational activity. They had to describe the step-by-step process of setting up a lemonade stand, included these photos and labeled them, and then did the math on gross, cost and net gain. Finally we decided on how to use the money. They are going to give almost all their proceeds to tornado relief in our area (probably through Samaritan's Purse Ministries). So, we'll be having successive lemonade stands, and probably we'll vary the refreshments; hopefully they should be able to generate some good income for tornado relief.

What do things look like around here?

I have been behind on the blog, so this one will get me up to speed. We finished the school year and did end-of-year testing this past month. The new curriculum has been ordered and we'll begin again either late May, or in June. In our "wrapping up" of the year, we've done a few fieldtrips and other year end activities. We also managed to squeeze in a visit with our friend, Annie. We had a delightful time at a park near her house.The square foot garden is also going gung-ho. In this square there are 3 kinds of lettuce and potatoes. There was a hyacinth in the right hand corner, a first appearer in the spring ;0)
This square has a lot of green beans: bush and pole. There's a cherry tomato in the back left cane and a zucchini in the right cane. There's also a random potato growing from the compost my mom brought to me from her composter! The girls planted some annuals as well for a little color.
This bed has 3 tomato plants, and summer squash. In the very front of the picture is a crazy bee balm plant from last summer. It appeared again this year, but if I don't see some flowers soon, it's outta here! My rosemary bush survived the winter, and after a good trimming seems to be doing well.
This is our strawberry patch! It is laden with fruit...very small fruit! I'm hoping that they will actually mature into real berries, otherwise it's a huge waste of space. I also have basil, pineapple sage and curly parsley in there.
I love my garden! Seriously, I get a lot of joy by checking on things, pulling out the weeds, picking lettuce for my family. It's the best 10 square feet around!

Rest of Florida Trip

The main reasons we went to Florida were a) to see Owen, Amber and family and b) to celebrate Kevin's "big" birthday. In honor of his birthday, he got to pick the menu: steak and whatever, and banana pudding for dessert. He got his wish. Owen has a butcher who cut these most monstrous pieces of meat. Owen grilled them and they were delicious!

Some serious steak!

I introduced Owen and Amber to our NC favorite!

We visited the Brevard County Zoo for a day. It was a wonderful zoo! The animals (unlike at the NC Zoo) were close up and personal. It was a great zoo for children. Simeon especially liked this bronze casting of a monkey.
Thanks to the amazing generosity of Owen and Amber's friends, we stayed in an apartment above a garage. It had a sitting area, kitchenette (which was graciously fully-stocked!!), full bath and sleeping room (through the open door). As you entered the sleeping room, there were wings/spacious alcoves to the left and the right with two twin beds in each "wing". It very adequately met all of our needs! And we were grateful. We also had any-time access to their pool, and downstairs media/pool room. It was wonderful.

Monday & Wednesday

Monday and Wednesday we went to SeaWorld. If you plan to go to SeaWorld and are not a Florida resident, you can use your Rapid Rewards membership through Southwest Airlines to get 20% off each ticket (a substantial savings). Also if you buy a ticket, you can return for free in the same week. Okay, enough frugal tips.

So, we went to SeaWorld on Monday and it was absolutely pouring rain. I mean, thunder, lightning, downpours--but the shows go on! So, we got front row parking, no waiting in lines, no sweltering heat. Just us and some $1.25 rain ponchos! It was actually a lot of fun. We saw the Shamu show and as another blogging friend wrote about their experience, it was a little lackluster. We bought the DVD of the show they did prior to the accident last year and it was quite different from what we experienced. Nonetheless, killer whales are impressive creatures any way you see them.

On Wednesday we went back and the weather wasn't rainy, but it was overcast. Again, that kept many people away and so it was quite enjoyable. This time we figured out what we'd like to see and when. We were able to see all the shows we wanted to (repeated seeing the dolphin/whale show as that is really amazing) and enjoyed the Sea Lion show. The kids did really well considering it was a lot of walking.

Sunday in Florida

We went to church on Sunday with Owen and Amber. It was pretty amazing because Owen had just, just recovered from viral meningitis. After morning worship we enjoyed a fellowship lunch together. It was a joy to meet people in their church family.Someone who came to the service/lunch was a balloon-maker (is there a formal title for that profession--balloonist??) and he created all sorts of neat treasures for the children. Here are Abigail and Emma (joined at the HIP for whole week!!) with their balloon dogs.
After naptime, we met up with Owen and Amber and headed to the beach for a picnic dinner. The sun was setting and so it was a little cool, but the children didn't care. Here's cute-boy Myles playing in the sand.
And here's Simeon. Myles and Simeon are 6 months apart, so are Abigail and Emma.
These two fellas are 6 weeks apart, and it was very evident that they were on the same "wavelength" when it came to playing ;0)

Trip South. Part I--Savannah

We began our trip to Florida by going half-way and spending a morning in Savannah, Georgia. The weather was beautiful and the azaleas were in bloom. I love that Savannah is divided by these wonderful, shady, educational parks. You can stop at watch at artist at work...or read around the statue of one of Savannah's historic citizens named Oglethorpe or Forsyth, or read about George Whitefield coming and preaching there in the 1700s, or perhaps see the statue of John Wesley, who also visited there.
Here's a photo of historic Independent Presbyterian Church (PCA) in downtown. We actually have friends who worship there, but we weren't able to stay over into a Sunday. It is a magnificent and historic building. It is nice to know that it is faithful to the Truth when so many churches become merely pretty buildings over time.
There were plenty of horse-drawn carriages to slow down the pace of life. If we'd had more time, we might have done this. Perhaps next time. After a morning of walking down around town and down to the Cotton Exchange and riverfront, we were eager to hit the road for the remainder of our trip.