Xavier's First Fish
Hello to you all.
When school let out for the summer, I had Xavier write in his journal three goals he wanted to accomplish before school started up again.
He listed
- Catch a fish
- Eat six McDonald's hamburgers
- Have twelve play dates
Today, I am proud to announce Xavier is able to check off a goal he has had since last summer: catch a fish.
We have had Xavier fishing local lakes and creeks, but to no avail.
Today, we packed snacks and headed up to a little spot west of Bailey: The Rainbow Roundup Trout Ranch.
It's a stocked pond. Small entrance fee, they supply everything you need: buckets, nets, worms, even fishing poles. They even offer the service of cleaning the fish you catch. Xavier used his own pole and bait, but we did borrow one of their buckets.
We arrived around 11:30 and found an spot in the shade under a tree and set up.
Xavier's first choice of bait was salmon eggs, but they did not do the trick. Everyone around us was pulling in trout left and right, but Xavier did not get even a nibble.
After ten or fifteen minutes of this, I started asking some of the other families what they were baiting with. The answer: the nightcrawlers sold by the ranch. So, I headed over to get some.
Half way to the shack and I heard splashing and Xavier screaming with glee. I looked back across the pond where he had pulled a fish to shore and Rebecca was trying to net it.
I sprinted back, arriving just in time to watch the fish escape back into the pond. The hook we used, we think, was too small.
So we baited up another hook with a couple of salmon eggs and tried again. Thirty or forty minutes and nothing. Fish jumping all around his casts. Kids to the left and to the right were reeling fish in about one every four minutes.
Xavier grew despondent, even to the point of giving up. However, Rebecca and I wouldn't have it. This was his day to land a fish.
We tried the worms. No fish went for them. Finally, we moved to a new location.
We baited up with more eggs and adjusted the bobber to let the eggs go deeper into the water. At last, we found the bait, the rigging and the location that might work!
The first fish to take the bait got away with it. Xavier learned a few lessons in how to handle the pole with a fish hooked at the other end.
The second fish to hit on the line also got away with three eggs.
By this time, Xavier was both excited and frustrated. We baited again and cast to the location we had been watching a fish feed.
That cast was the one! A fish grabbed hold of the bait and set the hook deep in its "cheek". Xavier fought the fish and pulled it to shore. I had the net and with some difficulty netted it and got it away from the water. There were several moments when it looked like the fish would get away.
Xavier's fish: a 16 inch rainbow trout.
We paid to have it cleaned and packed on ice. We headed home and Rebecca fried up Xavier's catch and he ate it for dinner. As the fish cooked, Xavier kept singing a little ditty: "Fishy, fishy in the brook, Xavier caught him on a hook. Mommy fried him in a pan. Xavier ate him like a man."
Xavier came home with one fish, the largest of today's catch. Rebecca landed three. She experimented with different lures, having most of her success with a trolling lure.
Xavier's First Sleep Over
Greetings to you all.
Yesterday was an exciting day for Xavier. He had his first sleep over. He has been asking to have one for nearly a year.
Badin, a close friend of Xavier's, his best friend I say with confidence, is a boy we've known since Xavier's first year in preschool. It was at his house the sleep over took place.
Xavier packed his sleeping bag, squirt guns, PJs, change of clothing and a stuffed animal, then we ate dinner. After, we dropped him off at Badin's. Badin's older sister also had a friend spending the night.
The squirt guns (and water balloons) got used very quickly. It was girls against the boys. From the sound of it, the girls won, but everyone had a good time.
They watched a movie, ate popcorn and finally fell asleep around eleven thirty.
We picked Xavier up around 10:30 this morning. Of course, he wanted the fun to continue. He did have breakfast with the host family. Yesterday, Xavier grilled us about what time we would pick him up; he wanted to be sure he had breakfast as part of the sleep over experience. He was afraid we'd pick him up at 6:30 in the morning.
Xavier Turns Seven!
Greetings to all and Happy Birthday to Xavier!
Xavier turns seven today! And has he been wanting today to arrive. He's been marking off days on his calendar for more than a month.
Nearly every day we get the question "How long until my birthday?"
Partly, I think, it's been being cooped up in the house since mid March.
He understood he would not be able to have friends over to celebrate with him. However, we did surprise him with a virtual party via the Zoom application. People from three different states joined us. We even surprised Xavier with his best friend, who lives only a few miles away, on the Zoom meeting.
All morning, Xavier kept asking when Aunt Chelle would arrive. He was excited to see her, and it meant the commencement of cake and presents.
Grampa Bill stopped by on his way in to work. He had a gift for Xavier. I did not think it possible after yesterday's arrival of the long-awaited firetruck, but Grampa Bill presented a gift that competed with the fire engine.
Our house is currently in a bit of an upheaval as we are remodeling a room. That, and it being so pleasant outside, we moved the party outdoors to the patio.
The Zoom party got under way. Happy Birthday was sang and candles were blown out (by Xavier, not the slight breeze that decided to start up).
Those who could and wanted to stay online watched as Xavier opened his other gifts. He got a very nice military grade compass and a children's book how to use it (he has wanted a compass these last three months).
He scored two chemistry sets and an optics experiment kit.
He also got a book on how to build various structures in Minecraft. I am certain Aunt Chelle's gift comes in at number 3 this year, behind the firetruck and RC car.