Royal Rangers Dad and Son Fishing Extravaganza!

This Saturday morning JD and Dad got up early to meet the Royal Rangers at our church to go on a fishing trip. Royal Rangers is like Christian Boy Scouts. We were all excited that daddy was able to be off work today so that he could accompany JD on this fun dad and son trip.
When everyone arrived at church, they got on the church bus and took their lunches that loving moms had packed, ready for an adventure! The RR leader, brought the fishing poles and bait. The guys agreed to catch and release instead of keeping the fish, since the neighbor was so nice to let them use his pond for this excursion!
This was JD and Daddy's first fishing trip! Mr. T had spent some time in RR class showing th boys how to hold the pole, and how to cast the line. We didn't have a pole, and luckily the church provided a few extras for the boys and dads to use if they didn't own one.
Allergies were a factor and dad was a trooper even though they were attacking him hard! Thanks Babe for hanging in there and making the day so speical for JD!
My men caught one fish! It was so cool! JD tried several times to cast the line out, and had a hard time, so daddy cast the line. JD helped with the worms, asking who needed one and held them squirming in his hands! I love it:) When the fish took the bait, Dad felt the line pull and JD helped him reel it in. JD and Dad both held the fish and looked at it carefully looked at it. They kept it out of water for only about a minute since the fish needs water to breathe.
They had to hold the fish carefully and keep the sharp fin spikes laid down, so they wouldn't stick you. JD says they were like the tips of knives, ouch!! The fish was flapping around in their hands! Silly fish:) The fish looked similar the the picture below. It was a sunfish with a little yellow on it. It was about the size of two hands and weighed about 8oz.
Then Mr. J came over and helped my men remove the hook from the fishes mouth and JD threw the fish back into the water and watched it swim away.
It was a wonderful first fishing trip, and a very fun day!

Our Day at Grandma MJ's Farm!

Last Wednesday, we had an eye appt for mommy (annual diabetic retinopathy check-up), so afterward we stopped at grandma's house since it was closer. Mommy's eyes were fully dilated and it was a very sunny day, so she was having a really hard time keeping her eyes open with all the painful sunlight. It was just barely bearable with both pairs of sunglasses on. The great news was that doctors said my eyes looked great, and there was no sign of damage! They went as far as to say that I had the healthiest eyes they had seen all day! Thank You Jesus!!

When we got to grandma's, she was still at work. We took some carrots out to the horses. They love some yummy carrots! First we fed the treats to the full size horses, Maverick, Mable, and Amber. Then we fed the ponies, Jake and Savannah. And then we fed the minis (miniature horses), Valentine, Honey, and her baby Rocketman. He is getting so big now, he is a year old, no longer a foal.

Later after grandma got home, we were sitting out on the deck looking at the horses, and we noticed that was some kind of animal on the far side of the fence. We kept looking and watching, and we noticed the white, brown and black colors just like Rocket. So we all went out to see if it was him. And it was! He had squeezed through the fence and gotten outside the fence! Oh no! So grandma went around one side and we went around the other to try and coax him out and catch him before he got away. He and his mother, Honey were whinnying and upset at being apart.

That was the one thing that kept Rocket from running away...he wanted to stop and munch the green grass, and most of all, he is desperate to be with his mother...he gets really upset about being separated from her. He wouldn't let us catch him! He is kind of like a teenager now, he was acting out and throwing a little man fit! He wouldn't let grandma put his halter on. All of the sudden he bolted off, and grandma yelled for us to open the gate so he would run in to get close to his mama again. And he did! So JD helped mommy open the gate and let Rocket in, and then close the gate again to close him in. He was so proud to help save the day! He was our hero!

Then Rocket still wouldn't let grandma halter him or catch him. It took a long time, but she finally got him after 30 -45 minutes or so. Then grandma walked him around the corral on the lead. JD asked if he could walk him on the lead too. So grandma taught him the right way to do it, and let him try. And JD did a great job! It was a lot of fun :) Mommy was sad she didn't have her camera.

After all the horsie drama, JD HAD to go over and run around in the arena. He trots and gallops around and makes horse sounds and pretends to be a horse himself! It is super cute. While we were in the arena we looked at the tiny pieces of gravel in the arena, and all the little weeds and plants around the edges, and the coolest thing was these teeny tiny helicopters we found!! We recently found helicopter seed pods in the church parking lot, and they were cool to watch spinning around and around! And these tiny ones in the arena were less than half the size! But they still spun around just as well! So we kept some in JD's Ranger Rick bug container. We are gonna look online to see exactly what type of local tree these two types of helicopters came from.

JD was eager to continue our nature walk, and bug hunt. So we took the dogs out into the back yard and searched for bugs to catch in the bug container so we could look at it with the magnifier on the top. We stayed away from the bees and wasps, and talked about how for the most part those bugs will leave us alone if we leave them alone. They will only bother us or attack us if they feel threatened. We didn't get any ants, and we soon began to realize how difficult bug catching really was. We had a hard time getting the bugs into this little cylinder container. It was cool, thanks to Chick-fil-a! Had little breathing holes in it and a magnifying glass top to look at the bugs close up. JD says it is a "bugs eye view." Haha! Thats my yummy boy for you :)

Finally we did catch a bug and close the container without smashing any of its body parts (this worried me) and we had no idea what kind of bug it was. We didn't know the name of it, and we looked it up online and saw a picture of the same bug. It looked like a daddy long legs, with those long delicate spindly legs, and had wings. It is called a Mosquito Hawk. It was flying around, landing on the grass and when we placed the bug container on top of it the bug climber up the side allowing us to close the lid safely.

This was an adventure for us! It was so refreshing and fun to spend the day outside and enjoy the nature that God created, and just enjoy the fresh air! We love going to grandma's house! She loves us and cooks for us, and we like to help her with the animals. They are a lot of fun to play with. Thanks Grandma MJ!! We love you <3