Crawdads, Crayfish, Crawfish, mini lobsters.....not happening

I have posted this picture for my mother who will appreciate it for eternity. It is so hard to describe what is happening, but I'll make an attempt.

Mid-week holiday in the middle of a hot summer seemed a perfect time to take the kids to a reservoir for some fun. Grandpa has the idea to go crawdad fishing as they are supposed to be easy to catch and prolific in the area. All we need are assorted chicken parts, string and a cooler to place them into. In reading up on the topic we also learn we should plan on 24 crawdads per person since they are small.....easy, right?

We meet at the reservoir and find a place to sit, set up our command center and Grandpa decides to set his fishing poles up to catch any fish that may happen through the area. We have a 6 year old who is raising the water level of the lake by throwing rocks in it as fast as he can and Grandpa thinks he will catch fish? Hmmmm.... Grandpa has also been learning how to fly fish and so he sets up his special pole and reel, ties a little fly on the end and starts casting. Periodically the line would end up over his head, behind him and eaten up by the bushes on the slope. Hence the picture.....

Grandpa is irritated that the bushes keep attacking, Brett is calmly sitting and braiding string and helping Marin tie chicken parts to other long pieces of string, Gabe is consuming chocolate as fast as possible and Grandma is trying to help by sorting out all the piles and balls of twine stuck in the bushes....while holding a drink in one hand and laughing (very quietly so as to not irritate the fisherman). I think Marin was somewhere behind me swinging string weighted with raw chicken over her head and launching it into the water. Needless to say, there was entertainment in every direction.



We didn't catch a blasted thing.....nothing. No dinner, no 24 crawdads per person, no extra fish to make up for the lack of crawdads....nothing. The great part was that none of us were upset and we had a wonderful day playing in the water. I'm not sure what we would have done with 144 crawdads, who would have counted them and what would happen if we hated them. No need to worry. I would go crawdad fishing again!!

Aren't they lovely? I actually liked the assorted hair colors....it seemed to fit their personalities that day.

We took the kids to Gateway to see the chalk art festival. It is an amazing assortment of individuals and groups who purchase a space on the sidewalk and create a pastel chalk artwork. I am so stunned by the types of pictures and level of creativity. We saw everything from popular cartoon characters to pretend holes in the ground with a full fishing stream down below, to the most stunning single stem iris I have ever seen. It was a fun and crazy morning that the kids were very willing to finish up with play time in the fountains and a little spray on hair color. The only bad part was having to wash the color out later to go to a wedding reception. Marin had blue all over her scalp for most of a week......so cute!