After another full day of excitement, everyone slept wonderfully. Jude was actually the LAST one awake! It rained again in the night and morning was overcast and cool. Breakfast was a shared hearty affair between our family and Scott's. All the boys at quickly and got off the decks to go play in nearby puddles.
All the guys were ready to try fishing again, but this time with live bait (worms).
Success! Brian caught the first fish, a little perch. He proceeded to tell the boys all about it and how you can identify a perch compared to other fish.
Quickly after Brian's catch, Tamlin caught a fish! I think it was a rock bass? Tam was uber proud and was very willing to help daddy toss the fish back into the water. Scott got the third fish and then a few more for Brian and Scott. Aaron had lots of nibbles on his line, but no fish reeled in. Two of the fish had swallowed the hooks badly and were not so well off when thrown back into the water. Brian told me that they watched an osprey swoop down and nab these injured fish right in front of them. Even Jude and I catch a fish! I was quite surprised to feel the tug at the line while Jude was holding it in my lap. It had been Brian's line with a real hook and worm, and not Jude's little hookless bait...Brian had be unhooking the previous catch from another line. I'm not sure if Jude was truly disgusted at the fish or just weirded out to see it up close and personal.
After lunch, we caravan over to the Pennsylvania side of the park to check out playgrounds and the dam. The kids had fun playing on a different playground, this one old school, wooden, and had a fun bouncy drawbridge. I taught them if they stood on one side of the bridge, and someone else jumps hard on the opposite side, they will be flung up into the air. (Love physics!) There was also a huge pile of sand here...perhaps even the same pile of sand that was here three years ago! After repeatedly having to tell the boys NOT to throw/fling/sprinkle or otherwise place sand into the air, we left. We then stopped at the dam, but were disappointed that we couldn't walk out on it because it was under construction.
The sun was hot by afternoon. Shelly arrived again with the girls and we let everyone go to the beach for a refreshing swim. We brought down the squirters and squirtguns...I even got in on the action with squirting all the kids with water. We played in the water until dinnertime was called...a huge feast of burgers, brawts, hot dogs, chips, and soda. We also had a smattering of vegetables just in case someone was trying to eat healthier. (Ha!) I think we all ate until near bursting.
Early evening and it was time for another round of fishing. Aaron desperately wanted to catch something.
Success at last for everyone! Even Isiaac caught a fish or two, even though he was really only dropping his hook about a foot from the shore. Aaron fish was the largest caught but Tam had a good size one too, caught with only a nibble of worm left on his hook.
Eveyone has smiles as we head to the showers for clean-up before s'mores.
A roaring fire to use the last of the wood. S'mores for us all...enough marshmallows that I think Jude's brain was turning into pure sugar. The kids all stayed up until full dark and then crashed into their beds. A full moon shown down on us through the trees. It was nice to see a clear sky instead of rain clouds. We adults stayed out around the campfire until the bugs tried to carry us off. Just sitting and swapping stories and eating marshmallows.
