Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you Daddy's out there!  Father's Day, a time to reflect on memories with our dads and the advice they've given us through the years.  I remember taking a break hiking back up the hill from te Piney Creek bottom, sometime during high school.  We got to talking about what I wanted to do when I grew up, and this was the best advice I've ever gotten.  Find something you love to do and then figure out how to get paid to do it.  So for 7 years I worked in state parks/conservation areas, after 3 summers of workign out west, and then the last 2 1/2 years I've got to stay home and be mom, which is the most exhausting, entertaining and enjoyable job I've ever had....lets just say boredom is not something that happens to me anymore!  And for some reason the daddy memories often leave me laughing.  I remember one time, I think it was in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, anyway, it was a mountain in Wyoming.  We wanted to see a moose.  Then low and behold, in a swampy area just off the road, there stood Bullwinkle himself.  Of course, we needed pictures....and pictures we got!  We all trucked off across the field, Dad leading the way, camera in tow.  Have you ever heard of moose mud?  That would be the term from the day regarding the mud that Dad was basically stuck in.  The big bull moose shook his antlers (he also wasn't alone...there was one maybe 2 more moose) and gave Dad a clear message he was getting too close.  So he went back to the car.....but he couldnt get in  because he was covered in moose mud.  After a slight wardrobe change while hiding behind the rented minivan, we were once again on our way to check out the wilds of Wyoming, but we will never forget the moose mud.

Or how about the time we went camping and Daddy had just gotten a brand new thermarest.  After hiking for a few miles we found the perfect camping spot.  We put up our tents.  And he unrolled his brand new thermarest.  The look on his face was priceless....unknowingly he had bought a 3/4 length one and when he unrolled it he couldnt figure out where the rest of it was.  Same trip a little later we were collecting wood and found an even better camping spot back in the woods.  Since our tents were already set up we just carried them, without taking them down or anything out of them, to the new camping spot.

Or the backpacking trip where daddy goes to set up his tent and gets it up and then goes to pull his sleeping bag out and pulls out another tent.  He did have a sleepign bag (good thing, it was somewhere around 16 degrees!) but I'm not sure why he had 2 tents....

I remember the first time we ever went to Yellowstone and we checked in to our cabin at Canyon.  I told Daddy that someday I wanted a nametag like that, you know the ones that have your name and then your state.  I still have the nametag from 1999....

And speaking of Yellowstone, you've got to remember Clyde and Cleo (for some reason this is what the elk at canyon were named by my father)

Or maybe you prefer closer to home, things like the infamous snake video where Daddy starts singing "the hills are alive" to a rather lengthy blacksnake that had decided to visit inside the house.

And also on Father's Day, I look at my husband with our little girl.  If it storms (which evidently it did in quite a storm the other night...forgive me, I was tired and slept!) she comes running from her bedroom...."Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Lalightning scare me." and crawls in bed with him and they "hide".   Or the tickle monster games that last for hours.  Its fun watching them play!

So to my father, husband, and grandfather,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  and this post will be done in 10 more minutes....

But first, we have to cover yesterday.  Emily went FISHING!  There was a fish derby at the little pond in our city park, so I assumed (correctly too) that they would have stocked it the day before and that she might actually have a chance at catching a fish.

 When we bought worms Friday night she was so excited to have worms.  But I didnt get a picture of her with the worms.  And yes, she dressed herself:)

 Deep in concentration.  Mommy says you have to watch that ball and yank if it goes under to catch a fish.

 It didn't take long and she was sitting on my lap on the bank fishing away.  She helped me cast for her and then she would reel it in until mommy said let is sit there for a minute, then she'd reel some more whenever I told her to....proved she actually can do exactly what is asked of her:)  Anyway, after about 15-20 minutes....wouldn't you know it, the bobber went under, we yanked, and yep, she caught her very first fish!

 No, that isn't the bait, that is her catch.  And it wasn't even a bluegill, it was a largemouth bass!

 I was trying to get her to touch it but she told me it was "yucky".  I was glad it was a largemouth bass...much easier to get off the hook.  She wouldnt kiss it before throwing it back, even though I told her it was good luck:)

 And after about 15 minutes more, she was done, so we tried out the slides for a few minutes before getting groceries, stopping at a garage sale (hey, that was a great stop...she'd fallen in love with these light up flip flops one of her friends had a couple weeks ago but I didnt want to pay $15 for a pair of flip flops she wouldnt wear that long, but guess what this garage sale had?  Yep light up flip flops.  And $0.75 was much more to my liking!  And so what if they are a little big, they'll still fit her next year this way:), and then we went home.

 Showing off for the camera last night.

Not to be outdone by Emily!