Father's Day and other happenings

On Saturday, the day before Father's Day, Casey and I took Gavin to a Fish Rodeo. It was a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser. Casey volunteered as a "wrangler" while Little Mann and I did some fishin' and exploring. I only have these two photos, because it was impossible to try and manage a cane pool, a wet fish, a toddler and a camera all at the same time. Impossible. We caught 8 lbs. of rainbow trout. Don't be all impressed. It was a stocked pond with like 2,000 lbs. of fish. I literally just stuck my line in the water, using corn kernels as bait, and pulled fish out, one right after another. It was kind of addicting. Finally Casey had to stop me because we had only brought so much cash and you had to pay for whatever you caught, $4/lb. After I caught all the fish we could afford, Casey spent several hours helping people wrangle fish, etc. Our fish were cleaned and filleted on site. Gavin and I played on the playground, had a PB&J picnic and chased ducks. He likes to chase after them saying, "quack, quack, quack!", but really it comes out "qua, qua, qua." Here are the two photos. The first one is of Casey choosing our cane pole and the second one is of G and I standing under a tree, trying to stay out of the rain. A heavy rainstorm poured down for about 30 minutes, it wasn't so bad because it cooled everyone off. It was actually kind of nice and Gavin had a blast playing in the rain and all the puddles. Needless to say we came home with one muddy, fishy smelling little boy.



On Father's Day we drove an hour south to Casey's parents' house, where we did some swimming and grilling. Fun times were had by all. No pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Take my word for it, Gavin loves to play in their pool, climb on their rocks and explore their property. And apparently he is pretty good with a wrench. He insisted on participating in a fix-the-lawnmower project with dad and grandpa.

In other news, I started volunteering at the Biology greenhouse, a couple hours in the afternoon on Wednesdays and Fridays. Good stuff. I am not sure if I'll be able to continue volunteering in the fall once classes begin, but I am enjoying the free time while I can. My Biology professor sent me home with two wayward banana trees last week. They were abandoned after the graduate student, to whom the trees belonged, decided he would be leaving to study "hardy tropical plants" somewhere else. Surely I can find a way to work a couple of banana trees into our home landscaping projects. He also sent me home with a bag of athletic field conditioner. This is exciting because it means we are one step closer to finishing our greenroof dog house. The structure is there and we are already using it, but the green roof part of the project is still pending as we procure all the materials. The athletic field conditioner is an aerating component and will make the soil mixture lighter.

Gavin started his toddler reading program this week, with grandma. He goes every Wednesday. I hope they are enjoying their special time together. Grandma gets him every Friday too, so during the reading program time of year she gets him twice a week. We're grateful that Gavin is able to spend so much quality time with at least one set of his grandparents. We wish we saw the other set just as much.

Gavin's molars are erupting. Poor little guy, it's been painful.