Laker Days

The Summer of 2012 has been extremely hot and dry.  In fact, this has been the first summer that it hasn't rained -AT ALL- on the weekends.  This has allowed for a lot more boating and swimming time- well, at least until the lake goes dry- we are down about 18 inches right now.  Conner has become more confident on his "skis" and I think he actually likes to ski this year - no more bribes to get him out there and we are thrilled with that.  Drew, on the other hand, still would rather swim or play on the boat. Both of the boys are doing very well with swimming - they have contests to see who can hold their breath the longest, who can do the most flips (Drew has an imaginary flip) and who can spot the most turtles like Wildman does.  Watching them brings back so many memories of when I was a kid.  I am so thankful that they have the opportunity to grow up around the water like Jason and I did.

 They love to watch Jason ski.

 Two weeks ago, all of Conner's fishing dreams came true.  It was a Friday night and we had left around 5:00 to go see Jeff, Kristin and baby Bristol.  While we were gone, Jeremiah came over and set two catfish lines before he went out on the fishing boat.  We got home around 8:00.  Conner, Drew and I went around back to water flowers and Jason left to go look at a boat lift. While I was watering flowers, Conner asked if he could go down to the dock and fish.  Right when he got down there he yells up to me, "Looks like we got a big fish on the line!"  Knowing that Conner always has "big" fish on the line, I told him to let me finish watering and I would be right down.  About 15 minutes later Drew and I went to check the line.  Conner had tried to reel it in himself and had actually unscrewed the handle on the pole. There was a large fish on the line that was pulling hard so I let the line out.  The fish got tangled under the dock so I had to lie on the dock and hand line the fish.  It was so heavy that I thought it was a snapping turtle!  Here is what we all caught - the fish of a lifetime!

 Lois and Woody opened the marina after hours so that we could weigh it in.  Our big flathead weighed in at 48.6 - only .04 off of the record.  After we weighed the fish in, we let it go at the marina.  We were worried that no one would ever want to swim again - but the next morning everyone was back at it.