Flashback Friday

We all needed a break. So last Saturday we packed up the car with books, blankets and travel snacks. We headed north to find a shady spot to have a picnic and maybe a creek to fish for crawdads and anything else that could be found. Our two motion-sick prone kids all medded up on Dramamine dozed softly in the back seat and I read another Louis L'Amour to Olen as we cruised passed the cacti and into the pines.

With such pleasant weather and no schedules to keep we were able to roll up our pants and relax. London grew quite a collection of fallen leaves and random rocks that caught her fancy.

Olen will share his passion for fishing with any willing student, luckily our kids love to be taught. He fashioned a London-sized fishing pole out of a limber twig to teach her how to catch the biggest crawdads. With a piece of bacon tied to the end of the line and some patience, you really can't miss.

Porter preferred the trap method. He would dangle the bacon in the water and let the crawdads latch on and then pull them all up at once.

His patience always paid off.

Me? I was content to just watch. Once while on a pioneer trek in Virginia, I rested beside the tall grass on the trail and that night discovered I had picked up a hitch-hiker deer tick on my right upper arm. (Jenn, do you remember this?) Ever since then I am leery about laying in any grass so I kept checking for creepy crawlies. Olen said he'd check me for ticks when we got home, but somehow that really didn't put my mind at ease. That cheeky boy.

Of course Olen threw in a line. Here's his best catch of the day, but he seemed okay with it.

We drove home tired, dirty and smelling like creek water and bacon, but ready to say good-bye to the summer break and hello to the new school year.