Maine 2014 - Fishing!!

For our first summer vacation this year we spent 10 days up in Maine on Lake Cobbossee with Grandpa Herb, Grandma Su-Su, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Helki, Annabel, and the newest Crowder cousin, Finley. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation - the weather was wonderful, there was plenty of fishing, swimming, and kayaking, the cousins all got to spend lots of time together, and being on the lake was incredibly relaxing. We even had a view of the only inland lighthouse in ME!

We got into a routine pretty quickly on this vacation and it looked like this:

5:00am -- Julia woke up and went upstairs to wake-up Grandma Su-Su and they spent some quiet time together, watching shows, reading The Visual Dictionary (a very cool book which we found in the house), and chatting.

~6:00am -- Benj woke up and got up either Andrew or myself, then chilled out for awhile while we got coffee and breakfast together; on a couple of days the lake was incredibly calm first thing in the morning so Julia and I went out in the kayak

9:30am -- We went out to do some activity. On a couple of days we went to the playground, one day we went hiking, another day we went shopping...

12:00pm -- lunch and then played inside or in the shade for awhile. read books, played with squirt guns and water balloons, etc.

2:00pm -- water activities started... fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and of course, swimming!

5:00pm -- dinner

6:30pm -- bed for the kids!

I have a lot of pictures to share so I thought that this year I would share them by activity. First up - fishing!!

Both Benjamin and Julia were into fishing this year. Julia got a new rod right before our trip. She insisted on choosing (over my objections) a 5'5" rod -- a true, grown-up fishing rod. I wasn't sure it was the best choice I thought that she should stick with a kids rod for another year but boy, did she prove me wrong!

She caught a bunch of fish right off the dock and was easily casting 25' by the second day we were there. Benjamin also enjoyed fishing but he mostly stuck to the kids' rod and a lot of the time he did not have a hook attached. But when he did have a hook he caught 2 fish!

Benjamin the fisherman

Ready for action!

We caught a fish!

It's a big one!

Checking out the catch

Scaly!!

Julia was quite the fisher-girl. She dug out all the worms, Andrew insisted on baiting the hook but I think she would have done it if he let her, she casted and reeled her line in all by herself, and then she released each fish she caught back into the water. And she loved every minute of it!