The Pumpkin Patch

As is our Halloween tradition, we took the kids to the nearby pumpkin patch last night. The kids had a lot of fun choosing pumpkins, walking through the hay maze, and putting their faces in the cut-out picture stands. We took the pumpkins home and Mollee helped Izzy and Noah paint their pumpkins. They decided to give the pumpkins names. I named one Peter Pumpkin, Izzy named her pumpkin Wendy and Noah named his pumpkin Paco. When they were done, Noah was having too much fun and wanted to play some more with the pumpkins instead of going to bed. He kept saying "hold punkin - hold punkin" and "see Paco." It was pretty funny. JJ also had a great time at the pumpkin patch and blended right in with the rest of the orange heads.

First Snow Day

We had our first snow of the Fall. Noah and Izzy got all bundled up and played in the front yard while Jeff shoveled the driveway. Who do you think got the better end of that deal?

Fishing with the boss

My boss, Dave Hirschi, rented a boat up at Strawberry Reservoir last Saturday and invited me to come along and go fishing with him. His son, Jeff Hirschi, and I went up after work the night before and camped over night. We grilled steaks and sat around the camp fire. It was fun but very cold. We woke up to a very hard, cold frost which made packing up camp more difficult and painful. Then we drove over to the marina where we met Dave, his father Frank, another co-worker Aaron Waite and his son Michael.

We enjoyed a fun day fishing. The weather was about as nice as you get up there and the scenery was beautiful, especially the changing leaves on the surrounding hills. The fishing was hit and miss all day. 84-year old Frank outfished us all, catching the first fish, the biggest fish (which measured 23 1/2 inches) and the most fish. Although Frank never could get used to the regulations, complaining when Dave would throw fish back because they were in the slot limit. Frank made several comments to Jeff like "lets see if your father will et me keep this one."

I think we all caught fish and had a good time. However, Jeff Hirschi got skunked until near the end of the trip when a fish "surrendered" and actually swam right over to the boat and Jeff netted it for his only "catch" of the day. We gave him the award for catching a fish without a pole or hook. Michael seemed to have more fun with the crawdads then the fish, and enjoyed feeding them cheese-it crackers and chasing them all over the boat. It was a good time with good company.