One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish.....Striper Fish

Alas, a little getaway. And I do mean little. We left for Lake Texoma at 3:00 on Friday afternoon and headed home at 3:00 on Saturday after a morning of striper fishing. Nanny has had this trip in the works for a couple months now and we have been looking forward to catching some fishies. Riley and I aren't really big on eating the fish but we sure do like catching them....and I might add that it doesn't happen often. That is where the fishing guide comes in. ;)

Hallie hit the road before we did...she hitched a ride with Nanny, Papa and Aunt Kylie. I hear that she was on her very best behavior most of the way and spent the majority of her time sleeping, drinking, and reading. The little stinker even went and ate at Red Lobster without her momma...not cool Hal, not cool. Aunt Katie, Uncle Luke and their friend Sam got a head start on us as well because they were hauling their boat and needed to make the six hour trip before it got dark. Finally my work-a-holic hubby pulled himself away from the hospital and his never-ending list of responsibilities and we were off. I must say once you are used to riding with a little one in the backseat for nine months it gets kinda boring on a long drive. This only applies to how we felt on the trip there.....the returning trip is a whole 'nother story....one which we will now refer to as the "rollercoaster you cant get off". More about that later....

Fishing. A challenging sport....especially when you have no idea what you are doing! :) Let me just give you a bit of background on our fishing experiences. First of all, we do LOVE TO FISH. We pack up, hit the road, hike to our spot, set up camp, Riley gets the poles ready, we bait and cast.....and that's about where it ends. Oh and I forgot the part where we catch nothing. Ever. I am usually lucky to catch a few perch. Here's a blast from the past and our fishing adventures....

It's all in the technique

Perch....the only fish drawn to our hooks. ;)

That one's going on the wall....

Oh, seaweed...best catch of the day

Riley and I pulled into Tanglewood around 10:00 that night after an interesting trip in which we took the wrong road three times and made a stop in Norman for Riley to do some work duties. By the time we finally made it there I couldnt' wait to go and snatch up our silly girl. She was sleeping but quickly woke up after hearing her daddy's voice. Sleep?? What's that? She was ready to kick back and watch a little Thunder basketball when we got back to our room.....

"This is the life"

Once she realized we couldn't find it on the tv she had changed her mind about sleep.....

"Ok, I surrender"

We made it to bed just in time for our alarm to sound what seemed like ten minutes after our heads hit the pillow. I forgot to mention that this past week has not been the most calm and relaxing week....so we were already dragging when Friday came around....after a six hour drive we could have slept for 24 hours. In hopes of catching some big ones we were out of bed before the rooster crowed and ready to get out on the water by 6:30. It's a very good thing we packed our winter coats for the trip because we ended up needing them plus more layers! My phone told me it was 48 degrees at Texoma but I wasn't factoring in the water and WIND! Kylie and I were frozen icicles by the time we stopped to anchor the boat and start fishing. Katie, Luke and Sam headed out and followed us in their boat but Katie soon realized that fishing in the freezing cold and rough water wasn't the most fun activity for a preggo momma! They dropped her off at the dock and Nanny and Hallie had another girl to join them at the hotel for the morning while we fished. We started out very slow. Partly because the water was so darn rough.......

Ready to launch

Here fishy fishy...

After a slow start we wandered around the lake for awhile. And by wandered I mean that Kylie and I huddled up in the back of the boat while the guide slowly made his way around in search of some action. We had it easy in the back of the boat....Riley and Bill toughed it out taking turns at the front of the boat as the water splashed up in their faces from the waves and wind.

Ummm, it was COLD

Is it really May?

The sun finally made an appearance and the fishies livened up right along with the humans up on the boat because we started hauling them in one after another. The guide hollered from the other side of the boat "the girls are hot!" To which Kylie responded "thank you." No, he wasn't some pervert.....we just happened to be on fire and the girls were showing up the men and bringing in the fishies at the back of the boat

We made our way back to land and surveyed our chest of fish. We caught our limit at 40 striper and two loner catfish including the big daddy that Riley pulled in. The guide apologized for the small size of our fish but said it had to do with the weather. Oh well, we brought home two bags of dinner for Nanny. Speakng of Nanny...Hallie and Katie kept her company back at the hotel. I hear they took naps and played with Hallie's new floor puzzle....oh yeah and spent some time in the boat with Aunt Katie....

It wouldn't be a fishing trip without pictures with our prizes.....

Kylie with her smallest catch of the day

Riley's catfish

Winner of the day!

Uncle Luke and Sam had some luck with her jug lines they set out.....

We enjoyed a warm lunch out of the deck at The Island with everyone together.......

Hallie was lovin' life looking out at the water and watching the duckies swim.....

"Bye Texoma...see ya later"

The End.

P.S.- Come to think of it, I won't even reminisce of the car ride home....Riley says that it's something we need to place in the back of our minds and forgot about. My motto for the ride home was "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Simply put....never go on a six hour trip with a diaper-rashed, teething and ear-infected little lady. The next fishin' trip we take, Hal will have her pink pole and bait over her shoulder joining in on the action. Until next time........

Thank you Nanny and Papa for the family fishing trip!!!!

My 1st Mama's Day

A very bittersweet day. Here's the sweet part......

My very first Mother's Day. I don't think anyone gave Hallie the memo........

"I'm sorry mom, give me a moment!"

Riley and Hallie did a spectacular job at spoiling me on this extra special day. I might add that Riley deserves a special pat on the back....he actually went shopping AHEAD OF TIME. And the reason I know is because I made it someone difficult for him. It's kind of a funny story so I'll share. I was out shopping with Hal and as we were checking out at a store downtown, in walks none other than my loving husband. Hmmmm? Didn't know he enjoyed shopping for women's clothing. Poor guy just looked at me as if to say "really babe?" Ruined that potential surprise #1. He had been helped with a few hints from Nanny and had come to search for a pair of shoes and bag I had been wanting. So he left empty-handed and looking defeated. We walked out together and I told him I was headed to the nail salon. Again I received another look of "seriously babe?" Well I guess there goes potential surprise #2. Poor guy. I jokingly asked him "should I pick up my gift card while I'm there?" We had a pretty good laugh......I guess we still need some practice shopping for suprises in a small town. ;)

My pretty girl tolerated me playing dress up with her that morning while getting her ready for church....she's my little doll.....

My favorite gift!

We had Mother's Day lunch after church while Hallie caught up on some much needed shut-eye......

ZzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzZ

 

After lunch my two loves surprised me with some beautiful white daisies and red Gerber daisies, a full body massage, a month of tanning, and the tearjerker was a Pandora bracelet with a ruby Hallie charm on it which is her birthstone. Jackpot!! My first thought was that I wanted to add a charm that symbolized my mom....and was later surprised with just that....a "K" charm from my sister--in-law Katie. Another tearjerker. I was spoiled with a pedicure and some Halle Berry (how appropriate) perfume from Nanny and lots of quality time with my little lady today! Though she spent the first half of the day being pretty cranky all it took was a nice long 2 1/2 hour nap. That did the trick!  Soon my smily girl was back in action.

Hallie and dad were full of surprises!

LOVE

l.o.v.e.

LoVe

That afternoon we helped Great-grandpa Delbert celebrate his 89th birthday. It was a packed house at his John Deere themed party! He was all smiles about it too....

The Birthday Boy

She liked the props

Hallie and her third-cousin Bowen spent some time being shy around one another......

"Can we get out of the chair now?"

Of couse we made the two preggo mommas at the party pose for a photo op....Riley's cousin Sarah is three short days away from meeting her second son Bhric and Katie is now seven months pregnant with Carmen Jo.....

Just a side note: did anyone else not expect it to be so stinking HOT this weekend....the weather kinda put a damper on our plans to spend the afternoon at the park after the birthday party. I guess we don't pay enough attention to the forecast because my eyes bugged out of my head when I took one look at the thermostat.....

"YOWZA!"

This was unlike any other Mother's Day I've celebrated before. The first without my loving mother and the first with a child of my own. Could it get anymore bittersweet than that folks? I must say that I kept my cool for the majority of the day but got a little misty-eyed in church when they were flashing words describing the love a mother over the screen....I miss my momma more than words can say and I still struggle with understanding why this had to happen and how she was here with us and gone in a heartbeat. What I wouldn't give to spend just one more Mother's Day with my special lady. I miss my friend, my shoulder to cry on, my person to share my failures with, my #1 fan, the grandmother of my daughter.....I miss everything about her. Even her stubbornness. :) I hope she knew how much she meant to me and just how much I truly cherished every second I spent with her. She was one a kind that's for sure!

To honor some very special mothers we spent the evening at a rose garden party at Nanny and Papa's house. Nanny came up with the wonderful idea last week to honor her mother and Bill's mom and to plant rose bushes in memory of my mother and our brother-in-law Luke's mother who passed away in March this year. We cooked out and celebrated the beginning of the rose garden with some yummy cake and let some special balloons go for my mom and Luke's mom Cindy. Nanny surprise Hallie and Carmen with special books titles "A Ladder to the Moon"  which tells a story of a grandmother climbing down from heaven to spend time with her grandchild. Yet another tearjerker. Man, today was full of those!

Hallie was hesitant to let her special pink balloon go...guess she wanted to hold onto it a little bit longer. She finally sent up her present to Grammy and we watched as it flew high in the sky.....

Happy Mother's Day Grammy

Hallie saw that there was a lot of cleaning up to be done after dinner so she got to work in the kitchen. I might add that she scored a big prize when she dug out a frosting covered spoon from the dishwasher and went to town on it. Oh that girl!!!

"You probably wouldn't tell by looking at me, but I'm a pretty hard worker...."

The men were in denial once the steaks were eaten and the cake was scarfed down.....time for the work to begin. I swear I would have helped had I not been more in the way than actually helping. So us girls decided to supervise instead.

The work begins

Putting those muscles to good use

Breaking ground on the rose garden

"Please don't make me put clothes on Mom"

Emmi was in heaven having so much room to roam

The boys worked....the girls watched

My pretty girls

Making hard work look easy

"It's been a long day Uncle Luke....mind if I kick back here?"

This weekend was yet another one to place in my memory vault. I just can't explain the pride that comes along with being the momma of such a sweet little girl (even though she didn't start out the day so sweet). Being a mom is exactly how people described it to me before I actually had a child: "it's the most challenging and the most rewarding job in the world." It's cliche but so very true! Rewards they are plenty these days!!!

P.S. - Why can't we have a Mother's Day every month?? Someone should look into making that happen......

Out like a light

It's safe to say that Hallie partied herself out yesterday. After a very HOT evening cheering her mom and dad on at the 5K and swinging at the park she probably could have passed out right then and there.....BUT we had other plans in mind. After our race we went to a graduation party for our friend BJ. It was great to catch up with all our good friends at the party and Hallie even got to meet her future husband, Mr. Tank Rogers. He is quite the handsome one year old. ;) I didn't snap a picture of their first meeting but I'm sure they will have a budding relationship someday. All of the flirting and playing and crawling to and fro wore this girl out........

She didn't move a muscle as I laid her on the changing table, changed her diaper, put some pants on her, and pinned her bink on her shirt for night night time. She was in a whole 'nother world....sleepin' like a baby....

"I'll just sleep here if ya don't mind"