Summer, Summer, Summer Time

Don't let this somewhat hesitant demeanor fool you. The boy is a fish-wanna-be.

My big, gonna-be-three-in-nine-days, boy has almost no fear of the water. He runs full-speed into water up to his neck, totally oblivious of that fact that he can't swim. On this particular beach trip, our first trip of the summer, I didn't plan on swimming because I thought the lake would be too cold. I had no idea that my son was Mr. Fearless Fish Man, and that I would have to be in the water with him to keep him from trying to swim across the lake. I ended up in the water up to my waist, fully clothed, but thankfully, the water was warm.

We had signed Colter up for swimming lessons this summer before we knew how comfortable he would be in the water this year. I was kind of concerned that I would end up with a panicked boy clinging to my neck when we venture into the city pool for the first lesson next week, but I don't think I have anything to worry about.

After swimming and a beach picnic, we went to the local marina with some friends for some cheap entertainment--fish feeding! As I was grabbing some stuff out of the car, Colter walked with his friend, Riley. When I looked ahead, this is what I saw--Colter with an older woman. I wonder who made the first move?

These carp were practically jumping up on the docks to get our fifty cent bag of fish food. I considered reaching down to grab one, but I was too chicken.

We love SUMMER!

A Fish Story

Once upon a time there was a man who loved aquarium fish. He was a true aquarium fish enthusiast; at one point, he even had four (maybe five?) fish aquariums up an running at the same time! Basically, he was a fish nut. Which is odd, because this man who enjoyed fish so much, doesn't like the water. He doesn't like water sports at all. Hello....fish live in the water. Oh, he doesn't like to go fishing or to eat fish either. It seems strange that the fish man likes fish in some situations but not others. I bet the bass in the nearby lakes were jealous of the attention fish man paid to his guppies. Anyway, whether it makes sense that the man who hated water like to have gallons and gallons of it sitting around his house or not, the fish man had lots of time and money invested into his fish habit. In fact, that just may be why when fish man got married when he was almost 28 years old, he didn't own a house or have any money saved up. He had invested all his moola into fish (or fast food and pizza).

After years and years of caring for fish, the fish man finally burned out. When the last tank he had set up only had one fish in it for over a year, he decided he wanted to take down his family's pretty 45 gallon fish tank and put it into storage! Fish man's wife, who really hadn't messed with the fish much decided she must take over. The house would seem so strange without a fish tank! His wife read about fish care and decided it wouldn't be too difficult to start maintaining the aquarium. She learned about nitrates, nitrites, ph, and other stuff that affected aquarium water and became.....FISH WOMAN!

The pretty tank...

Resident CatfishBabies!

The funny thing is, after fish woman started caring for the tank, fish guy suddenly became interested in fish again! Now that he no longer has to worry about vacuuming up fish poo and making biweekly water changes because fish woman takes care of that, he is back to enjoying fish. Several fish have had babies (one guppy had over 35!), and the fishy couple have had fun taking care of the fish together. The couple's son, fish boy, loves the hobby too; the local pet store own even gave him two fish yesterday for free just because he could tell how much the boy liked fish. Maybe hobbies are more fun when the whole family participates.

Word-Filled Wednesday