Fishing at Fermilab.

As it turns out all that water needed for cooling for particle accelerators, needs a holding place.

All those holding ponds then become happy living places for fish that end up there via bird transportation and then they reproduce. So we got to go fishing today.

The kids have never been, and so catch and release was a really great way to give them a chance to try it out. I forgot how much I enjoy fishing, it's been many years since I spent the day at Pebble Creek with my dad and my grandpa, some worms, a pole and my grandpas old smelly fish basket. I thought of my grandpa many times today and sure miss him.

So Denton, Kyle, Shawn, Kira and Evan and I headed out with our tools ready for a fun afternoon. And boy did we ever have fun!

Bug spray and Bait. Must haves. :)

Poles and a lesson are also vital to avoiding fish hooks in body parts that don't belong to a fish.

So Denton got our kids set up and then helped Kyle with his pole. They threw it in, and the hook landed in the fishes mouth and Kyle claimed the title of "First fish of the day" in about 30 seconds. (You can't make this stuff up! I'm dead serious!)

Shawn caught the next two. He was trying to tell a big fish story while the puny little thing was still on his hook. ;0P  If you look carefully you can see the dinky thing on the bottom right side of Shawn, it looks about the same color as his shorts so it's hard to see. (Because it is SO small!)

I tried my hand at fishing, but was better at taking pictures and snuggling a little munchkin while we caught twigs and seaweed. I sort of caught a fish but he flipped off the hook right when I brought him out of the water. Lame. So I gave up after that.

He was not impressed with our team efforts. He kept saying "Uh oh". :) Gosh I love squishy little 2 year olds!

Denton just ran around keeping the kids going, he did a great job of untangling, casting, untangling, letting the fish off the hook, untangling...(did I mention he untangled a few lines. ;) )

He's a good guy. It's nice there are guys like him in the world.

The kids took turns with a net. They were not successful. Kira found a dead crayfish. Yuck.

Then Evan slipped and fell in. It's called a natural consequence. I'm not sure what the kid expected wearing flipflops on mossy rocks in pond water.

When he got back to the bank he wanted me to get him some dry clothes. Um...my days of carrying around extra clothes for children ended pretty much immediately following potty training. I was sick to death of that diaper bag. He thought that I was unreasonable and mean, and pitched a fantastic fit, the kind you usually encounter with a three year old. (You know, the age of child  you *would* happen to be carrying extra clothing for with you) So I took a picture. It was a proud mommy moment, let me tell you.

Shortly after the kids both caught a fish and we ended our first fishing excursion on a pretty darn happy note!