River's Inlet

It is that time of year again where the adult "children" in the Terrell family start to have a one track mind, no that track - the other side of their brain! They think, eat, breath and talk only about "River's Inlet" and fishing. I sort of feel sorry for them this year as they are going "old school" and have to sleep on their little boats and basically camp. It is not a trip I would find fun in the slightest! The only hard part is that the boys get really bummed when Dad leaves and they don't get to go....and all the "preparation" get's old. I get annoyed every year - but it is just one of those things. Do it and ask for forgiveness later is how they operate. One year, Shannon went up there (remember there is no way to communicate with them) when I was two weeks from having a baby and I had a 3 year old - and I didn't change the locks on the house that year so I am pretty good at forgiving.

This has been a really tough week for me. My long time family friend and my cousin were both diagnosed with Breast Cancer this past month. One is recovering from her surgery and one goes in on Wednesday. Please keep them all in your thoughts as they go through this difficult time. It makes a silly fishing trip a "so what" moment and if he wants to go and sleep on a tiny boat with his Dad and Uncle -- have at it!

If you are wine drinker. I discovered a new local wine that I have found to be really a great wine. It is from Lummi Island....well the wine is not the grapes. It is at the Haggen's stores but it is made by Legoe Bay Winery and even their red table wine passes muster with Mr. Picky (aka Shannon) and I found their Chardonnay really great! Pick up a bottle if you find it - I don't think you'll regret it and if you don't like it -- just call me and I'll come over and drink the remainder!

Bad Ass fishing boat

Sunburned, tired, and happy. I guess that is how you describe our weekend. We took Grandpa Chuck's boat "warp speed" and went out fishing this weekend, the entire gang. The end result was to to go to Roche Harbor and spend the night with some friends. However, true to the Terrell nature, we also went fishing. We hit Pt. Thompson and drug around a "hoochie" (I love saying that) and flasher and just wasted gas. So we made our way to Fisheries Pt. on Waldron Island. Again, drug around a lure and wasted gas. We made our way to San Juan Island and Roche Harbor where we tied up on the dock next to our friends Don and Ginger. We were amongst the "beautiful people" and our little ol' 25 ft. Bayliner appeared tiny snuggled amongst the 67-100 ft boats that were parked next to us. However, we know how to have fun and if you don't need a big boat to have a wonderful meal, good wine and great times with your friends. Hayden, Fischer and Alyssa did the fishing for "creatures" and ended up with a shrimp, eel and some other random stuff. Shannon ended up with a bit of a headache.

We woke up to a beautiful day and headed back home to fish along the way. We hit Fisheries and only seemed to catch kelp. Hayden decided that we 'neeeded' to go to Pt. Thompson so we pulled up and headed back. We fished along the shore on Orcas Island. We had a go home time of 3pm. At about 2:55pm I noticed the rod go bang, bang, bang. Shannon reeled him in and I attempted to net it. WORST net job every but not to harp on it -- we did get the fish in the boat. So at 3:04 we were on our way with a beautiful 16lb salmon. of course, Fischer cried because we didn't catch 'his' fish and Hayden we had to remind him that it was a "group fish" and just because it was on his "flasher and squid" it was not his fish.

Two weekends in a row of fishing -- couldn't get any more luck than that! So I think that we have become a Bad Ass Fishing boat. Now - don't ask me where this came from but Fischer has referred to the boat as a Bad Ass Fishing boat. He claims to have learned this in Idaho but I am not sure.....we keep trying to tell him that is not a nice thing to say -- but he doesn't want to drop it. If you know who taught him this - can you let me know? Thanks!!

On a side note -- replacing my taillight (see previous post) is going to cost me $158! SNAP! Those darn kids.

Mr. "I don't know" arrived at our house this weekend.

I know that there are some genetic differences between a boy and a girl but this weekend I witnessed it first hand. We had just returned from a successful trip out fishing. Shannon was worn out and was in the house (he feel asleep when he sat down but he won't admit that!) and the boys were outside and were "told" to clean the ice chest out. Shannon uses these huge blocks of ice in the fish box to help it from melting really fast. I could hear it crashing on the driveway. Then I heard screaming and yelling. So they were having an "ice" fight. I let them continue at it figuring that once someone saw blood that would be it -- well I didn't figure that they would throw the ice at the house. They missed and hit my car. Broken tail-light ensued! I go outside and ask them "Who threw it?" -- Guess what? They both tilted their heads and said, "I don't know?" What? How can a 3 year old and a 6 year old already know about the "I don't know?" I'm 100% sure it was my devil Fischer but I did find it pretty cute that his older brother would stick up for him. So we made a new rule, No throwing ice at the house or the car! I'm pretty sure that my Brother (who has two little girls) will never have to make this rule! They may have the "no cutting the Barbies hair rule" but I'm pretty sure they won't have to worry about summer ice fights.

The results are in....

This weekend was not only beautiful but the boys entered their very first fishing derby. It was so much fun watching Fischer talk about about fishing all week. Friday arrived and thankfully we had a playdate in the morning otherwise it would have been all I could bear to listen to those two ask me if it was "time to go fishing" all morning. So 3pm arrived before we knew it and we met Dad at the dock - me, my bag, the boys and Tyee. So we loaded up and headed out into the Bay. I didn't realize that I was going fishing as I had thought all along I was going to be dropped at the beach. After the shock wore off, it was all good and I rolled with the plan. We hit Pt. Lawerence off the tip of Orcas, Island and wasted gas and drug a flasher and squid around for a few hours before heading to Lummi. The best observation was Hayden. He is so funny. I think that there is only one person who talks to Shannon in the boat the way he does. He is always just giving him "crap" (for lack of a better word) as to why they are not catching. It reminded me of how Shannon talks to his Dad in the boat when they are fishing. They both think they know more than their Dads! "Dad, did you remember the smelly jelly?" "Dad, we need to go out deeper." "Dad, you are trolling too slow." It was on and on and very humorous.

I was not part of the 4am crew on Saturday, thank goodness. They were out and back by 2pm. Damn, what happened to my day without the boys? I had just returned from walking around Lummi and they showed up. I didn't even get through my list of things "to do" - let alone read my book in the chaise lounge! They were punched out for the day (that means they caught their limit). They had even weighed in the fish for the tourney. Here are the screen shots of the derby pages.



Fischer is amazing -- he was up from 4am until 9pm without a nap and no meltdowns or issues. Besides the "I want a popsicle" (but we have those with naps and sleep). When he crashed he crashed hard and even fell out of bed that night because he was sleeping so sound. The weather on Sunday was one of those onshore winds that pick up around 2:30 am and just make it nasty. Dad and I were talking about the nights on the Gilnetter when we'd have those winds how it made for a nasty morning set and pick and a bumpy and slow ride home. So Shannon, wisely, decided to leave the boys. Hayden was MAD when he woke up at 8:30am and told Mom and I that he'd been in WAY WORSE weather (not what a Grandmother and Mom really want to hear from a 6 yr old) but I know it was true. So he got a doughnut and decided to go outside for the beautiful morning and play King Crab fishing with real pots and a real gaff hook. I know, you shouldn't let a 6 year old play with a super heave and sharp metal toy, but if you are playing Time Bandit you need a gaf hook. I had to wake up Fischer at 11am because his Dad was back. He didn't even realize he was left since he slept the entire morning. Can you imagine what he's going to be like as a teenager if he sleeps until 11am now?

So the tourney ends on Sunday at the docks in Bellingham. We waited for the prizes because the kids get a prize. Both kids ended up doing pretty decent (9th and 11th out of like 50 some odd kids and only 22 kids entered a fish). I tried to coax them to get the sleeping bags but they both went for new fishing rods? Don't they have enough? It was a great weekend and wonderful experience for the kids. Next year, I'll enter!