You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September, 2007.
I’m warning you, this is a big post – many pictures!
Labour Day Weekend 2007 was full of fun and adventures. It all started on our way up to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Wiarton. Connor’s obsession with water towers has continued and grown. He is now at the point where he wants to touch the towers. That’s okay with me, but not with some municipalities. Many of the water towers have fences around them and even though Connor thinks that Grandpa has a key to unlock the gates, their fences cannot be breached. The Tara water tower, which is blue for your information, is one of the few we’ve found that is accessible. As a special treat on the way to Wiarton we stopped to touch it!
When Connor started at the North Perth Daycare Centre in Listowel, he was in the youngest group of children. He was a ‘Butterfly’. This summer, about two weeks before school started in September, Connor was moved up to the intermediate group. He is now a ‘Firefly’. He loved being a Butterfly, but being a Firefly is even more fun. Every morning as we drive up to the daycare he yells out, “SCHOOL!!”. It’s very exciting! As a Butterfly he would go right into his classroom when he arrived. Now as a Firefly, when he arrives at ’school’ he goes directly outside to play with his friends.
When this big advancement occurred, Grandpa wanted to know if these ‘flies’ had naps in the afternoon. They do. And occasionally Connor will too. He’s had to have more than a few reminders to be quiet in the sleep room, but I think it’s starting to sink in. When I ask him what the sleep room rule is, he replies, “No talking.” in a very solemn voice.
I’ve just added a new category called ‘Connorisms’. There are a few things that come out of this boy’s mouth that are very unique or totally hillarious and I wanted to have a place to showcase them. Here are just a few ‘Connorisms’.
I’ve been a little slow about getting this one posted. I wanted to have all of the pictures and some of them were on Grandma’s camera. They’re all together now, so here goes!
This was Connor’s first ever fishing adventure. I think Grandma, Grandpa and I were more excited than he was. Isn’t that the way it always is? Our adventure began with a stop at the wiggly worm store. Can’t fish without bait! (I could.) We purchased two tubs of worms, both of which had to be opened in the store to make sure there were worms in them. Worms – check. We then proceeded to our pre-determined fishing hole – Isaac Lake. It’s a small inland lake just north of Wiarton – not too big, not too small, just perfect for a little ride in Grandpa’s boat.
Here we are getting ready to depart the dock.
Anyone who has fished with Jimmy knows that it will take a minimum of 15 minutes extra prep time at the dock before you can finally head out. (Did I say that out loud? Sorry Jimmy.) We’d asked the fellow at the wiggly worm store about a good spot on the lake to try our luck. It didn’t take us long to find it and after only a few minutes we knew he hadn’t steered us wrong. Grandpa had the honour of baiting our hooks.
We used sinkers with bobbers. Boy, that brought back memories! The only thing Grandpa forgot to bring was a piece of rope to tie the rod to the boat. I told him I’d learned my lesson about 37 years ago and I promised not to drop the pole in the water on this outing. Connor loved pushing the button to release the line and then reeling it back in with a fish on the hook.
We caught perch, after perch, after perch, after perch! As soon as the line went into the water it was swarmed. Several of them would have been big enough to keep, but we were practicing catch and release. Grandma caught one of the biggest. Connor had a chance to get up close and personal with one of the perch as Grandpa was releasing it, but he wasn’t brave enough to touch either a worm or a fish. (A chip off the old mommy block.)
After so much hard work fishing he started to get a little tired.
He laid down with a towel covering everything but his feet. We took our cue from Connor. Grandpa hurried to use up the last of the worms from one of the tubs, then we motored back to the dock. It was a very successful first fishing trip and hopefully one of many more to come.
Since that outing, Grandpa has gone through all of his lures, hooks, bobbers and other miscellaneous fishing apparatus to put together a tackle box for Connor. He’d already picked up a pole and reel for him on the last trip to Bass Pro. Looks like we have a new fisherman in the family!
