the outings, part two.

packing and all things related to moving have officially kicked me in the behind and now i’m pooped.  so i’ll just jump right in with the rest of the pictures and then head to bed.  can’t.  think.  any.  longer.  too.  fuzzy.

but as promised, grandpa took mikey and the rest of us fishing again.  this time, we went to a pond near my dad’s place.  we decided to walk over to it.

it was a rather long walk.  uphill both ways.

but the lure of finally catching a fish was enough to bring on the much-needed second wind.

so while mikey walked the whole way there and back, the other two munchkins did hardly any walking.

getting a quick casting lesson from grandpa.

and before long…

the boy had it down!  (made this mama so proud!).

learning that patience and fishing go hand in hand.

this time, allie wanted to give fishing a try too.  and liked it pretty well until she informed grandpa that she was tired of “twirling the wheel”.  then she came and sat with daddy and lauren who were eating chips and m&ms.  and there she stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

but good things come to those who wait (and stick with it)!

mikey was equal parts excited and totally freaked out.  he absolutely didn’t want that fish to touch him.  thankfully grandpa was on hand to gently release the fish back in to the water.

high five for the brand new fisherman.

grandpa and mikey made a great team- they ended up catching and releasing five fish that day!  phil and i on the other hand, still had no luck and didn’t get a single nibble.  sheesh.

and after the great fishing expedition, grandpa took us on a nice drive out to the coast, just beyond hearst castle, where we saw…

lots and lots of elephant seals.

lots and LOTS.  and they were pretty stinky.

but pretty cool, too.

it had been really windy and cold the whole week at grandpa’s.  but it was crazy windy out there at the beach.

SUPER windy.

don’t these two look like they’re singing a duet together?  ha ha.  they were actually doing some male dominance chest bumping thing.

which made mikey want to try it, too.

that is, until daddy’s beard proved to be too scratchy.  : p