Hey guys! I'm back again with another blog post, but this time, it's a little different than usual! This time, I'm coming at you with a two-part blog post about our Memorial Day Weekend, and the fun we got in to!
So without further ado, let's get into the first portion of this post:
Our First Family Fishing Trip!
If you didn't check it out already, in my First Fishing Trip blog, I talked about going to a private pond to do some fishing with my Uncle for the first time this year, and honestly, it was the first Fishing Trip I've taken in almost 2 years!
Since one of my Uncles was in town from California, another Uncle and my Cousin decided to come from Kentucky to visit as well, and it was quickly decided that we were going to go back to the private pond and do some more fishing!
This time the whole crew went; Murty and Myself with our 3 kiddos; Uncle T from Cali; Uncle R and his son, Cousin R, who also brought his daughter, L!
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We were out there for a good 4 hours this trip, and we all had a great time running around and enjoying the fresh country air!
Uncle R caught the first fish of the day, and let me tell you what, it was a WHOPPER! Just look at that sucker!
All in all I think he caught a good 4 or 5, but he let L reel in most of them, and gave Cousin R his pole to use halfway through. Cousin caught another 2 or 3 and let Little L reel them in for him :)
Uncle T caught 4 or 5 I believe, all about the same size as our previous trip, but I think he was more worried about out fishing everyone else than actually fishing haha! Unfortunately, Uncle didn't send me any pictures he took of his fish. The only picture we have of one of the fish he caught happens to a little farther down below :)
Both of my daughters, Fairy and Bug, got their hands dirty and caught a few decent sized fish! It took them a little while to get the hang of it again, but they did pretty good. Patience is a good virtue for them to learn at this age, so it was a good life lesson as well as a fun time with our family!
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I personally didn't do too bad, catching 6 before we left for the day, and Junior actually helped me reel in a few. He was also more than happy to get his hands on the fish! I was so astounded at how good he was with everything, being it was his first Fishing Trip ever! In my personal opinion, we have to start teaching them young to fully develop an understanding and appreciation for such things! :)
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After an awesome day of fishing, we got back home and relaxed for the rest of the night, planning out what to do with the rest of our weekend.
So when we got up Sunday, and realizing how nice it was going to be again, we decided to do:
A Cowboy Cookout!
This all came about because we were playing outside with the kids, doing a little bit of gardening and other miscellaneous chores, when Murty suggested we make s'mores that evening.
Thinking that was a great idea, I got to work splitting some wood for a fire. I got to thinking while I was splitting, and thought a cookout would be a good idea since it was so nice out, and I was going to be outside tending the fire and making s'mores anyways so why not!?
Well, I quickly realized I didn't have charcoal for one grill, and the gas grill hasn't been doing the greatest lately (she's getting a little old and needs the guts replaced). But I was not about to let that stop me from cooking out, no siree!
Being as we generally live paycheck to paycheck, we had already bought our groceries for the week and we couldn't really afford an added expense, even if it was only charcoal (budgeting won't actually work unless you stick to the budget, right?).
So, being the resourceful person that I am, I decided that the cookout was still on. How you might ask?
I built a makeshift, DIY grill for the fire pit!
We had a few metal rods laying around behind the shed, and I quickly got to work setting up! I wanted it to be kinda similar to how cowboys would have cooked back in the Wild West, so I placed two rods on either side of the fire pit at angles. Crossing them into an "X" pattern, I tapped them into place with the head of a small sledge. After checking to make sure the grill grate fit in place, I secured the crossed rods with bailing wire to help keep them in place!
It brought a smile to my face and melted my heart to see how enthralled Bug was at how we were cooking! She was so eager to help, I designated her the "Fire Poker In Training", trying to teach her a little bit of fire safety, as well as some cooking lessons :)
All in all, I had the grate a little too far from the fire, so the food took a little while longer than expected to cook. But even though it took a while, the results were perfect! And, to my surprise, the entire family commented on how good the brats were! After this very successful trial run, I will definitely be updating this setup, and start cooking out like this more often in the summers!
After dinner, we finally made our s'mores for dessert and relaxed for the rest of the evening! While we may not have the most money or possessions, it's days like these that I love the most! The memories we made together were one of a kind, and I hope that this is a story my children will tell for years to come!
Well I think that about wraps up this one, but I'm very interested to know all the fun and exciting places and things you visited or did for Memorial Day Weekend!? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all enjoyed!
Stay Trippy, My Little Hippies! Have a wonderful weekend!
