Lake Nacogdoches Part 3

Greetings friends and family,

It's 2:00 AM and I'm still awake so this this technically my "daily" post as promised.  Kendra left me alone with the kids and flew to Sacramento.  I know this is out of timeline sequence, but these two images describe my situation.  True

and True...

Back to the lake experience... Easton and Layla quickly grew accustomed to being lake rats.  we went out almost every morning and then again in the afternoon. These two were quite a sight to see how comfortable they were boating.

The Wave Runner was high up on Kendra's list of lake toy enjoyment.  She ripped around the lake with no fear and looked great doing it!

One of the few disappointments of the Nacogdoches visit was the Annual Blueberry festival.  Richard told us about it, but we didn't really know what to expect.  One might think there would be blueberries there, right?  Not so much.  The local vendors took over the festival and turned it into a "see how much useless crap we can get people to buy" expo.  There was only one place selling anything edible with blueberries in it.  That was cheesy make-shift 50's diner where they scooped up generic brand vanilla ice cream into a bowl and then poured blueberry syrup over it.  That's it. No fresh blueberries by the box, no blueberry pie, and no blueberry refrigerator magnets.

The good thing about the festival was the whole-smoked turkey legs.  Delicious!

The biggest catch of the trip is this catfish.

I was fishing with worms on Layla's 3 foot long princess rod and reel because she lost interest.  I knew from the first pull this one was going to be a big boy.  Easton was so excited when I reeled it in that he wanted to get his picture with it.

If you ask Easton what were the highlights of the texas lake trip?  One of the guaranteed items on the list would be gutting and cleaning the catfish. He was intently fascinated and not grossed out.  We ended up with a nice fillet!

Easton and Layla were excited to fish each day. Especially when the fish were biting.  We went through almost 100 worms!  My fingers were stained brown from the dirt and guts that got smashed into the crevasse when I squished the worms in half.  I know... that's gross!  but I didnt mind one bit.

Richard also had a slingshot hanging around the house.  I bought a box of steel ball ammunition from Walmart and taught them how to use the slingshot.  Maybe a life-saving skill to know one day!  You never know.

Layla encountered nature in a way she never has before.  Both good and bad.  One the good side, she had dragon flys literally landing on her hand.

But on the bad side, the bugs ate her up.  She ended up with a spider bite on her cheek.  It swelled, it oozed, we freaked, she went to the hospital, she received an antibiotic shot, and all is well.

Seeing her in pain was the most difficult, defenseless thing I've experienced in a long time.  It sure hurt not being able to help her at all, but I'm just happy nothing serious or long-term came from it.

The spiders and bugs were thick being so close to the lake and surrounding woods.  We aren't used to that being Arizonans where bugs die from the heat.  At dusk we sat on the dock as a family.  Then Kendra noticed the creepy spiders coming out in droves to repair their web and do whatever spiders do.  She immediately jumped up and headed for the house!

I'll give a wrap up tomorrow of the lake trip, but this is pretty much it when it comes to pictures we took.

See you soon!