Big Craw Daddys

Greetings friends and family,

We are great hunters!  kind of.  My plan of catching, cooking, and eating crawdads went better than expected.  The crew who went out hunting was me, Easton, Layla, Oupa, Uncle Casey, and Aunt Barbie.  We brought our sticks with fishing line and a big hook tied to the end.  We also brought a bag of bacon and a bucket.

I'm proud to celebrate the fact that every person of our six-man crew caught at least one crawdad.  We put bacon on the hook, lower it into the water next to a huge rock, and then wait for the crawdad to clamp onto the bacon.  Then, we pull it up to the top of the water slowly.  Oupa was the bucket man holding the 5 gallon trap just beneath the water so that the crawdad never came out of the water.  Into the bucket they went.

Barbie was the most skeptical of our method, but she was the first one to catch a crawdad!  Layla cheered loudly when her first one plopped into the bucket.

I wanted to get pictures, but we were all teetering on the edge of slippery rocks holding sticks.  We were too busy having fun and catching the cockroaches of the rivers.  We packed our gear and the haul of crawdads back to the truck with great triumph.  Here's Easton and Layla displaying our good fortune.

We sped home to Kendra and Ouma who had the kitchen ready and waiting for us.  Kendra was creeped out by the living creatures being tossed into boiling water and cooked.  She claims to have heard one of them scream, but I can't confirm or deny.

We let them cool off in a colander while preparing the rest of the spread.  corn on the cob was the likely compliment to go with something as "southern" as crayfish.

Easton dove right in by following my lead.  rip off the tail, fork out the tail meat.  Then crack open the claws for two more tiny morals of meat.

This girl wasn't intimidated in the least.  She flung crawdad guts on Oupa by accident as she cracked hers open.  As with everything, she did it with a strong passion.

The crawdad adventure was difficult, time consuming, dirty, and sometimes a bit gross.  Even so, it was 100% worth it to teach the twins a life-skill and have a fun adventure with family.  'm sure we'll never forget this.

Ouma made the twins' room special.  Easton's bed includes a hand-sewn pillow with his name, rocket bed spread, and a space mobile hanging over his bed.  The planets are continually spinning around as Easton drifts off to sleep each night.

Layla's bed is shrouded with pink lace material with sparkly jewels on it.  Her pink pillow and brightly colored bed spread match her wardrobe and personality perfectly.

Kendra and I are ready for a vacation from the kids.  We will sleep better in a strange city and a strange bed knowing our kids are safe with Ouma and Oupa.   It's been a long time since we've had a road trip and two nights alone.  As much as I love Easton and Layla, I can't wait to be away from them for a few days because I during this time I get to focus all of my attention on Kendra.  Hooray for get-aways.

Kendra said, "are you sure we can afford to do this?"  I said, "It's cheaper than divorce."  I was kidding with my response and we both smiled and had a good laugh because we don't ever use that word in anger or seriousness.  We are so far on the other end of the scale being in-love, but there is still some truth to that statement.

See you soon!