:::startin' the trip:::

henry and i headed out a day ahead of the girls to mosquito lagoon to get everything set up before the invasion...

i really liked this photo:

:::around the camp:::

there was a lot of searching for shells, gathering firewood, and general "helpfulness"... (im omitting the whining, fighting, and direct defiance so that i can talk monica into coming next time.)

:::the girls fish - the girl's fish:::

the girls caught some small fish on some small shrimp on our small camping trip over to mosquito lagoon...

:::the camping crew:::

three girls under 5 (mary fran is hiding behind david) and me until ian parker showed up w/ two of his u.f. friends...

believe it or not it is not easy to run around in the flats with 7 people in the boat, no matter how small...

but a good time was had by all...

:::xtreme prediction:::

for the last two years cannon and i have been fishing in a tournament that runs on thursday nights on local lakes between the time changes... they are great fun and we have gotten progressively more competitive...

this year we are going to participate in a fishing series that is a little different format... the tournaments will be on the weekend, safe light to 3pm, 5 fish between the two of us, and at the end of the year, there will be a classic on the south chain of winter haven (one of our local lakes)...

it should be fun, and we will win the classic... apparently the grand prize is a $40k bass boat, so that'll be nice to have...

at this point it looks like our main sponsor is "big fish outfitters"... hopefully, he wont find out how bad we really are as fisherman, and revoke our sponsorship... if any other sucker wants to get some cheap promotion from the future xtreme bass series 2007 winners, let me know...

they say the new website is coming soon... this one is not the most impressive...

:::henry's night:::

it was henry's night to stay up... 30 minutes after the girls, it was all henry...

"Henry what do you want to do tonight on your big night? Do you want to kick the ball with daddy? How about we go for a walk?"



"Okay, you don't want to do that... So, what do you want to do?"



"Are you sure you want to play with the stroller on your night up?"



"I guess you're sure."

:::rub-a-dub:::

rub



a-dub



dub



three in a tub

:::the camping fishing:::

this is the way the fishing went on the camping trip... a front was in and the bite was slow, unless you wanted to catch stingray or crab... michael led the stingray competition with 2... congrats to michael..

p.s. cannon (in fairness) caught his limit of trout during the one window of "bite", and a keeper red later... michael and i each caught a rat red... we caught some catfish... most interesting, michael snapped off on a fish and about half an our later we spotted his cork bouncing along i snagged the line and had a brief fight with his lost fish...

:::camping 101:::

well... we went camping this last week, the whole family for the first time... packed up the boat and drove to mosquito lagoon with cousin michael in the mix, and joined the cannon kirby family with their two kids...

it rained and the wind blew... thats the recipe for camping disaster... our clothes were wet, everything was damp... there was one big tarp that served for a dry place to sit, well... after we dug a trench to keep the water from standing two inches high underneath it... and then it got cold...

most painful (to me) was the fact that my inverter got wet and quit working, so no nice christmas lights at night...

but...

we all had fun, and i think that is the recipe for a family that is going to have fun camping generally... cause when the elements are bad it can spoil everything, but they did great...



a picture of the boat ride over... the island we reserved is to the left over michaels shoulder...

who would know from the look on giana's face that this was anything but perfect camping weather, and to be sure she got the royal treatment, so she may not have known... henry eating some beach sand... june with fern, and june the baitgirl... aiden eating some lovely cheese... and me, pulling the boat off of another sand bar i managed to find...

:::henry loves birds:::

a couple more pictures from mosquito lagoon...

henry was very excited to see this large a bird at such a close distance...



so he decided to sneak in for a closer look...



and almost made it...

:::june is beautiful:::