Spring Blossoms

We enjoyed some nice spring weather last week. One of my girls and my favorite things in spring is the ornamental cherry tree blossoms. After a couple weeks on the tree, the blossoms start to fall off, making it look like a fancy wedding reception all over the ground. The girls and I had fun throwing handfuls of blossom petals up in the air and watching them float to the ground.

Gone Fishin'

Alia and Madelyn got their first experience with fishing last Saturday. The fishing was done at a nearby lake and was sponsored by the city's parks and recreation dept. My Girls each got a fishing pole, a tee shirt and a chance to fish in the stocked lake. The lake was netted off about 20 feet from the shore so the fish didn't have very far to swim. The girls were given bait and instruction from our friend Richard and a guy from the Parks and Rec. (Aaron was at home with Ashlie because she wasn't feeling well.)
Alia and Madelyn both caught two fish.

Madelyn made the first catch from our group. She caught it about 30 seconds from casting her line.

Waiting for a bite
Madelyn got grossed out from the fish blood.

After we caught the fish, we went to Richard and Yumi's house and I got to learn how to gut a fish. Yes, I know, surprising. Actually gutting a fish wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The girls enjoyed looking at the insides of the fish. We got to see it's heart, liver, stomach (it had two pieces of bait in it) and we also looked in it's mouth and saw it's teeth and tongue. Very fun!
(I think my sister Lisa would be proud of me.)

We fried the fish up that afternoon. I learned that filleting a small trout is best done after cooking than before. Oh well, it tasted pretty good, although we did have some leftovers.

Food Fun

Sometimes you just gotta play with your food.