Hope everyone had a good weekend. I know ours was good. The kids got out of school early on Thursday, off Friday and today (Monday) for "Fall Break". So, we went to Eclectic (North of Montgomery,AL just east of Wetumpka) for a family reunion. It was @ Melinda's Sister's house and it was the first big reunion on her side since her parents died in '03. It was just for the Saturday, not one of these all weekend events. We got there our usual 2 (ish) hours late, where we were quickly informed that bets had been placed that we would be the last to get there and what time we would get there. (Melinda's cousin, Holly and her son were only a few minutes earlier than us...) Glad we could provide a bit of conversation and entertainment.
It was good to see everyone. They had invited both families (Melinda's Mom's side and her Dad's). Being that they were all originally from Hokes Bluff (a little Mayberry like town east of Gadsden, AL), and many of them still reside within a 10-15 mile radius, they all are well acquainted with each other and for the most part, mix well in social settings. I think the head count was close to 75 people, but with this group, in contrast with my family, little kids were the minority... though they were well represented. I like Mel's family, and have grown quite fond of them over the years and it's times like these when I regret not being closer to them so the boys can know them too. It seems easier to go to my families events because there are so many cousins their age and they're used to seeing each other, but I hope we can make this a frequent gathering too.
Allison (Mel's sister who hosted the gathering) has 2 or 3 stocked ponds (one is probably big enough to call a lake... not sure of the qualifications though)... we've been fishing there before and of course Ethan caught 12 or 13 fish to mine and Stanton's 1... But not this time!!!! I think he was distracted by his cousins who were cruising around the property on a golf cart...
After lunch, many of the men, a wife or two, Ethan, Stanton, one other little boy and a few of the little girls headed to the water with their tackle boxes in tow... we went to the lake where we had not fished before, but where more folks were and put our hooks in the water. After a couple bites, it had come to our attention that people were catching a bunch of fish in the other pond. So, Everyone but Stanton and I went over to where the fish were biting. As soon as they were out of sight, I felt a couple bumps on my jig, then wham!!! I pulled in a 4 (ish) pound large mouth bass... Stanton pulls up next to me, then he pulls in a little bluegill (bream)... as we worked our way down this grassy shallow of the lake, I started pulling in nice 1 to 3 lb. basses with every other cast... now that's how I like to fish... I put a picture of Stanton's only bass... we were using the same kind of lure, but he mostly caught bluegills. After Stanton's big bass, he was anxious to go tell everybody else so he says: "Daddy, would you be lonely if I go to the other pond to fish?" I chuckled and told him that I'd go over there with him...
When we get over there, only a couple people were catching fish, no bass, only bluegill and a crappie or two... so we told them about what we'd been catching and thanks to the invention of cellphone cameras, we were able to back our story.
Anyways, I posted a picture of the biggest fish that I saw Ethan catch... a nice little bluegill... and I have had the pleasure of finally out-fishing my 10 year/old... I bet that if he weren't so concerned about fishing where everyone could see him (yes, a bit of a show-off)... then he probably would have done what he usually does and out fish me and Stanton.
It was a good time though and I look forward to our next visit.
After we left Allison's, we went to Ginger's house in Pine Level (just about 30 minutes NW of Allison's, and hung out with her 5 young'ns while she and Blake went to their Saturday session of Stake Conference. We stayed with them that night, had breakfast Sunday, they went to church and we went to Pelham (about 1 hour north)to go to Sacrament meeting with April and her family... we were going to stay for the rest of church, Stanton got sick and puked en route to the bathroom so we felt that we better head on home (yes, we cleaned up his mess first)... All-in-all it was a good weekend and nice being able to visit with all our family. I'm glad that we live close enough to visit, but far enough away to make most visits special. Thanks, Ginger for letting us crash there.
I gotta go, I hear some kind of commotion in the boy's room.
Later,
Scott
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