Fishing and fillet ... with girls

Fino took his brother-in-law and his older neice and nephew fishing the other day.

They found a quiet spot off Route 114 in Standish.

It turned out that C. caught the fish.

They caught two small fish on this particular trip and our nephew V. decided to fillet one of the fish for dinner that night. Unfortunately for him, he had to contend with not only the fish, but his two youngest sisters along with G. and L. begging him to 'save the other fish' so they could keep it.

But they didn't win that argument and suprisingly, all of them decided to stay and watch V. fillet the fish. 

While sitting at the counter with V., G. decided to recount a video clip she had seen on TV about a man about to eat a fish head before he noticed the fish's gills still moving (it was an animated telling with arm gestures).

There were a hefty number of "EEEEEEWWWWWWS" and shrieks during the fillet process and all but our niece S. ducked when V. chopped the head off (with a dull knife so it took a couple of tries to do it - not a pleasant sight). S. was basically horrified with how that happened.

Then L. had an idea about what to do with the headless fish.

And I wonder if you can guess who ended up with the head in the end ...


[NOTE: This video is graphic and not for weak stomachs.]
The Unfortunate Fish

Camping on Pleasant Pond in Richmond

Earlier this week my friend and I took our girls camping in Richmond on Pleasant Pond. The kids had a blast (and the moms had fun too).

The beach was really muddy where we were staying but the kids didn't mind.

The mud was shin-deep in places and by the end of the trip each one of the girls had painted themselves - intentionally - with it.

It was however a bit tricky with the mud and all the fresh water clams (or whatever kind of shellfish they were) in it. The kids, L. in particular, had little razor-like slices all over her feet. It was hard to predict where the clams would be when you stepped into the mud so they were hard to avoid.

The kids loved sleeping in the tent and settled down at a reasonable hour. But even after the kids were asleep the moms kept chatting into the night so we were more tired than the kids the next morning.

When I first saw this buzzing around, I thought it was a butterfly. I wouldn't have guessed it was a dragon fly without this one staying still so I could zoom in with my camera.

The girls planned and prepared shish ka bobs for dinner our first night. They were tasty!

Cooking shish ka bobs was easy for the girls on the grill and it was great to eat so well on the trip.

The kids have built camp fires before but got a few pointers from their friends' mom.

No camping trip is complete without roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.

L. wasn't the only one setting her marshmallows on fire. They all thought that was the best way to 'roast' them - well, it certainly was the quickest way to melt them.

But L. got a little carried away 'roasting' several marshmallows at a time on her stick and ended up wearing some.

She had it streaked through her hair and all over her face.

We saw a beautiful sunset our first night and the kids couldn't resist doing another silly photo.

The second day was rainy and foggy but we decided to keep to our plans of canoeing. The girls just stayed closer to shore and didn't paddle too far down the pond.

It may have been a short camping trip (just 2 nights) but the kids won't forget all the fun they had on the pond!

You can see more of our camping vacation photos

And be sure to share your own Maine vacation pics!

Hard to believe, but it's true

My kids are Juliette Girl Scouts and decided to get together for a special outdoor badge ceremony with a couple of their friends (also Juliettes).

The older girls had planned the ceremony and all was going well until it was time for G. to give her sister her badges.

She took them out of the baggie so she could name each one awarded. But as fate would have it, G. dropped one of the badges and it went right through the dock and into the water.

The errant badge: "Water Fun"

This photo of the floating badge - I didn't know it could float! - is blurry because I couldn't keep the camera still. I was laughing too hard.

The badge was recovered and L.'s Water Fun badge has taken on a whole new significance on her sash.

Driving, jumping and duck head feathers

The Ossipee Valley Fair opened yesterday (it runs through Sunday) and we went to check out the girls' 4-H exhibits, take Seen Team pictures and have some fun.

I had extra Seen Team helpers last night with the girls' visiting cousins from California.

See our Seen Team photos from the fair (if you go, be sure to share your pictures too!)

We stopped by an animals for sale exhibit where we've purchased our ducks in past and had a moment of realization about our own Victorian lady.

We thought our duck may have had a parent that was a cross-bred from this one.

The stray head feathers for our duck make a little more sense to us now.

We loved this one's fro.

We also had to look at the bunnies and L. took yet another opportunity to argue her case for getting her own (something she has done for several years now). She wants to incorporate it into her yearly 4-H projects but Fino keeps turning down the idea. He thinks we've got enough going on in our yard with the chickens and ducks.

L. is working on new negotiation tactics.

The kids tried out the bumper cars for the first time this year and I was a little frightened with L.'s driving.

After seeing this devilish look I started counting how many years I had to learn deep breathing techniques in anticipation of her getting her license (6 1/2 and counting now).

The kids also really enjoyed the bungee jump with their cousins.

They had a big thank you for their tio and tia for buying them tickets to try it!

Bungee Jumping at Ossipee Valley Fair

Kick back - the fair is about to begin

The kids put the finishing touches on their 4-H projects this weekend for the Ossipee Fair (we always have fun at this fair). It opens this Thursday but their stuff needs to be delivered to the 4-H exhibit hall tonight for judging before opening day.

Both girls are entering projects for sewing (L. is sad she has to live a week without her fairy quilt), knitting, crafts and art. L made a poster about being a member of the Trail Blazers and G. put together a YouTube poster about her videos on our channel. Since she couldn't enter an actual video (not a category option at this fair for 4-Hers), she opted to make the poster instead with screen snaps of the videos she personally took and/or edited (which would more than 1/2 of what's on our channel). She also tallied how many views her favorite videos received. It was a nice little practical math lesson that she enjoyed.

So yesterday Fino came home from the store with a special treat for the girls.

They thought they deserved a good rest after finishing up all their projects and fair paperwork.

Sweet - and SOUR - berry time

After dinner - and the thunderstorms - we went strawberry picking at Dole's Orchard in Limington.

We spent less than 40 minutes picking and managed to net a little over 20 pounds of strawberries. They were ripe and plentiful last night!

We were told that there were also some ripe cherry trees at the orchard and we couldn't resist picking some of those as well. We had never picked cherries before.



After eating one right off the tree and feeling like the enamel on my teeth was going to come off, I let the kids know the cherries were REALLY sour. And although my kids love sour stuff - including sucking on lemons and limes - I wasn't sure even they would like them.

But they had to try them and both agreed that they were in fact pucker-face sour.

It took L. nearly a minute to recover from the sourness of the bite she took.

We only picked two pounds of cherries and that was just enough for a cobbler. I had never made a fresh cherry cobbler before and decided to add some sweet wild blueberries to offset the tartness of the cherries (and to avoid having to add so much sugar - the recipe called for a cup and a half but with the blueberries a single cup was more than enough).

The kids and Fino gave the dish a big thumbs up and suggested we go pick more cherries today.

I guess we've got another favorite fruit season in our house now. I just wish it wasn't so time consuming to pit the cherries ...


CHERRY BERRY COBBLER Recipe

1 cup sugar 3 Tablespoons corn starch 3 cups sour cherries (pits removed) 1 cup wild blueberries

Add all above ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens then transfer to baking dish.

In a separate bowl, add the following ingredients and mix just until combined.

3 Tablespoons shortening 1 cup flour 1 Tablespoon sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the warm cherries and then bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes.

Do you have a favorite berry recipe? Post it below!

Drawing nature, creative license and staying still

Yesterday was a quiet morning for us so the girls and I decided to sit in our backyard and draw for a while.

L. likes to draw so I try to encourage her as often as I can.

G. thought the flowers were too hard to draw and she was tired of the drawing trees (after drawing one) so she took some creative license with the daisies and drew "pretty purple flowers because they are prettier." Apparently she felt the same about our white ducks too.

G. enjoys drawing too but more from her imagination that what she's looking at.

L. decided to draw the chickens but it was hard to capture much detail because they kept moving around or sitting in their holes.

So she asked her sister to help.

G. caught a hen and held her still while L. and I tried to draw her.

Next time the chickens will likely run away a little faster. L. wanted a full wing view and her sister helped the hen accomodate her.

And as I've mentioned many times, chickens are really entertaining to watch especially when they're digging their holes.

I guess the difference between dogs and chickens is that dogs don't lie around in their holes all day. The chickens use their holes to take dirt baths and sleep. Or maybe dogs do the same?

I'm thinking maybe it's a little weird that I don't know ...