Tuesday, August 24, 2010

a surprise at every turn

Before we left for our trip to the Outer Banks, Lucas mentioned to me that he was not at all interested in fishing. Too boring. I made a mental note.

The thing is, his cousin Miles is a serious fisherman. He's had a lot of fishing experience in his almost 10 years, and he loves it. And somehow he convinced Lucas to try it.

He liked it. Those two spent a lot of hours out there on the dock, joined by Max some of the time.

One night, I could see Lucas running up the dock. I went out to hear the news, and he told me that he caught a baby shark! I grabbed my camera and went to document his catch, only to learn that he had already thrown it back. What the? It was like he didn't know me at all.

I sat out there for awhile and watched. To my amazement, Lucas was going over and handling the baby squid they were using for bait. He was actually picking it up and putting it on his line, frequently. This, from the boy who won't let me set the meat next to him at the dinner table! Unbelievable.

Max also caught a baby shark, and to his credit, he waited until I had taken a picture before he threw it back.

Lucas also caught a puffer fish! He caught a bunch of other fish, but my dad teasingly told him that he would have to eat the 11th fish he reeled in. I noticed his enthusiasm for fishing waned after the 10th...

On one of the first days we were there, Timm got the kayaks out and was giving the girls rides. (Unsurprisingly, Eva was not a fan.) I was thinking that Max would be interested and that Lucas would not.

Again, he completely shocked me – not only did he want to try it, he wanted to do it alone! It's like I didn't even know who he was.

Timm said, "He's a long way from kittens and butterflies," (two things he was afraid of at one point as a small boy). Indeed. I was just thrilled to see him branching out and trying new things.

During the week, we had one delightfully rainy day. The kids, however, were feeling deprived of the opportunity to go swimming. Eva had also taken a late nap and I feared she would never go to bed, so I told my kids they could go night swimming.

The sun was going down when we went out, but then it got this dark. The night held 2 surprises for me:

1. Eva was not afraid of swimming in the black as night ocean. I had to force her to get out.
2. Lucas was still willing to go swimming in the water when he knew for a fact that baby sharks were swimming in it.


One night while watching tv, I heard a sound like something dropping. I wandered into the kitchen and saw a shell on the floor. Thinking that was somewhat strange, I picked it up and put it back on the shelf.

Unbeknownst to me, this scenario was repeated multiple times with various family members before we realized that the shells we had collected were inhabited by hermit crabs that were walking off the shelves!

Jessie inspecting a shell to check for an inhabitant. She thought it was clear. We thought that about a lot of the shells, but they all turned out to have crabs inside!

We got such a kick out of the shells just walking off of surfaces in their attempts to escape. We put this one on the table when we were playing games to try to catch him in the act, but he must have known he was under observation because he stayed absolutely still until we all left the vicinity.

And lastly, we were surprised by this lovely friend sitting on the couch in Max & Lucas's sleeping quarters. (Well, only my little family was surprised – the others knew about her from last year but they didn't want to clue us in ahead of time.)

Also, Max woke up with pink eye on our last day at the beach house. I had to take him to the beach clinic, which was a long and expensive ordeal. I regretted that I had forgotten to bring my camera along, because the doctor took him into a darkened room and put neon dye in his eye and shone a bright light in his face to make sure the eye wasn't scratched, didn't have any foreign matter, etc. That doesn't happen every day.

It just goes to show you, you never can tell what will happen! Even when you think you already know.

8 comments:

Natasha said...

Only your child could get pink eye while on vacation! Seriously, wasn't it enough that you hurt your foot?! Seems like you enjoyed a wonderful trip anyway. That is too funny about the crabs in the shells walking away.

patsy said...

what a post!?

I was surprised at each new thing?!

what a delight-

that lucas is really growing up-

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

I love the picture of Lucas and the fish. You get some of the best shots.

I cannot believe Eva would swim in the night ocean AND with baby sharks. I wouldn't have, I'm only quasi-brave.

Max with the mannequin reminds me of Bianca in the movie Lars and Real Girl. Have you seen it? One awkward movie that leaves you still thinking about it.

Walking shells! How funny.

Miranda said...

Okay. I would be TERRIFIED to swim with your kids because 1) it's the ocean, 2) it's dark, and 3) BABY SHARKS! I can't believe your kids weren't even phases.

Susan said...

A perfect review!

Michelle said...

We were all cracking up about the hermit crabs.

I love Lucas's adventurous spirit!

How is Miss Eva enjoying kindergarten?

Jill said...

Even though I've heard about Lucas' fishing interest and bravery I'm still totally shocked about it! The picture of him holding the fish is shocking proof, especially with Max's baby shark photo on top of it. Yikes! I can't believe Lucas or Eva swam in the water, and am even more shocked that they swam at night!!! Who are these children?!

Rebekah said...

Oh, see, now I'm not sure I can swim in that water know there are so many animals swimming in it. But that baby shark is wicked awesome.

Wowzer, I would also never be able to handle night swimming in the ocean! Way to go, Eva!

That is the funniest thing ever about the shells! Born free!

MANNEQUINS!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

This post is full of frightening things!

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