Summer Afternoon

"Summer afternoon, Summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language" -Henry James

A Girl and her Fish

A couple of weeks ago, Ryann had a field trip. To a trout farm. When I read the flier, I thought, "Oh that's nice, she will have fun catching and releasing little fish." I was wrong. I didn't know that after she caught a fish, we would have to take said fish home. Ryann caught her fish through the eye. I was done right there. I was not prepared for the amount of blood, and being the great mom that I am, I ran this poor fish to the only dad that came on the trip. Poor guy. He unhooked the now blind fish with blood all over it and put it in Ryann's bucket. Poor fish, it was flopping around, dying a slow death. I begged Ryann's teacher to allow us to throw it back, but she said that was not part of the plan and had me take the fish to a man in a booth, who then proceeded to end the fish's suffering, and get it prepared for us to take home and cook for dinner. Gross. Meanwhile, Ryann is oblivious, telling all her classmates and their parents how adorable her fish is and how she is going to take it home for a pet. She used the word adorable (her current favorite adjective) about 15 times.

In the car, I explained to her that the adorable fish was no longer with us. Thinking that she would be really upset by this, I was shocked that she wanted Mark to cook him when he got home from work. When Mark got home, Ryann was right by him as he chopped off the fish's head and tail and she even helped him season and grill the fish. Mark and I wanted nothing to do with the actual eating of the fish. Ryann, on the other hand, ate every bite.

Ryann presenting her catch


Here is a video of Ryann helping Mark cook her "Adorable" Fish. Ryann's pappy (a skilled fisherman) should be so proud. Heather, you get a shout out as well...funny!

Proud of our Cubbie

Ryann recently finished her first year of Cubbies with AWANA. She loved it, We loved it..such a great program for kids (and their parents) I loved learning these little verses just as much as she did. Here is our girl at the Awards ceremony with her cute friends from our small group...