first catch

:: first we caught it ::

:: and then we ate it ::

And by "we" I don't mean the kids.

When we went apple picking we stopped at another little kitschy place to go fishing.  There was a petting zoo and trout ponds and they promised that even the novice fisherman will catch their first fish.  Sounded fun.  Sounded very "boy."  Sounded like something we needed to do.

And it was fun...for the kids.  For the parents it was a racket!  We walked up to the area where the trout ponds were located and the guy working the gate smiled at us and began to give us the fishing instructions.  Who knew there were so many instructions to...fish.

"You have to pay $5 a piece to enter the petting zoo and the trout pond area (and there's a quick 20 bucks) but you can come and go all day (how many pigs and goats can you pet?) and the fishing is free except it is not catch-and-release, so you have to buy whatever you catch and the average fish runs you about $10."

Geez! When the hell did taking your boys fishing get so damn expensive?

The trout ponds were stocked!  (And by pond, I mean a cement pond much like on the Beverly Hillbillies.)  They hand you a bamboo pole with nothing but a line and hook (all very Huck Finn) and a little bit of fish food.

The Cheese stuck his pole in the water and within seconds--and I literally mean seconds--he had caught his first fish.  (And there's another 10 bucks).  Then it was the Monkey's turn and again it was a quick catch.  (Which brought the fish total to 20 bucks).  I was happy to see that the boys were going to have success, but the Golfer and I looked at each other like, "This is going to cost us a damn fortune."

Within 15 minutes we had caught 8 fish.  Fortunately for us, 3 of them got away.  Thank goodness because how much trout can a family of four eat when two of the four don't eat fish?  However, we still had caught 50 bucks worth of fish; 50 bucks worth of fish that was going to have to make an 1 and half hour drive home.  Fun!  (Smiling with sarcasm.)

So 20 minutes and $70 into our fishing adventure, it was time to quit.  And lucky for us, the boys were satisfied with their catch.  But suddenly it all became worth it when it was time for the boys to watch the fish get cleaned.



That, of course, was their favorite part.  $70 worth of fish gut fun.