Thursday, June 24, 2010
Peace in The SouthEast
A calm fell over the Cheek house last night as a part of our summer that was missing has finally arrived. Most, if not all of our followers have met Samantha, Jennifer's niece (really, her cousin once removed) from Michigan. A flower girl in our wedding, we really got to know Samantha over last summer break when she agreed to live with us for 8 weeks and take care of the boys. It couldn't have worked out better. It went so well we invited her to vacation with us in Nags Head, NC last year and last night we picked her up from the airport for "Summer in Melbourne, Part II". We only have 4 short weeks with her this summer, but I'm sure we'll make the most of it. Thanks to Michigan for sharing Sam with us for the next four weeks. We'll send her back safe and sound.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Alex breaks Dad's Streak!
It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm certainly not trying to make a living on the water and I don't enter tournaments that often. Once or twice a year I'll test my skill and well, let's just say I've yet to make it on the leaderboard.
This weekend the boys and I fished in the "4 Kids" charitable event out of Treasure Coast Marina and Sponsored by our friends at the the Strike Zone. When you're fishing with a 7 and 8 year old, you hope for best, but expect only to have a fun day on the water. We did manage to start fishing by 7:30, not too bad considering we had to drive an hour to get to the ramp. On our first stop we got into some trout, but none big enough for the scales. Around 9:30 we shifted gears and headed to the channel, Ladyfish was a category and I was crossing my fingers that a few would be around. We struggled, but managed to get one in the boat for Alex before the boys became intrigued by a large shoal with many boats and kids wading near the inlet in 6-8" of water. We stopped and played there for about an hour before we made one last shot. We headed under the bridge, and it was catfish heaven. While we were there I learned that jumping in the water after a fishing pole with your self-inflating life vest on is not a bad way to test it's functionality. Let's just say those catfish pull a good bit harder than anything else the boys have caught, especially in a current!
So, we headed back to the marina with a catfish (ugliest fish contest) for Brayden and a Ladyfish for Alex. As it turns out, Ladyfish were a tougher target that day than we knew. Only 5 or 6 kids out the 50 competing brought one in and Alex's was in 2nd place at the end of the day! He brought home a new rod and reel along with a great trophy and broke my spell of tournaments without an award. Maybe Alex and Brayden are my good luck charms for future events? At the very least, it's a great excuse to test that theory!
Author's Note: Brayden's catfish was trumped by the ugliest glob of a want to be squid turned into mud-pie that I've ever seen. It was actually alive and breathing or I would have assumed the gulf oil spill had made it to the sebastian inlet. Even Brayden admitted "that thing is ugly Dad, I'm not going to win"
This weekend the boys and I fished in the "4 Kids" charitable event out of Treasure Coast Marina and Sponsored by our friends at the the Strike Zone. When you're fishing with a 7 and 8 year old, you hope for best, but expect only to have a fun day on the water. We did manage to start fishing by 7:30, not too bad considering we had to drive an hour to get to the ramp. On our first stop we got into some trout, but none big enough for the scales. Around 9:30 we shifted gears and headed to the channel, Ladyfish was a category and I was crossing my fingers that a few would be around. We struggled, but managed to get one in the boat for Alex before the boys became intrigued by a large shoal with many boats and kids wading near the inlet in 6-8" of water. We stopped and played there for about an hour before we made one last shot. We headed under the bridge, and it was catfish heaven. While we were there I learned that jumping in the water after a fishing pole with your self-inflating life vest on is not a bad way to test it's functionality. Let's just say those catfish pull a good bit harder than anything else the boys have caught, especially in a current!
So, we headed back to the marina with a catfish (ugliest fish contest) for Brayden and a Ladyfish for Alex. As it turns out, Ladyfish were a tougher target that day than we knew. Only 5 or 6 kids out the 50 competing brought one in and Alex's was in 2nd place at the end of the day! He brought home a new rod and reel along with a great trophy and broke my spell of tournaments without an award. Maybe Alex and Brayden are my good luck charms for future events? At the very least, it's a great excuse to test that theory!
Author's Note: Brayden's catfish was trumped by the ugliest glob of a want to be squid turned into mud-pie that I've ever seen. It was actually alive and breathing or I would have assumed the gulf oil spill had made it to the sebastian inlet. Even Brayden admitted "that thing is ugly Dad, I'm not going to win"
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Robbie's Fish Camp
Well worth the stop on your way down into the keys. They are located around MP 77, just West of Islamorada. Check out the main attraction.
Summerland Key
What a wonderful week at "Windswept" in Summerland Key. We would highly recommend this great little cottage. Summerland is not a high tourist area, but has a local fish market, a couple restaurants and a nice little "gourmet" grocery. While the produce left a bit to be desired, anything you wanted in a bottle or can was available. With a Winn Dixie only two keys to the East (6 miles), we never had to go far to get anything we needed.
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