Our weekend was long and eventful. It began Thursday night with a family dinner to kickoff a celebratory weekend for some elder Yasui's who had passed on in recent years out of state, but wanted to have a final resting place in Hood River. It appears that there was a little bit of a misunderstanding on my part about the events, however...and I wasn't the only one! It was our (immediate family here) thought that Friday morning was going to be a gathering at the park for a fun time with the families that traveled from afar to attend the gatherings. It was at a park, and I was informed that there would be music, singing, etc...... What I didn't know was that it was an actual memorial service and that eulogies were to be delivered and memories of the deceased were to be shared....oh, boy! Well, trying to get my kids to sit through a memorial service is like telling them to go to sleep on a roller coaster. They were restless, anxious and slightly confused at all the people talking and crying. No surprise there. But, so that I could enjoy it, what does this mother do? I give my son my phone so that he can play angry birds. I made sure that the volume was down so as not to disturb the ceremony taking place. Two minutes in to him playing, silently I might add, the phone begins to blare this rock music with screeching birds. OH. MY. LORD!!! My face surely lost all color, as did my son's. I grabbed it from him and fumbled to shut it down as quickly as I could. How could this happen??!! I was sure I had turned the volume down! As I painfully discovered that day there is a volume control for media activities within the actual phone volume, and it was turned up to the max. I SHOULD have known this, but, the phone is still fairly new, and I don't play a lot of games on it! Needless to say, the morning did not go as I had expected.
Fast forward through the rest of the weekend and it was a wonderful time with family, young and old....and the memories shared (and made) were beautiful.
On Saturday, when the gatherings had quieted, Corey and I decided to take the kids fishing. Cooper went a couple of years ago, but the girls have never gone. We went to a little reservoir up toward one of the local lakes. Beautiful, warm evening..it was perfect. It took the children a while to "get in to" the whole fishing thing. There were flies to be chased, birds to be watched and rocks to be thrown. But, when Rayla's pole began to wiggle a little, she dove in like pro! She reeled and reeled as hard as she could, fishing line bouncing and all, to catch her first fish....all by herself! She was so proud of herself, and we, and the the other kids were proud of her, too! She had no fear...she grabbed that trout when it came to shore and proudly showed off her trophy catch. All 11 inches of it! She was the only successful catcher that day. We brought him home and the kids watched while Corey cleaned it. I wasn't sure how they'd handle it and wondered if they'd be traumatized by the removal of a fish head. Not my kids. They watched with an intensity that I have never seen before, especially Rayla. She wanted to be part of every step of what was to be done with her fish. We decided we would cook it yesterday at dinner time for her to eat if she liked. I cooked it and plated it special just for her. She was ready to eat it.....She took a bite, smiled and said "Best fish EVER!!" Then, she offered up the rest to her siblings!! It wasn't that good, but I don't think it was because of the cook. Still, despite not liking how it tasted, they all are ready to gear up and head out to do some more fishing. This makes their daddy a pretty happy man!
It's Monday and though life has returned to normal again, the hectic bustle of the children in the morning is heavenly, and the routine is back on for the day. Only two more days, actually....the kids are out of school on Wednesday and the Summer Vacation begins!!......For them, at least!!
