Family
Garden season was another hit and kept everyone (mostly me) busy with things to plant, weed, water, pick and harvest. The kids were best with planting and then harvesting. lol. Everything in the middle was pretty boring and I get that. The swales and perennial trees and bushes really did well and the kids loved munching on the berries and cherries. The garden did well and I will look to expand the footprint. Its a lot of work right now, but the kids are really starting to get it.
Beach week is probably one of my favorite weeks of the year to spend with the family in North Carolina. The fishing has evolved for me over the 15 years we’ve been coming here. I’ve done plenty of surf casting with the fly rod for reds and trout and have ventured into the spartina backwaters on kayaks. But, as the kids have taken to fishing, I’ve been able to slow it down some and focus on doing some simple pier fishing for spots; essentially the equivalent to bluegills in the bass pond. It’s fun for the kids and nice to spend the time. Of course one rod will always be hooked with a carolina-rigged mud minnow in case that red or flounder comes cruising by us. This summer Jack-Bo caught a black drum, which was pretty cool. I didn’t even know what it was, but it put up a great little fight for Jack. Next year, I think we try to rent the boat. The kids will be ready!
We hit our favorite little wild trout stream in Virginia for a family hike and to cast some dry flies. This stream is so unique with all the waterfalls surrounded by boardwalks and steel structuring that was decades old. The kids were rocking their recently Bo Nickal-signed Penn State shirts - probably not the most stealthy attire, but it worked. The kids all got to reel in some little wild rainbows and they LOVED watching the ‘eats’! It wont be long until they are casting themselves and then I can sit back and just bring the camera.
This little mountain bass pond is starting to feel more and more familiar and a definite highlight of the weekend. This was our 3rd family reunion (every other year) and thanks to Google Maps, we found this small mountain pond tucked about 1/2 mile from the house in the middle of the forest . It’s about as much of a guarantee as you can get in fishing, which is the #1 criteria for kid fishing. The kids take it serious and, with a little patience on the bobber, can set hooks now and pretty much do the whole thing! Those the don’t have a rod in hand switch between foraging for the neighboring blackberries and playing with the worms, in no particular order. It’s a classic outing and gets better with each trip.
Doubled up!
Its been years since we had the twins at Penns Creek when they were just 11 months old. Prior to then, Penns was an annual tradition that Spence and I would do every year with Cooper. But, with a growing family and busy work schedules, we just haven’t had the time to get back. For this year, we made a commitment to make it happen at some point again.
I was super excited to take the family back out, but also a little anxious about camping on my favorite spring creek in the world and knowing that I would be skipping stones versus casting flies. I hadn’t fished yet all season, but it helped that I had a fishing trip coming up with some buddies down in Tennessee.
The decision to go back to Penns was sort of last minute and we lucked out with getting the last camp site. The big kids made a campground friend and if we didn’t have 1.5 yr old Declan, we could actually see the potential of camping being relaxing again. This year was also the first year without Cooper, who we just put down about a couple weeks ago. I knew going back here without him would be heartbreaking, so part of the driver to get back this weekend was to celebrate life in a place filled with so many of our memories. We had so many good times with him and I remember standing on the banks of that stream with both my Father and Cooper and now both were gone. But the amazing thing about Poe Valley and Penns Creek is that though life seems to change so fast, that river and valley does not. It’s like you are stuck in time and the only thing that’s changed in 20 years has been that tressel bridge and the tunnel. Hopefully one day, my kids will look at this stories and pictures and say the same thing.
And I was able to do some fishing in the morning and exceeded my expectation, which was zero fishing. We didn’t see a single Green Drake, but I caught a couple on the evening sulphur spinner fall. One morning I snuck down to some pristine streamer water with Hunter and hooked into a really big Brown on a big headbanger sculpin. The water was high and i tossed it directly upstream and stripped down a seam about a foto off the bank. I saw the trout swim from the weed bank and annihilate my fly head first in about 6” of water. It was a sick grab. I stuck him and he peeled to the center of the stream and start head shaking in the current. He was hooked good and my only thought was letting my 4 year old land a Penns brown toad, so I went downstream and handed him the rod.
He fought him really well and that picture of him holding that 10’ rod on that rock with a look of terror and excitement will never be lost. But, that fish turned and bolted straight at Hunter and though he did a nice job keeping the rod tip up, stripping line on a 10’ rod and keeping tension was just not something we had covered yet. I lunged at the line and quickly stripped to save what I knew already happened and almost knocked Hunter off his rock.
In a flash that fish was gone, but at that exact moment a fisherman was born. I had to break the news to him, because he had no idea and he was immediately crushed and even held back some tears. But, by the time we got back to the camp site, Hunter was telling a world-class fish story that sounded like a 30-year veteran. He told the story to Mom, Jack and then Clara and every time that trout got bigger to a point where his arms where as wide as his 30 lb frame would allow.
It was a great trip and as soon as we got home we booked our campsite a year out in the same place where cell reception doesn’t exist and life slows down a bit.
Its been a super busy start to the spring, but we managed to get out for a good family morel hunt. We’ve been going to this spot for years now because it is so close, but its always a challenge to find them because they change locations every year and there never is a huge flush of them anywhere. The big change I notice every season now is how much faster the kids have gotten and how good they are at finding them. They can go off on there own and find them themselves. Its really neat! And the best part is that they like to fry them up with me and eat them - which is certainly a main reason to do it (among others!)
Our little guy Declan was still backpacking it and loving life. Ewwing and owwing in my ear the whole time. He loves the outdoors just like the rest of them and will be following in their footsteps in no time soon.
It’s March in Pennsylvania, which means the end of cabin fever season is near. Though we can expect some schizophrenic weather, its perfect time to start the seedlings, potatoes, onions and of course our favorite peas. The goal is to always get them planted by St. Patty’s Day, but this year we were actually a little early for a change! Peas are a great plant for the kids to put directly into the soil and this year the kids pretty much did the entire planting. Little Declan is just getting started, but was super excited to just be outside and in the dirt.
It’s never too early to bring them along….I started taking Hunter with me this fall in some pheasant hunting spots with Cooper. The kids are always fascinated when I bring pheasants or deer home, so I wanted to take them to see how its done. So I took Hunter with me out bird hunting with Cooper and Jack asked to come bow hunting with me. Of course tactics and how we hunt changes slightly when you are with a 4 and 5 year old, but its the absolute best to be in the field with the kids. If this is any indication of how the years to come will be spent, then its going to be a lot of fun.
This year’s pilgrimage included a trip to the cabbage farm followed by a pheasant hunt on opening day in Somerset County with Cooper and a pit stop to Whitehorse Brewing for some Packsaddle Ales . Over the next couple weeks, we had quite October stomp action with the kiddos and even little Declan baby got in on the action. This year I felt confident enough to let Jack do some of the shredding and put Hunter on the salt. Of course everyone stomped.
Part of the tradition has evolved into pumpkin carving while we stomp. It is truly a Fall celebration.
Sunday Funday! Family Hike day in Ohiopyle area while Spencer’s sister Meg was in town from Brooklyn. We ended up taking along route than planned and the kids were absolute troopers to be pushed outside their hiking comfort zone. But, because of the Dad detour, we ended up finding a pretty awesome Bear’s Tooth mushroom, which is a close cousin to the Lion’s Mane.
Speaking of bears, we also came to a bridge that went across a mountain stream that had some recent bear tracks on the rock algae in 3-4 inches of water. It looked like a couple smaller cubs made the tracks and you could see where their pads where sliding on the slippy rocks (yes, slippy).
It was a fun and rewarding hike and pretty warm by the time we left. Awesome day to be in the mountains.
We have a great dove hunting flyway right across from the house. So, when I asked the kids who wanted to come dove hunting with me, Hunter about jumped out of his shoes. “That sounds awesome!” He kept saying, “I can’t wait to harpoon some birds right out of the sky”. His one-liners had my laughing the entire time. It was great.
We only had about an hour before soccer practice and the doves weren’t flying well at all. But, I ripped a couple shots at some high flyers just to make the gun go bang. It didn’t matter today. We just enjoyed hanging out and we will have plenty of more dove days ahead of us.
For Spencer's birthday, we decided to drive over to West Virginia to visit with some friends and fish the sulphur hatch. We left the big kids back with the grandparents in Hot Springs, VA, but our little guy Declan doesn't go far from Mama. He's about the chillest baby on the planet, so we figured we'd figured it would go smoothly...
It was a great evening on the water and Declan got to witness his first evening hatch. Of course, he seemed to be quite bit fussier than normal after introducing him to some sweet potatoes about 12 ours earlier. So, it wasn't exactly the relaxing stream side evening that we had envisioned. But, it was super sweet to have him out there and fun to spend it with Mike and Sabrina. Thanks to Sabrina for the great pics she took while we were there.
Of all the kids, Clara is by far most interested in learning about fly tying. Granted, I dont expect 4 and 5 year-olds to really get into fly tying, but Clara loves anything artistic and creative. And she has a million questions.
So when I tie some flies, (which seems pretty rare these days) I make sure to call Clara and invite her to hang out. I was tying up some green drakes for a trip to Penns and she was helping with some of the coloring activities of the wings and bodies. She loved it!
In my messy box of fly materials, I have a straw that I cut notches into for a makeshift nailknot tool. Clara found this straw and asked me if she could borrow it. ‘Of course sweetie’ and she ran off into the other room. As I finished up my last fly, she came running back into the room and said, “here Daddy, …I made you a green drake!” She had cut out a head and wings, colored them and then taped them to the straw. She also gave me a picture of us together.
I felt my heart swell to the size of the moon and instantly melted. I’ll never loose this green drake straw for the rest of my life. So precious. And what creativity ?!?! She’s 5!
Spencer's only Mother's Day request was a hike with the family and somehow of my famous homemade pizza. So, we went to a local spot to try and find any last remaining morels, ramps, and nettles. We tried Declan out in the hiking backpack and he LOVED his new viewpoint on the world.
We found a few old morels that weren't worth picking, but still fun to find and revisit for next year. The ramps were sparse and older too, but would be great for pizza night (on my half :). And the other added bonus was this backpack was big enough to fill with enough nettles as I wanted. We found a really cool box turtle on our trip just chilling in wet patch of the woods. And we got a few gobblers to play along to some louder than normal aggressive cutting. There are some benefits to no hunting on Sundays in PA. We had a great hike, but no bear tracks this year!
I baked the nettles in some coconut oil later that evening and baked up a killer pizza for the evening dinner. Great day to celebrate our #1 team MVP.
March means its time to get the early season gardening activities in as Spring is right around the corner. Onions, potatoes, and peas all go in and we've started all the seedlings for the May plants. Each year the number and variety of plants increases and so does the size of the garden. The kids are great with planting the garden and harvesting; now we just them to do do some of the weeding this year!
The last couple weeks after surgery has slowed me down as I just focus on getting back on my feet for the spring time. Fortunately, Declan is at a point where I can keep him semi-occupied while I tie up some new trout streamers for the early season. I can't wait!
It's a fairly predictable event that it will rain on a Sunday in late October and there is no better time to get our sauerkraut stomp on with the kids. This year, my father-in-law really led the whole effort with the kids as I did a thousand other things plus carved some pumpkins. The best part of this whole tradition is spending time with the family.
This year, we even had a debut appearance by one week-old, Declan. My wife was none-too- pleased with my decision to drag him out into the cold, but it really is a family right of passage. And, it will be great to benchmark him up against this crock next year to see how much's he's grown!
One unintentional outcome of celebrating the annual family tradition is a a get a yearly data point with the kids with the same brown crock as a reference to how much changes in just one year! Not even first-day-of school and Christmas can benchmark a year like that brown crock.
...For proof to this, here is some pictures from October of 2015.
Yes the garage was much cleaner too!
October 23, 2017 we added to the team by welcoming Declan Adam to the family! It won't be long until he is right there along with us on some new adventures.
This year was not the year we needed to make the trip to Somerset county to get the cabbage for sauerkraut. We have some kraut left from last year and we are busier than ever in preparation for the new baby. My wife bestowed this logic upon me multiple times, along with the fact I tend to take on too much. She may be correct, but I was adamant that it still just had to happen. The torch has been passed to me and so I go get cabbage each Fall. It's simple; it's tradition. Plus, I love the process and it creates an excuse to hit the Laurel Highlands in the peak of the Fall season.
Upon arrival at Lehman's cabbage farm, I was greeted by the two largest Rottweilers I've ever seen in my life. I asked the farmer how big they were and he said 'bout 200 lbs'. That's the size of a bear. Considering the beast's head was 5-7 times the size of a head of cabbage, I don't think he was lying. My next question was are they friendly with kids. He didn't have to answer that one...his hesitation before his uncertain answer was all I needed. Needless to say, the kids stayed in the truck the entire time. So, I loaded 250 pounds of the best cabbage in the country and we rolled.
The kids were ready to be out of the truck, so we made up for it with a wonderful hike in Laurel Highlands State Park. I love this part and I love the delayed harvest section of the trout stream. The water was low which allowed for some real life Q*Bert on the rocks that were exposed from the recent drought and an old dead fall allowed them to practice their balancing skills. It was the peak of the Fall foliage and about 70 degrees. It was a prefect day and we even watched a few trout rising in the stream.
The one thing the kids are really great at doing is picking! Its harvest season and they are great at finding anything ripe. From raspberries to tomatoes, strawberries, and cherries. If its red, they are all over it!
