Spring Break 2011

Heading out Friday morning

For Spring Break this year, we decided to rent a trailer at Lake Waurika and go fishing!  Bob and Barbara decided they wanted to come, too.  We have been trying to get them to go with us for a while now, but they never had.  I told Bob, once I made the reservation, he could not back out!! 

Auzlyn

We got up and left on Thursday morning..Robby and Bob in the pickup pulling the boat...Barbara the girls and myself in the Expedition.  Robby was driving to slow for me, so we passed them and went on in to Wichita Falls to stop by Academy and pick up a few things we needed and forgot at home...like chairs.  They beat us to Waurika..but not by much..and they already have the trailer key.  We go get everything unloaded and eat a sandwich..and then we unload the boat!!!

Barbara does not swim...does not like the water...in fact, she gets a little woozy just watching the water move...but she was bound and determined to get on the boat!!  and she did!!  Every time we went out, she was on it!!

I get home, and realize the only picture I have of Barbara is the back of her head!!

Haley cheesin'

Bob with his little Crappie

Needless to say, we didn't really catch any fish. Bob caught the first little crappie on Friday...not long after that, Haley had one on her hook, about the time it was at the side of the boat..it came off.  Auzlyn caught a little crappie in the crappie house.  On Saturday, Bob caught a little catfish.  That was the extent of our actual catching of the fish.  But we had fun!!  Oh yeah, Robby was trying to get a snake away from the boat and almost flung it in...He had a not happy wife, mother and daughters at him...but the snake didn't get in the boat.

Robby...just waiting

Saturday night...instead of eating fish we caught..We went to Bill's Fish House!  That was the BEST fish I have ever eaten!!! (besides our fresh fish)  It is only about 30 minutes from Wichita Falls, just north of the Red River...so if you want some good home cooked fried catfish..go to Bill's!!  and only order the half order because you will be taking half of the full order home!!  It is just an old white house, on the west side of the road, with the name Bill's on the front window...Oh, and there will be a ton of cars parked around it!!  So worth it though!!

American White Pelicans...gorgeous taking off!!

First Waurika Camping Trip

I have been going to start blogging for a while now, but just didn't know where to start. After this weekends events, I decided now was a good time...So here it goes.

For Haley's 9th Birthday she wanted to go camping, so off we go to Waurika. This is where Robby used to go with Poppy and Grandma fishing all of the time, so he has many memories of this place. We head out of town about 1:00 on Friday, after stopping in Vernon, we arrive there about 3:45. Of course we drive around for about 30 minutes looking for the right spot...Kiowa #13. It's about 10 feet from the lake, and plenty of parking for all of our stuff, and for Joseph and Jarret when they arrive on Saturday.

We unload everything and get the trailer set up, then it is off to buy minnows! We go into this one bait shop, when I walk in I swear I hear "Dueling Banjos" from Deliverance. It was just creepy, and I'll leave it at that.

We get back to our site, and put the minnows in the lake. The girls are down by the lake, looking in the water, seeing if they can see turtles, fish, or whatever else. Haley is staying cautiously back...Auzlyn is bending down, getting as close as possible to the water. She lost her balance a couple of times. Robby and I are sitting there just watching them. I look and Robby and said "Auzlyn's going to fall in, just watch." I hadn't no more said that and guess what? She did. She started to panic at first, but when she realized she could reach, she was ok. It was quite comical. At first, Auzlyn wouldn't laugh about it, now she does.

The rest of the evening wasn't that eventful. We at hot dogs, watched the sunset, chased some lightning bugs, and then off to bed.

We get up Saturday morning, load the boat up and head for the boat ramp. We got the boat in the water and was on our way. We found a place and started fishing...got nothing. So we moved...still nothing. We moved again...nothing. During this time the wind gets up, and it starts getting really rough. The water is white capping, and Robby said it's time to go! He drops me off at the dock, to get the pick up and back it down the ramp. Let me give you a little background into me backing a trailer...I had backed the boat into the water earlier, but Robby had lined it up, so all I had to do was put it in reverse, and not move the wheel...other than that, there is none. I get the trailer lined up and somewhat straight, I only had to pull up and straighten it up about 10 times, I thought that was pretty good. It took Robby about 4 tries to get the boat on the trailer because the wind was blowing the boat sideways. We got the boat hooked up and back to the campsite for lunch and resting.

After we rested, we went swimming and then back to the trailer to wait for Joseph and Jarrett. They arrived and we cooked supper and visited, and then the first cloud came up. It sprinkled a little bit, and the wind blew, a lot. We went in the trailer and played Monopoly until 12:30 and we went to bed. At 1:15 I woke up thinking the trailer was fixing to flip over. 40-50 mile an hour winds in a pop-up, is no fun. Robby goes looks outside, I'm praying that we don't flip over, the girls and Joseph are asleep. Robby goes and calls the sheriff dept.(1:45) they say we are just getting the wind off the cloud. About 2:00, the electricity pops off and then back on, and you can feel the temperature just rising. Robby goes back outside, comes right back in, turns on the light, and says get in the pickup we are going to the bathroom. The temp. on the pickup thermometer said 101 degrees, where about 15 minutes ago, it was probably 70. There is a line of people headed to the bathroom. We wait there about 20 minutes and the wind calms down, so everyone goes back to their sites.

We start looking around to see if everything is ok. The trailer had moved, about 2 foot, the bed supports were out on one end. Then we look and the front of the boat had turned about 90 degrees and the tongue was now in the grass facing the water. Kind of spooky is all I can say. We get back in bed about 3:00, and then the wind starts blowing again. The last I remember looking at the clock it was 4:00, and then I was awake at 7:00.

The wind was still blowing when we got up, there was no use in putting the boat back in the water, so we just loaded up and came home. The funny thing is, I had been kidding Haley all day about keeping her up all night, because that is what she had done to me 9 years ago. I really was kidding with her, but we all were up most of the night anyways! We still had fun, and that is all that matters.