Off Shore Fishing Adventure

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve posted!  Life has been busy now that school is back in session.  We’re all trying to settle in to our new routine…

Cutie Pie pounced on us bright and early on Sunday morning with a special request.  He wanted to go off shore fishing for kingfish.  Now, J had no intention of setting off on such an adventure but I thought it sounded like fun.  When we finished breakfast I sweet talked J into taking us all out on the boat off Port Canaveral.

We have never taken this boat into the ocean so I know that J was a little apprehensive.  But he was a good sport about getting everything prepped and ready for us to go.  I whipped up a quick lunch for the cooler, sunscreened myself and the kids and we were off!  We launched at the Port Canaveral ramp amidst the cruise ships, parasailing tour boats and other recreational fishermen.

We cruised down the coast toward Cocoa Beach and were greeted by lots of friendly dolphins.

The boys and I climbed up on the bow for a better view of the wildlife.  They came surprisingly close to the boat.

There were probably 10 or so dolphins in the pod that surrounded us.  They were jumping and playing which thrilled the boys to no end.

Right around the time that we saw the dolphins J and the boys started getting motion sick.  Luckily, J had a stash of Dramamine in his bag.  One of the side effects is drowsiness, however…  Both boys zonked out for a while.  Cutie Pie found a spot on the bench in the cabin.  Wildman eventually succumbed to sleep on the bow while we watched the cruise ships set sail.

The Disney Dream was the third ship that we watched leave port.  It is the newest vessel in the Disney cruise line.  There is a water ride between the stacks on the top deck that looks amazing.  It’s a twisty see-through tube.  Perhaps we’ll have to save our money for a voyage on the Dream one day.

We hadn’t had any luck fishing all day so we pointed the boat back toward the port.  Just as soon as we made the decision to head for home, the fishing pole that J had been trolling a lure with went crazy.

After a strong and steady fight, J managed to reel in a nice looking barracuda.  It wasn’t the kingfish that Cutie Pie wanted but it looked very similar.  At least we caught something!

Once we landed the boat on the trailer I glanced down to find this little guy swimming around.  Which reminded me that I need to find a little slip of paper with the website that Wildman’s class is using to track sea turtles.  His teacher wrote it down and I stuck the paper somewhere…  Just not sure where.  It’s part of their class project.  They’re adopting a sea turtle with a tracking device.  The children can log on to the website to see where their turtle has traveled.  Pretty neat!

Also, would you say a little prayer that this thing does not hit us?

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Guess Who Taught Himself to Surf?

“No, Dad!  I want to do it myself”

He started on a boogie board and moved his way up to a surfboard this summer.  This weekend he mastered the surfboard all by himself! My four-year-old is a surfer.

Wildman has some catching up to do…

Treetop Trek

My mom took the boys on Saturday afternoon for a day of swimming, the movies and dinner.  J and I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to check out the new Treetop Trek zip line and adventure challenge at the zoo.  Several weeks ago I bought a two half-off groupons for the challenge and they were burning a hole in my pocket.

We thought we would go and it would end up being 4 or 5 zip lines in the trees.  Cool but no big deal.  Oh, how wrong we were!

It took us four hours to complete over 50 challenges on two courses.  By challenges I mean a crazy series of suspended obstacles.  We did everything from riding a hanging skateboard between two platforms to zip lining across a lake to…

… swinging out on a rope swing tarzan-style onto a cargo net!  It was way more physically demanding that we thought and so much more amazing!!!

I loved how the trek took us all throughout the zoo.  We were literally walking above the animals and zoo visitors.  It was amazing.  People kept looking up wondering what the heck we were doing.

We also liked how free we were to do our own safety harnesses.  We had a mini training course with a guide at the very beginning where we demonstrated that we knew what we were doing.  Then they just let us go!  We did not have a guide with us while we were up in the trees.  There were guides on the ground at certain points along the way to help us retrieve fallen gloves or make suggestions on how to approach challenges.  But for the most part we were on our own.  It was great!

The next morning I was surprisingly sore from our adventure.  I guess I used muscles that I don’t normally use because I’m never that sore after body sculpting classes or yoga!

I cannot wait to go back and try it again!  Maybe when the weather cools down though…  Mid-July is just too darn hot!!!