Hope all you mothers out there had a great mother's day. Mine was good too. Tristan made me a birdhouse. It was very sweet. Church was nice and lunch with mom was great. Had dessert with my mother in law that evening and the day was done. It's just nice to think back about how blessed we are to have mothers. Mine is truely amazing to say the least. She was one of two ladies picked for mother of the year at the church. I am blessed!

I thought that since we bought our boat and summer activities are coming up I would start a blog to keep track of our stories for our family to read... So here it goes!

So we took the boat out for our first fishing trip this past saturday. We are so excited to get out on the water on our new boat! Well we hear that this is a bass tournament out at Navajo Dam this weekend. Being novice boat owners we decide to drive a little out of our way and launch at Sims Mesa Marina, thinking it would be less crowded. Chuck and I not having been to Sims Mesa in years and years "think" we know where the turn off is. Well we get out on the highway and we have been driving for quite some time, and we finally see a sign that says Navajo Dam. So we assume that is the road. Well if any of you reading this are familiar with the area, that was not the road to the Sims Mesa, instead took us across the dam itself and we ended up launching at the main marina. This turned out ok, since we got there at the perfect time. The early fishermen were already out and we had the ramp to ourselves.
Chuck backs the boat into the water (since I am not good at backing the boat yet). He is checking everything on the boat making sure everything is good and we haven't forgot anything. Well we then see water shooting out the side of the boat (bilge pump). He says "Pull the boat out I don't know what's going on" So we get the boat out of the water and we guessed the boat plug must have fallen out because it was not there anymore. Thankfully my husband is prepared for anything and he had a spare boat plug. He goes to put it in and finds the original boat plug...... in the livewell drain! That was one mistake we won't make again.
Being the novice fishermen that we are we did not dress appropriately either. We were on the water by 7 in the morning and the water temperature was 46 degrees. I now know why bass fisherman wear carhart gear in the mornings on their boats! We froze to death. Our fingers and toes were numb! We finally got up one of the canyons where we wanted to fish and tied off to a tree and just sat there trying to thaw out. It really hurt!
So after we thawed and were ready to fish, we had to find the fish. We tried many different spots and found nothing. Finally picked a good spot, I caught the first fish! And we continued to catch fish for about 1.5 hours. We caught 21 croppie over all. But about half way thru we began to think.... What are we going to do with these fish we have in our livewell. We failed to bring anything to put them in. So the search began. I had packed us a lunch in a small cooler and had our sandwiches in a plastic tub. Our livewell has a minnow bucket in it. So Chuck put the fish in the minnow bucket and took the tub and a knife to the bank to clean the fish. Well he put the minnow bucket on a rock just a little bit in the water. He had cleaned a few and everything is going good. Another boat cruises by and his wake of course makes a little wave hit on the rocks. Well all the sudden the minnow bucket starts floating away! Two fish escaped before Chuck could get in the water and re-capture our fish. And of course I laughed and he was not very happy. But the fish got cleaned and we were headed out.
So back at the marina now and it is busy! Lots of boats coming in and out of the water. So since I'm not good at backing the boat up Chuck did that. He came back to get the boat and I got in the truck to back it up the rest of the way. He got the boat latched up front and he wanted to guide the boat on the trailer as I pull it out so it sits on the trailer evenly. So he tells me to pull up. I proceed to push on the gas, not realizing the truck is still in reverse! So the truck went a little further into the water then needed and a quick STOP. We managed to get the boat on good and straight even.
Over all it was a great trip. We learned our lessons and I'm sure we have many more lessons to learn. So this is the end to the first Cook Adventure. Many more to come!