What with all the busy-ness of this spring and summer, we almost missed our window of opportunity for getting Robert here for a little one-on-one visit! It was a short one - picked him up on Monday, returned him today (Thursday) - but we squeezed a lot of fun into that short time.
Almost as soon as we'd walked through the door, Robert was opening his guitar case and plugging his amp in so he could show us what he's already learned in just TWO lessons! One reason we needed to get him home today was so he could have his third one this afternoon. He's doing really well. We recognized two or three of his little tunes, which delighted him.
Late in the morning on Tuesday, we went to Academy Sports & Outdoor, where we met our good friend and experienced Texas fisherwoman, Jan. We spent a while looking at rods and reels and finally chose one just right for Robert. In fact, the reel we got could be reversed and made into a "lefty," which was exactly what he needed.
Jan, and her husband, Larry, had agreed to help Robert learn how to fish in the beautiful little lake just behind their house. She told us that we probably needed to wait until evening, since the fish wouldn't be biting in the heat of the day. In the meantime we brought his rod, reel and fishing tackle home and got it all geared up. Dan took him in the backyard and showed him how to cast. He seemed to catch on quickly, but the true test would come that evening.
Jan took him under her wing and helped him cast the first couple times, and that was all he needed! Every cast was great. He was trying to get his hook clear across to the other side of the lake - and he came close!
Before Jan could even get her hook baited, Robert had a little bluegill on his hook, and excitedly reeled it in! Okay ... it was tiny, but it was a real fish, and his first ever!
The big ones weren't biting that evening. Here is the largest bluegill he brought in. But we lost count of how many he caught. Maybe twelve or fifteen!
The most exciting catch of the evening was this catfish! Larry said it was eating-size, but we released it, as we did all the others. Larry was a great, patient teacher. He showed Robert how to hold the catfish so it wouldn't "fin" him. After helping Robert get his hand around the fish properly, he had him do the release, back into the lake. It was a good lesson for him.
Larry didn't stop there. He was determined to get Robert to bait his own hook. He only did it once, but he DID it! Good job, Robert!
As we walked back to the house, Larry and Robert stopped to feed the ducks some bread. There are three ducks on the lake, and they have been named by the neighborhood folks.
Here's a picture of Larry, Robert and Jan. Robert was really proud to be called a "fisherman" at the end of the evening. He wanted to come back again the next morning, but our schedule just didn't work out for that. He'll just have to bring his rod and reel back next time he visits, and we can go to Jan and Larry's lake again.
Wednesday evening Robert wrote out a "thank you" note for his fishing tutors. I'm going to attach one of the photos and take it to church on Sunday to give it to them.
We let Robert choose what to do on Wednesday. I had some things in mind, but his choice was to just stay home, so that's what we did. We all played the game "Ticket to Ride," he and I worked our way through a puzzle book together, and we rented "Detective Pikachu" for him to watch on Amazon Prime.
Today we drove him to our usual meet-up place, Somerville, and delivered him into the arms of his mama. When we pulled into the parking lot there, he said, "I'm not feeling so good." I'm hoping he didn't pick up some bug here, especially since school is starting real soon.
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