It's a boy!

It's a boy!!  ...So, let's go fishing!!

June 9th was the glorious day our family had been waiting to patiently for; the day that we would find out if we were having another boy or a girl, another sister or a brother. That morning, I made a loaf of lemon bread. In one half I added raspberry jam, in the other blueberry. We called it 'boy side' and 'girl side.' I thought both sides were pretty good, but the boys kept asking for the blueberry-boy side. I guess they were a little intuitive.

 

When Ryan got home, we went to the hospital. At the radiology department, the kids sat at a little table and colored pictures of x-rays. I'm glad we were all able to go as a family.

 When we were called back, we were able to go to a large ultrasound room. The boys thought the computer, monitor and everything was pretty fascinate. Jared asked the tech if her computer had games on it. Luckily she had a pretty good sense of humor with our kids. It was only about maybe five minutes in that she announced we were definitely having a BOY!! Jared immediately proceeded to tell her about how since he's a boy he'll be named Elliot. Ryan stayed a little longer so they could see more of the baby, then he took the kids back to play in the waiting room while the tech finished up.

 

 

 That evening, I made the finishing touches on some treats I had prepared, to make them blue to celebrate our boy. This was also to help our kids fully comprehend that we're having a boy and that it's a very special and exiting thing. Several bites of blue cookies and rice crispy treats should do the trick, right? The next day I wore a bow in my hair and around my waist (or waist area) as my own way of celebrating.

 That next day was a free fishing day here in MI. Mark and Kris were here for the day to drop of our niece Elena and return her to her parents. That meant that the Wells family were also here to pick her up. So, it ended up being a great day for us all to go fishing together. Ryan invited two of his co-worker-friends who had little or no experience fishing, so he could teach them.

 

 

We went to a near by pond with our two rafts and canoe, and Mark's raft. Emmaline and I went out in a raft together, towed by Ryan and the canoe. Emmaline sat opposite me for a little while, but then got tired and spent the rest of our ride cuddled in my lap.

 Right at the beginning, when Ryan and his friends were getting ready to fish, Ryan accidentally caught his hook in the shoulder of my shirt. I was able to get one hook out, but the other tore my shirt a little. I was just glad it wasn't my skin. We actually saw a few fish, and some turtles, just by looking in the water. But, the most we ever got was the nibble that we suspect Chris got. We all still had a great time though. It's like Ryan says, "It's called fishing, not catching." We had to tease Rachel, because she seemed to consistently catch water grass and plants more than the rest of us; sometimes they were pretty big too.

Turtle poking it's head out of the water.

We went out on the water twice so Rachel and Chris could get some practice. By the end of the outing, they were both looking pretty comfortable with their poles, casting and reeling.

Ryan, Rachel, Chris

 Meanwhile, the Wells, and Mark and Kris, were playing and eating lunch in the grass, and doing some rafting and fishing of their own. I think we all had a good time and some of us were able to make new friends.

 

Back at the house, I had some dinner set up, and we relaxed, played, visited until the Wells needed to start heading out. Chris, Mark, and Kris were able to stay longer and came to play some video games with us down in the cool basement.

We are so excited to be having another sweet little boy!!

And were glad to have had family and friends there to share in our excitement!!