Great America 2011

This post is about a week late. Didn't realize there were pictures. Diane, Alex, and our neighbor Kathy got to Great America before the school year started. They has a blast at the waterpark as you can see. Alex was clearly ready to have some fun.



They spent some time on the lazy river. Here is Bart and Alex on a relaxing float.



This is Alex on the sky trail. He loves climbing on the high wires.

Gone Fish'in - Musky Quest 2011

We were able to get in a trip to the north woods of Wisconsin for a visit to Spider Lake. Our friend Ed has a wonderful family cabin on a nice lake. The king of the lake is Musky and we have had great success over the past few years. in 2009, I caught a beautiful fish (see August 18, 2009 post). We were back to try our luck again. There were 4 of us fishing hard but no luck. The weather had been a bit stormy, but we had been able to put many hours on the lake. We were beginning to fear getting skunked for the first time ever. It was a beautiful and relaxing place and we were having fun. But a fish would make it much better. On the last day we were out on the lake early. It was a beautiful morning.



I had snagged a log and pulled the pontoon boat up to the lure. Ed and I saw a swirl in the water. Ed cast and bang, "fish on"!
He saw the fish take the spinner right next to the boat. The drought was over and everyone was smiling, especially Ed. Ww got the fish back in the water and he swam off safely.



The pace of the casting picked up as we all had Musky fever at this point. Bang, I had a strike and was able to land this decent fish. About the same length as Ed's, but not as stocky. Still, I was delighted!



We fished a few areas and then returned to the weed bed where we had caught the other 2 fish. It was almost time to head back to the cabin and head home. I had my spinner deep and another Musky struck. Maybe just a little smaller than the fish above. Here is a shot of the teeth in his mouth. I was in charge of removing the hooks and had a few cuts on my hands. One good one that we think was a tooth puncture as we found a Musky tooth in the back of the boat. No fish in six outings. Then 3 in the final round of fishing on the boat. A sweet double for me. That's fish'in!

Hope Lab BBQ

Bears 2011, It Begins (with a win)

We had tickets to the first Bears game of the preseason. To liven up the outing (hard to get too excited about a preseason game) we went downtown early and visited Millenium Park. There were a couple waves of storms rolling through and we got lucky with the timing (and an assist by watching the doppler on my blackberry). During the rain we had dinner at a nice restaurant. We never did get wet. The neatest thing in Millenium Park is the large mirrored sculpture called the Bean by Chicagoans. So playful and fun. Especially for taking pictures. Even under the clouds of the coming storm.



I really like this image. To bad the reflection was marred by 1000 fingerprints of the visitors who had touched it.



The game was fun, but mellow. The crowd was sober and the starters only played a couple series. It didn't rain until after the game. The Bears beat the Bills 10-3. A real barnburner. I am not expecting much this year. They made it to the NFC championship game last year. And historically they struggle the year after. Maybe Cutler will blossom into a superstar and Forte will run wild. Maybe the defense will be as tough as they were at times last year. Maybe not.

Oysters

We had to go to Tulane for an experiment. Ron Veazey is such a wonderful host! We got to have some great oysters. Remember, you should only eat oysters in months with an r. Good thing its Aurgust!