Fishing Derby

Ellie's cousins, Sophie and Anna Caroline, hosted a fishing derby at their new house on a beautiful, sunny July morning. Now Ellie has become quite the fishing expert after having caught lots of fish during our family vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks, so she was ready to once again try out her skills. Her little pink princess fishing pole didn't let her down and turned out to be the lucky fishing pole.

Ellie won the Derby with the biggest catch of the day...a catfish measuring 21 inches long and weighing approximately 4 pounds! Oh wait, I mean a giant catfish measuring 2 feet long and weighing 25 pounds....can you believe it?!!

We were a little concerned that her pole wouldn't be able to handle such a big fish, but it pulled through. Ellie wasn't too thrilled about touching the fish, so she let Papi do all the dirty work. He had to bait her hook with the stinky catfish bait, and even sacrificed his thumb to the mean catfish when taking him off the hook. But I still think Papi had a good time.

Ellie proudly posed with one of her other, smaller catches once the fish was lying still in the grass. And check out her cute t-shirt we happened upon the night before the Derby. In case you can't read it, it says "This is my fish" (with a picture of a BIG fish) and "This is grandpa's" (with a picture of a little fish). HA! It was too perfect!

After Ellie caught her second fish, we caught some video of her doing her "I caught another fish dance." Check it out below.

We had such a good time at the Senkel's new home. It is such a fun and beautiful place. While not fishing, Ellie was running around with her cousins, chasing ducks, playing with puppies, and playing with her new Barbie fishing/butterfly catching net (her first place prize for winning the Derby).

And where was Max during all this fun, you might ask? Snoozing or smiling, of course. He hung out in the chair or in someone's arms, and enjoyed being outside in the perfect 70 degree temperatures.



By the end of the morning, Ellie was a tired kid and done with fishing. What would we do without a strong Daddy shoulder to lean on?