BT 4.0: That canoe is one oar short of a full set: another story of the lost and found

Cuddling on the couch after a long day of fishing and canoeing

No hooked eyeballs today during our first fishing excursion! We went to Glacier National Park again today to canoe and fish on Lake MacDonald. Milo has been telling us for 2 days that we're going fishing for "smallies". Lord, that kid comes up with some great stuff! Mark and I have been asking him all about "smallies" because he is SO serious about it and it is so funny to hear him tell us something that we know nothing about and he feels like an authority on. Odelia was so excited she didn't want to let her "fishy" pole out of her sight. When we started getting out of the car she wanted to carry it to the boat rental building. You can well imagine that a 2-year-old with a hot temper and emerging gross motor skills did not take kindly to our hovering as she carried the pole. We didn't even make it 5 feet from the car before we had to take it away from her for her safety and the safety of the other fine vacationers at Glacier. She howled, wailed, flailed and screamed but finally relented and "let" us carry the pole for her. We canoed to a quiet shore. We were looking for someplace away from onlookers where Milo could talk about spawning fish, we could cut our teeth on these new kiddie fishing poles and Odelia could throw fit after fit without disturbing a peaceful angler. It was a perfect spot. We needed some time to get everything figured out. We fished for about an hour (with lots and lots of tangled lines) and then started out on the canoe for a different spot. We loaded into the boat feeling successful (though we didn't even come close to catching a fish) and realized we were one oar short. Seriously, how do you lose an oar? We managed to do just that. The kids and Mark headed out into the lake to begin searching and I walked the shoreline to see if one of the kiddos had wandered off with it. We eventually found it about 50 yards away from our fishing spot. Milo recovered it and we reconvened our search for a new spot to fish and eat lunch. Mark and Odelia fished together and every time he would cast she would squeal and say, "Oh, good job, Daddy!". Milo and I were fishing partners today. He talked a lot about fishing, including tips on boat fishing, large mouth bass spawning grounds, lures and casting tips. He comes from a family of novice fishers but you wouldn't have known it.

We leave Kalispell and Glacier tomorrow morning. We are going to Helena tomorrow. We are slowly making our way to the Black Hills where we will kick it with the Horner Clan and Beth Day and then to Sioux Falls for a Holdhusen gathering. We are all getting excited to see our family and friends.