Is that THUNDER?

Look at the engine on this one!

How about this in rush-hour traffic!

Jonathan and Xavier succumb to the noise..and kid boredom!

Xavier uses extra padding to block the noise.

It all starts with a question from my buddy Craig..."Matt, have you ever been to a truck and tractor pull?" he asks. I replied "No" and it was done...the men (Craig and his son Xavier, Jonathan [my son], and I) were going to watch trucks and tractors with heavy duty engines try to pull a weighted supersized sled down a dirt track.

It all starts off with regular every day trucks you see driving beside you on the road and farm tractors. They give it their all to try and blow transmissions and drive axles and pull the sled the furtherest down a dirt track. With each change in truck and tractor class, they get bigger and meaner. Lots of guys have put a lot of money into engines and chassis to try and take it all! One guy (who looked like it could have been the owners young son) even dared to bring the company truck!

Near the end, the trucks and tractors no longer looked like trucks and tractors. They had HUGE engines and did they ever ROAR!!! I was trying to take video of some of the pulls but it made me go nearly deaf! Your whole body shakes and your ears and head ring! I was glad the big and loud stuff started coming because the kids had long since lost their interest in trucks and tractors and had found something more interesting, at least to a 6-year old kid, cut grass.

The Cottage!!!

CAN'T GET PICTURES UPLOADED!!! AHHHHH!!! PICTURES WILL COME SOON!



On Saturday Aug. 19th, 2006, my family ventured forth to a cottage that Ann Marie's sister and brother-in-law rented for a week. We were only going up for three nights of that week though. Like any other adventure that requires the packing of clothes and items to bring, my family, myself included, need to decrease the length of time required. The plan (well, at least MY plan) was to exit the house at 11am, treat the family to a nice brunch, and then head for the cottage (a 2.5 hour drive). Apparently I was once again not in touch with reality, as we did not depart the house until close to 3pm, arriving at the cottage just in time for dinner! The bad thing about that was, we were responsible for garlic bread, which we did bring, but had to try and catch up to the meal already being served! Nothing like STRESSING the second you arrive for a relaxing cottage getaway! My brother-in-law was kind enough to rent a boat and motor for the week, so they all gave me dibs on it's use while I was there since I am the fisher nut. After dinner I asked if anyone wanted to go fishing and the look of glee and excitement on their faces about the idea made going to hell a Disney adventure, at least compared to my level of enthusiasm. So I gathered up my gear and headed off. The lake we were on is Rice Lake. Not a deep lake but it is supposed to be swarming with fish! There I was trolling back and forth trying to catch the big one. I have to say that my first fishing adventure that weekend was an EXCELLENT success...to a vegetarian! I collected more salad from the lake bottom than a veggie convention could consume in a month! Undaunted, I came back to go potty and once again ask for a volunteer to go with me. By now it was already dark, but my brother-in-law took the challenge. He didn't go to fish because he left his rod at the cottage. He was there to keep me company...as I gathered more salad. Just as I was about to give up I caught THE BIG ONE! It was the largest tree hanging out over the water an angler could catch. It would have made ol' Jack Bunyon jealous! Lucky for me, my lure didn't get stuck. With that, I gave up for the day. We returned to the cottage and sat around the fire, where I told tales of fish that I just wasn't able to trick into biting the lures I was offering to them...Saturday was over. Sunday morning I woke up bright and early. Ann Marie and the kids were still in bed and I got the much coveted permission I was seeing from a still tired wife..."Go ahead and go fishing Matt..." Woohoooo! I gathered my gear again and snuck out of that cottage and went fishing! The morning was calm, the water like glass. Steam fog was gently rising from the lake. It was a great morning for fishing! But I caught nothin! 3 hours later I decided the clouds in the sky looked darker than I liked so I limped back to the cottage...seaweed salad still hanging from my lure. It was now about 9:30am. At 9:45am it rained...hard. The remainder of the day was spent entertaining the kids, watching movies, munching on this or that, and waiting for the rain to stop and the wind to die down. The boys played some Texas Hold'em poker. And in true form, I was the first out. Later in the afternoon it was still a bit windy but I wanted to take Ann Marie and Jonathan on the boat. It was a little too rough for Genevieve so we left her in the care of her cousin Laura. We went for a nice long cruise in the boat. Jonathan was pretending to be a surfer dude, while tightly grasping on to his mother! I took them around an island where we saw a bunch of neat birds. It was really nice. Jonathan and I wanted to claim the island as our own so I got near the shore and tried to help Jonathan step out onto the rocky shore. Well, he stepped out just fine but did not keep his foot on the rocks. Needless to say, we decided to call the island "Wet Sock Island" after the soaking wet right foot of my son. Dinner that evening was steak. They were great and made me forget about fishing for an hour! After dinner I took my nephew and his friend out on the boat for an hour of trolling. NOTHING! Again, I returned to the cottage to hang out by the campfire. Even though I was catching nothing, I have to thank my wife for her love and understanding of my need to fish. She took care of the kids thus giving me the opportunity to move seaweed from one place in the lake to another. Sunday was over. On Monday I was up earlier than the sun, but my brain forced my head back to the pillow. There would be no early morning fishing today. I woke up again way too late and slid out of bed to get some breakfast. The kids were already going nuts and needed to get out. I was in slow gear fixing and eating breakfast. There was an uneasy atmosphere that morning. I don't know if it was from the crap the day before, the noise in the cottage, or what. I snarfed up breakfast and Ann Marie and I took the kids to the pool for a long swim. The kids loved the pool. They are basically fish. It wasn't a huge pool but good enough for a fun swim. Of course, the lifeguards don't give a crap so we got to horseplay and messing around. That tired us out so we went back to the cottage for lunch. We hung out around the cottage a bit and everyone was asking why I wasn't fishing today. To be honest I was starting to feel guilty being the only one to head out on the boat. I decided to ask if anyone wanted to fish, and again no one took up the offer. I decided to go anyway. I left about 5pm and didn't come back until 9:00pm. I caught nothing but more seaweed. Not even a bite! I had promised Jonathan earlier that I would take him fishing so we trotted off to the docks with worms and wax worms. Within an hour, Jonathan had caught 3 rock bass and 3 catfish. That made the official score Jonathan: 6, Dad: 0. He was excited about his catches and I was proud that he was doing so well! We went back to spend a little more time sitting around the campfire then retired to bed. Monday was over...and still no fish for me. It was now Tuesday morning, the last day for being at the cottage. I once again woke up before the break of dawn but again decided not to bother getting up that early. The previous fishing trips left me a little unexcited about going fishing on my own. I decided we would spend the day as a family since it was the last day. We went out for a boat ride and to fish. I brought the kids rods along with worms and wax worms and went to an area I thought would yield some fish for the family. I got the kids rods ready and in the water and cast out a line of my own. As my bobber bounced up and down, the kids began hauling them in! One after another after another! I got busy removing fish from hooks, taking pictures, and baiting hooks. After the kids had caught several fish I reeled mine in to discover the fish got my bait and left me with nothing. This continued for another 15 minutes, that is the kids catching fish and me getting nothing! I baited my rod and handed it to Ann Marie who landed her first of the weekend in less than five minutes. For the next 45 minutes I would remove at least 30 fish (we lost count!) and re-bait lines over 60 times. The kids were soooo excited and Ann Marie got right into the mess of things by baiting her own hook and even removing a few fish from the hook! Genevieve, at age three, was reeling in her own fish, pulling them into the boat, and bouncing them off my face as I tried to bait other peoples hooks yelling "Look daddy!" I looked AND felt the fish. Yummy! Of the at least 40 fish caught by my family, I actively caught 1, and got lucky and caught another on an empty hook while baiting my daughters hook. Matt's cottage retreat total: 2. Jonathan: est. 20+, Geneveive: est. 10+, Ann Marie: est. 8+. The inevitable finally occurred to end the fishing frenzy...the kids need to potty! We raced back to shore. It would be our last time on the boat before leaving. To round out the day we went back to the pool for a swim and to cool down. Afterwards we packed the car, and headed home. It was a great little retreat for the family. And it didn't matter that I caught only 2 small fish because I got the greatest catch of all...my family’s happy smiles, with fish on the line, on camera!