Fishing at the Crystal Pier

Today Eliza finally got to open a special gift from Nana and Papa - her Disney Princess Fishing Pole and some cute rain boots.  She had been asking for both for the past 2 years, and we finally decided she was old enough to go fishing.  So when she opened the gift (and after she finished trying on the boots and testing out the reel), I told her we were all set to go fishing in the afternoon with some of our friends.  She was beyond excited and totally surprised!  I then spent all morning in the kitchen making cupcakes and snacks for her "party."  We were trying to keep it small this year since she had such an extravagant birthday last year, and this worked out so perfectly.  Dominic met us at the pier, along with our friends Laurie, Dylan, Wyatt, Rachele, Ariel, and Michael.  We had 4 fishing poles for the lot of us, and we headed first to the Bait and Tackle Shop to get everything else we would need.



Family photo taken by Rachele.

Eliza and Daddy - line cast, just waiting on a nibble.

In front of the tackle shop - the owner was so helpful in getting us all ready to go.  He usually includes lessons when people rent a pole, but since we had poles we didn't need to rent.  He still took the time to give us some pointers, he put the hooks and weights on each of our poles for us, and set us up with some shrimp for bait.

Audrey trying out Wyatt's Iron Man fishing pole.

After getting 2 of our 4 lines caught under the pier, we cut the lines and took a snack break.

I made a fish-shaped PB&J for each of the kids, some fish snacks consisting of pretzels, dried apricots, cream cheese and chocolate chips, and of course had we some goldfish crackers too.

We sang Happy Birthday and all the kids picked out a cupcake.

Some of the cupcakes had a worm, and some a fish dangling from the fishing poles.  I had fun making these, and Eliza helped hold the poles while I tied the strings on.  I used spice cake to look a bit like sand, and they turned out so yummy!

Eliza had picked hers out before we even left the house, and was excited to finally eat it!

Audrey made quick work of hers, and moved on to the goody bags - Live Bait! (gummy worms)

Michael, Audrey, Dylan, Laurie, Eliza, and Wyatt.  Laurie was the only one who brought a regular-sized pole, and it was the only one, by the end of the trip, that didn't get caught under the pier.  She helped each of the kids take turns "fishing" with it.

Eliza

Wyatt

Dylan - pulling some sea grass off the line.

Ariel, Rachele, and Michael using their Sponge Bob pole.

Audrey - she was super excited to just sit on Laurie's knee and turn the reel over and over.

Our catch of the day!
Just kidding - someone next to us caught this big lobster, but threw it back in.
Needless to say, due to the kids fondness for reeling the line back in, we didn't catch a thing.

Michael, Ariel, Eliza, Audrey, Dylan, and Wyatt
When we'd had enough, we decided to head down to the beach and explore under the pier.  This was taken at the top of the steps above the beach.

Eliza making her way under the pier.

Two happy girls.  Eliza was totally in her element, exploring barefoot in the wet sand.

Audrey enjoyed splashing in the pools of water circling each of the poles.

Rachele showed Eliza how to dig for sand crabs.

We even stumbled upon some huge starfish!  These were the first we'd seen since we've been here.  Usually when we go tide-pooling, we only see anemones and crabs.

Eliza
My amazing 5 year old
Covered in sand and sea water
Happy as a clam