Three Generations of Fishermen

Our latest trip to Oklahoma to spend time with my side of the family included two very special occasions (That is unless you consider me kicking Jason's butt on the Wii boxing game a special occasion!). The first you can read about in the previous posts--Mason's baby blessing. The second was an outing with just the boys that we had been planning for quite some time. Let me explain. For any of you who know anything about the McArthur men (McArthur is my maiden name), they are all crazy hunters. They love to hunt anything and everything. (A little too much if you ask me) Every year, all of the McArthur men and boys cast their lots at the chance to hunt in the Annual Southern Utah Deer Hunt. If they are lucky enough to "draw out," they make the trek to St. George, invade poor Grandma McArthur (now Rogers), and hunt until all of the tags are full. It is a family tradition that goes back and back. The only problem is, I am not a McArthur man, and neither is my sweet and tender-hearted husband who honors my dislike of hunting by avoiding the sport. So, that places Nick in kind of a hard place--trying to mingle with the McArthur men, but not going on the yearly McArthur Men Bonding Trip. It also creates a disconnect between our boys and the McArthur boy cousins who will inevitably be inducted into this hunting practice as soon as they can legally carry a gun. Consequently, this "McArthur" woman, and her clan of Hoskins men, have been trying to come up with a good solution to this problem. The obvious answer: A new tradition. Not one that takes place of the old tradition, but another tradition that my boys can participate in. Therefore, may we present, an equally manly, yet more humane tradition: The annual McArthur/Hoskins Fishing Trip. This year the boys (Grandpa McArthur, Uncle Jason, Nicholas, and Spencer--hopefully all of them will eventually participate.) simply drove a few hours to Lake Watonga in Southern Oklahoma; but, hopefully, as the years progress, and the pocket book enlarges, they can all go, and go to bigger and better fishing locations. As for now, Lake Watonga will have to do. And even though it was the middle of winter, and most of the lake was frozen over, the trout were still biting.

Here is a shot of them on the outing,



Spencer reeling in his first fish, (don't mind the pink gloves!)



Spencer and Daddy holding his fish--Daddy had to hold it so it wouldn't bite Spencer :)



and Nick and Spencer with the catches of the day.