Pond drainage and Easter egg hunt

This weekend was full of adventure! Kace and Ty have been counting down the weeks and then days until their cousins to come and Nate has been anxiously waiting for the day that he can drain the pond and get out all the big huge catfish that are eating his other precious fish.

That weekend finally arrived :). Happy day. On Thursday night we had a house full of boys as the four Cannon boys came over to spend the night. They had a great time. On Friday, Nate got up early, it was like Christmas morning to him, and got his pump going to drain the pond. At about lunch time he went out with his nets and starting to catch the fish. He (and our neighbor) caught them with nets and then tossed them onto the bank. The boys would then grab them and run them over to the tubs of water. One of them, Nate tossed onto the bank and it hit Evan right on the forehead. It was so funny, but I didn't want to laugh out loud because I wasn't sure if it hurt or not. Thankfully, he burst out laughing and said that it was a catapulting fish!

They caught some BIG catfish (we are going to enjoy one of them tonight :) )

The boys had so much fun playing on the trampoline playing, 'watch out for the shoes' (a game they made up). They would run back and forth from the house, the dirt hill (always a boy favorite) the trampoline and the pond. They were FILTHY by the time the day was over. Then we shipped them off to grandma's :) A couple of them found a bunch of 'quicksand', or so they say, and their feet sunk. Then the shoes came off. But, I will say it again, they were stinky and filthy!

The next day was the annual Jones family Easter Egg hunt. Donene found this awesome chalkboard fabric that the kids had fun drawing on. Grandpa Shaw also had fun decorating it. I captured his design :)

This year it was too muddy to go up to the campground so we had the hunt on the land surrounding their house. All the kids were so excited and could hardly wait for the rules to be explained (and pictures to be taken!). And then they were off. I went around with Ty this year. I kept thinking to myself that I hoped I, I mean Ty, would find the big egg because in all of the TEN years I have been to this egg hunt I have never found it. Well, Ty and I were in the garden searching and by the pond when I looked under and pine tree and THERE IT WAS! I couldn't believe it and asked Tydon if he wanted to look under the tree. He was also excited :) He did tell me that it was TYDON'S money and that I couldn't have it.

For most of the weekend Kace and Layne palled around together. Kace is always telling me that his cousins are his best friends. I just love that!

Every year we usually find some awesome treasures. Usually there are eggs from previous years with some awesome candies inside. This year Isaac found some real beauties.....

We finished the night off with a birthday dinner for Donene. Rainee made some macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi that was SO GOOD. I can't stop thinking about it! It was a great weekend :)