So much fun fishing AND crabbing!

On our last trip to St. Simons Island, we met up with Cristi and Juani who came up from Ft. Lauderdale.  We wanted to make it a fun trip for them full of fishing and crabbing.  Well, we didn't go out on the boat but had a great time off "Howard's Dock."  We caught 6 big crabs and everyone caught at least one fish and though we only have a 2 hour window to fish, we made the most of it!
One of the things I like about fishing at Howard's Dock is that we don't have to clean up the boat, and since Don cleans the fish, I only have to clean the crabs.

Walking on the beach art sunset

Cristi fishing

Regan the dog stayed with us the whole time.  He tried to eat  the chicken crabmeat.

Can you see the sheephead?

A cooler full of fish and crab.

View of the dock and the marsh.

Male crabs have bigger claws!  We caught all males this time.

Cleaned cooked crab.  Let's eat!

Just up and Leave!

Wow!  This is the first time that we retired, we just up and left the house and came here to St. Simons for the week.  Don and I were looking at the calendar and making plans for the day and I suggested that since the kids didn't need us, we had no doctor's appointments nothing else scheduled, we could do a quick gardening and watering and go off...

Last weekend we had Caroline for 4 days and nights while they went to New York to celebrate their 5 year wedding anniversary.  It was so much fun!  We worked on potty training and she went 3 times, one time running and saying "big potty".  Another time I cleaned up a big puddle off the floor...
She slept in the big girl bed for the first time and loved it.  She is such a sweetheart!  I love it when she sings and I can tell by the tune what she is singing - certainly not by the words!

Caroline wins the clean plate award!

Then Tuesday we picked up Lauren and Andrew at the bus stop and then Isabella at day care.  I loved doing homework with Andrew and playing "dance" with Lauren.  Isabella was awake for 2 hours and though I didn't get her "talking to me," I got several with her eyes wide open and smiling!
When it was time for what I thought was time for Isabella to sleep, she would not go down but fell asleep on me and I held her until Brian came home.  What a delight.

Isabella talking to me!

Unfortunately it's been raining, windy and cloudy since we got here, so the beach hasn't been much fun.  Watch and hear the sand blow in the video!  It hurt when it hit my legs when I was walking.  There were only a few brave souls walking and needless to say, I didn't go in the water!

Last night we went to see the movie, The Words.  It certainly gave me much to think about that I usually try not to think about.  My new blog friend wrote about the movie: http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.com/  I don't agree with all of what Chris wrote though: "but Rory never moved on, and was tormented by nightmares until he focused his grief on another book, one that'd allow him to tell the true story of the manuscript. Rory titled the book The Words."  

Is that clear in the movie, what do you think?

Yeah!  Went boogie boarding tonight.
The tide was high, the sun was setting, the waves were just right for an old retired lady to enjoy without being afraid of twisting an ankle or a knee.  That's me on one of the smaller waves.

Tomorrow we have plans to go fishing so I will add more pictures of all the fish I'm going to catch!

These are freckles!

This is the biggest fish I caught in the river.  We had to return it to the water.  It was 26 inches - too big to keep!

We were in St. Simons for more than a week and went to the beach and fished. I got lots of sun - love it!  It was cool but not cold thank goodness!!  

One night while watching TV  next to each other, Don rubbed my leg and out of nowhere said, “What are these spots on your leg?”  I said, “I’m getting freckles!”  I’ve always wanted freckles and have noticed that in the past few years I can see some on my arms and hands and on my legs!  I love being in the sun and that is how you get freckles, right?  Anyway, I know that they are “age” spots and that people would say that I should use sunscreen.  I am always careful not to get sunburned, and being Cuban it doesn't happen very often.  I had osteoporosis and now I don’t.  I take medication and have made a conscious effort to get my vitamin D from the sun.  Now that I am retired, I try to be out in the sun for around half an hour on the days that I can.  I take calcium and a multivitamin and do my walking and exercises.  I am going to enjoy the sun and my freckles.  I will use sunscreen when I am a long time at the beach and when fishing but am not going to get upset about some beautiful freckles! 

Don't worry about me.  I plan to stay healthy for all the things that I want to do for myself, my family, and whatever God wants me to do for a long time!

Crabbing off the boat

BLUE CRABS!

We spent the week in SSI fishing and fixing up the condo.  I tried a new way of crabbing off the side of the boat while the fish were not biting.  Together we caught 11 fish – all cleaned and frozen- and I caught 10 large blue crab.  I was so excited.  Many times on the boat I wished we could crab and fish but never before figured out a way to do it.  I remembered how in Varadero we would go to the laguna  and throw out the bait on a string.  I don't remember how we brought them in but how excited we would get playing with the crabs.  So, I tied the chicken leg to a string with some weights and let it down beside the boat.  After a few times I could tell as I pulled it up that there was crab attached to it.  I lost a few when the crab let go and I did not get the crab into the net but I captured most of them.  They are bigger than the one we usually catch on the pier.  I called my 7 year old grandson and shared with him last night and he said, “Awesome!”  I cleaned all the crabs and put them in the fridge.  We will take the crabs to eat with them Monday.  He loves to catch the crabs and also to eat them!