The Fishing Cafe

It was one of those days where the kids were wild, jumping off the walls and full of energy.  There was no school due to teacher trainings, so we were all home. Since there had already been multiple days where the kids had school off, I was beginning to loose my mind!  The best antidote to a crazy mom, is leaving the house and doing an activity.  I had wanted to go to the Fishing Cafe ever since I heard about it, so that was the desired destination.  I sent a call out to friends to see if anyone wanted to join us on our fishing adventure.  The Arny's joined us for the fun.

When the kids found out that they were going to literally be fishing, they got so excited. I paid for the kids to fish for an hour.  We were given bracelets to track points associated with the fish we caught. All the kids were given fishing hooks and a plate with a good cup and half of fish bait for the hooks.

A Korean worker showed us how to fish and apply bait. We all struggled at first and the girls created their own technique to catch the fish.  They would pop the fishing line up and down quickly.

The worker got mad and showed them the correct way to fish. Once Big Sis and M&M got the hang of it, they started catching fish after fish after fish.

This is when I learned that it is a catch and release type of deal.  At first the worker would unhook the fish and put it in the net so the girls could put it on the scale.  After the first few though, he walked away.  When M&M caught a fish and it was flipping and jumping everywhere with the hook in it's mouth, I started to panic. The worker was intentionally avoiding eye contact.  I was worried the fish was going to die, so I rolled up my sleeves and grabbed the flapping fish, trying very hard not to squeal too loud.  I had no idea what I was doing!  The fish was flipping so much in my hand.  I kept trying unsuccessfully to get the hook out.  By this time, the fish had stopped flipping around.  I was pretty sure I had killed the poor thing.  I finally got the hook off, and told M&M to quickly weigh it and put it back in the water. Luckily when it hit the water it swam away.  I barely had time to recover and get my heart rate down before Big Sis was announcing she caught a fish and needed help.

I tried to help Little A because she was getting distraught at not catching any fish.  It was hard for her to see her sisters catching so many fish, and she hadn't caught a single one.  It was about this time that Little Monster started to live up to his name.  He was definately being a monster!   He was running everywhere, trying to go in the bathroom, and kept trying to pull the fishing pole away from his sisters. It was pretty much impossible for me to help Little A and watch the Monster.  With having to divide myself three ways- helping Little A, unhooking fish, and chasing Little Monster, I was at my wits end.  By the time our hour was up, I was probably more frazzled then when we left the house.

After our hour was up, we had a total of 10,050 points to use on prizes. Big Sis got a magic trick that she recognized from 2nd grade, M&M got a firefly, Little A got tattoo markers, and Monster got a giant tube of bubbles!

The kids were smiling from ear to ear after they got their prizes, they were super happy.  M&M and Big Sis were already asking if we can go back tomorrow.  Ugh- That's a trip they will have to take with their daddy without me next time.  I had my fill of catch and release fun.  Although, I am a master at unhooking fish now.  Perhaps I'll tag along when daddy takes them, just so I can watch him unhook the fish, LOL!!!!