Adventure! Wild Animals You Can Eat (and some you might not want to)

I've got to admit, this living near the beach thing does not suck. When we moved here, Mrs. Packman and I were not so sure what to think about leaving the comfort of The City. But now I know - there's just so many fun things to do here!

FBS chooses his friends very well, and one of them has a father who owns a 30-foot cabin cruiser power boat. FBS had never been out on a boat before, and as a worldly boy of three-years-old, we knew that this could not stand for long. Thus, an invitation was procured, and a life vest purchased, and off we went.

Are there any pirates out there, dad?

He actually seemed to really enjoy it, especially when we opened up the throttle and went very fast, or we hit the wakes of other boats and bumped up and down on the water. FBS was amazingly well behaved through the whole trip, and I got to take some pictures of our town from the water.

It was a perfect summer day

FBS really liked it when the draw bridge went up!

After our adventure on the water, it only seemed natural to try and catch some of the tasty creatures who live in the water. FBS and I have been fishing for short periods most weekends of this summer, but we have yet to catch anything together. I was beginning to lose hope that we would catch something at all before his three-year old patience was just about used up. However, this was our lucky day!

The moment we threw some bait into the water with his Spider-man fishing rod, there was a fish on the line!

It's a porgy!

What was FBS' immediate reaction to seeing the fish? "I want to eat it!" It made me proud.

Even Mrs. Packman got in on the action!

Look Packman, I caught one too!

Needless to say, both the porgy and the snapper made their way onto the grill that evening.

Fresh fish - YUM!

We also managed to spend some time exploring the local wildlife in our backyard. Specifically, the slimy kind of wildlife. Mini-man discovered this slug of some sort, and found it quite interesting.

What's that?

I, of course, being the curious sort, had to investigate the creature a bit more closely.

I'll call him Slugo

We see these things in our yard all the time. Perhaps they have something to do with the lack of tomatoes on my plants this summer?

After all of this fun and adventure, it was time for some relaxation, so we hit the beach. There have been hurricanes and tropical storms kicking up the surf the past few weeks, but finally the ocean was calm enough for me and the kids to splash around in the water, which is actually a pretty good workout. FBS likes me to lift him over the incoming waves, which basically involves me curling his weight over and over again as he squeals with glee. Tiring, but worth it.

Of course, one more picture of mini-man enjoying the sand:

Life is good. Enjoy the autumn.