We're finally in to last week before we go to Texas. I know this will be a busy week packing and getting things ready to go but I wanted to write some things down before I forget. First I'll tell you about the surprise birthday party for Larry Potts. His assistant, Nicole Parker, put on a humdinger of a party. I really didn't think I'd have much fun since I don't really get into Mardi Gras activities but there was lots of good food and a really fun arts/crafts table for the kids. Langston spent most of his time there. Nicole had a flower arrangement on her head that was quite fascinating. Another girl had a blue wig on. Whenever they came around Langston would crawl under the crafts table. I can't say I blame him. At the end of the party I learned two of the guests were soldiers from Iraq here for a few days of R & R . They stayed and helped us clean up. Right before they left I got to tell Langston these were some of our soldiers. With big eyes he looked up at the soldier and I hope the man heard the admiration in my voice. He hurried away but we got to see the other one the very next day on our fishing trip.
Yesterday we took a speedboat deep-sea fishing trip with several other Aggies. I was concerned about the heat but fortunately there was a shade on the back of the boat. We loaded up on the dock for Palm Tree Island. The boss at the dock told us it was rather windy so we shouldn't try to go out too far, not to push the drivers to go out further. That sounded fine to me. It wasn't a fancy speedboat but there was a head down inside and a little sitting area there too. There were 10 of us, including a couple here for a recruiting trip and two soldiers. One we had met the night before. They first drove us to an area where lots of the tour boats come for swimming and jet skiing. That's when they said it might be really choppy out deeper so in my mind I'm thinking, "Well, let's go home and try another day." But we had some real he-man fishermen who wanted to fish! so out we went into the deep. We had to stop at the security police headquarters out in the gulf. After several minutes of haggling about what we were going to do we headed out. I was glad I had a lifejacket for Langston. We went out 10 kilometers according to Jon's GPS device. I was dreading a very long afternoon I must confess.
When we stopped to fish we could only see ocean around us, no other boats or buoys. Our guides used fishing line wrapped around small boards to fish. They would bait the hooks with small pieces of squid and you'd drop it over. It took awhile but people started catching, of all things, sharks! We got about a dozen small sharks before it was over. They averaged about a foot long. Langston watched people fish and sat on the fish ice chest until the sharks lifted the lid with all their flopping around. We finally moved to another location to see what else we could catch. I noticed 2 of our sailors were lying down but I thought they were just relaxing. They were getting seasick. Before it was over Hkalid had to lean over the side of the boat to relieve himself. Fortunately I kept looking at the horizon and did okay and Langston didn't seem to have any problem at all. I kept giving him drinks and little snacks. He helped one of the soldiers catch a fish and enjoyed chumming around on the boat. We saw some jellyfish, but didn't catch much else. The last catch of the day was by Zach. He caught a good-sized channel catfish! We headed back to shore and some got drenched by the water spray. It took me awhile to get my landlegs back. We were all pretty beat. We thought we'd all go out to eat but by the time we went home and got cleaned up we stayed home. I think that fishing experience will hold me for a very long time. I was so thankful that Langston did so well. That was a great blessing along with the soldiers having a good time.