Today was a bittersweet day... a day that was both sad, but yet, happy.  It was a day that was made fun by a family who had lost their little boy to a tragic accident.  This was the 2nd annual Charlie Denham Memorial Fishing Derby, an event started by his family to honor and remember their son for his devotion to fishing and his desire to make others happy.

The fishing started at 9:00 this morning.  Norman is not an avid fisherman, so this was a good opportunity to expose our boys to the sport (and sometimes a necessity to survival).  Since we only have one fishing rod... and it just happens to belong to our 8-year-old son... we let him try his hand at fishing first.  J  Having access to free worms (Thank you, Dad, for baiting the hooks!), it didn't take long before he got a bite.

Here's his very first fish...

The ducks have made our local ponds unfit for swimming and the fish are unfit to eat due to possible ecoli, so the method of fishing today was "catch and toss".  After our son's fish was weighed in, it was tossed back out into the pond.  Our son also caught another fish soon after that, which then got our oldest son interested in giving it a try.

Our 10-year-old ended up reeling in the largest bluegill in our little section of the pond.  Here he is with his catch...

The fishing ended around noon and everyone went to the large shelter house for their free lunch of a hot dog, chips, cookie and ice-cold drink.  After we all finished eating, Charlie's mom got up on stage (which had two very large pictures of her handsome little boy) and called for all the kids to gather around.  Since it was such a good turnout, there were lots of kids... but there were also lots of prizes to be given out.  The local businesses had also donated very expensive items, such as fishing rods, XBox 360, 1-year membership to the YMCA, etc.

At first, they just started throwing out smaller items to the crowd of kids.  Then, they started drawing out names for the bigger prizes.  Every one of the kids won something.  No one went home empty-handed.  Our boys ended up with a hat, t-shirts, sunglasses, pencils, bobbers, and gift certificates from Taco Bell and Graham's Dairy.  Their friend, who also fished with them, won a brand-new fishing rod!  They were all very pleased with their gifts.

All-in-all, it was a very "hoppy" day!  J

~Connie~