Great great weekend!! My awesome match support coordinator alerted me to a sweet camping event going on with Big Brothers Big Sisters.  ’little’ and I, along with 6 other matches met at Fort Snelling State Park for a fun filled camping trip put on by a cool non profit, Wilderness Inquiry.  They are a group that puts on camping trips for all sorts of groups like public school class outings and field trips, people looking to go camping that may not have all the knowledge or equipment needed, and organizations like BBBS.  It was perfect!

Wilderness Inquiry sent me a packing list for both ‘little’ and I which really only included warm clothes, and simple equipment.  I was nervous about ‘little’ staying warm enough throughout the night in the tent due to the cold weather we’ve been experiencing recently, but he was just fine.  Doesn’t he look like a natural?

What a trooper

We arrived at the park on Saturday at 3:30 and were welcomed by the ever kind Wilderness Inquiry staff that were so great with the kids.   Right away we were greeted by the friendly smiles of he other matches at the camp area in the park designated only for youth groups/organizations.  After introducing ourselves to everyone and getting to know one another we passed around a frisbee for the next half hour.  We did some great “get to know you” activities where we learned each others names and were able to interact with each other.

Next we had a tent set up demonstration.  There were two types, A-frames and domes.  We chose an A-frame because we hadn’t ever set on up before. We finished pretty quick and ‘little’ quickly ran around our tent city and asked if anyone else needed help. He loves helping.

A-frame tent

Next was dinner. We volunteered to help for dinner that night with another fun match.  We cut up tomato’s, onion, green pepper, and minced garlic.  We boiled spaghetti, and made some delicious garlic bread! It was a great meal and the kids were so excited to be able to help. Something about eating outside makes everything taste better!  All of the little’s there this weekend thrived under responsibility. It was great to see them volunteer for work, and love doing it. Is a childhood actually complete without experiencing camping? I’m not so sure.

That night we lit a great bon fire, of course ‘little’ took a lead role in setting it up, and enjoyed a lovely evening.  S’mores were a huge hit!  We played some fun bon fire games. First we played telephone, where one person starts with a phrase and whispers it into the ear of their neighbor.  As it goes around the fire, inevitably someone doesn’t hear correctly and the message morphs before it hits the last person. It’s hilarious to hear the final out come.  Then we played one that I’d never heard of before and was a huge match favorite.  It was called Pass the Snort.  The point of the game is to make your neighbor laugh by making a funny snort noise in their ear.  If everyone makes it around the circle without laughing than everyone wins.  The kids were rolling on the floor laughing by some pretty creative snorts.

We finally hunkered down in the tent, to the protests of ‘little’, had a quick conversation on the events of the day, and fell asleep.  I woke up in the middle of the night, and ‘little’ had spun around 90 degrees and was sharing my pillow.  ha ha it was hilarious.  The rain came at night and it was beautiful to listen to as I feel back asleep.

Next morning, we made delicious pancakes and coffee.  The pancakes were wonderful but the coffee had everyone’s attention.  It was called cowboy coffee.  We boiled a half gallon of water, put in a couple handfuls of coffee let it steep, and without the top on spun the metal container around and around and around.  It was being kept in by centrifugal force and pushing the grounds down to the bottom like a french press.  DELICIOUS!! at the end of the spinning the spinner has to holler out YEEEEEEEHAAAAA!!! Great things for all of us to see.

Next we broke camp and headed to the lake.  It was pouring at this point in the day.  Surprisingly, no one was frustrated. We all just rolled with the punches.  We took the canoe’s out and played on the lake for about an hour. We learned the proper strokes, how to board a canoe properly, DON’T STAND UP, and don’t rock the boat.

Rainy Canoe

We came back into shore, munched on a lunch of summer sausage, bagels, cheese, veggies with veggie dip and cookies.  It was a lovely weekend and ‘little’ learned a bunch about responsibility and helping people out. I was so proud of how helpful he was and cordial to everyone. “please, thank you, yes ma’am/sir, etc. etc.”

-proud big

The  main theme in our relationship is “Becoming men, one discovery at a time.”  Every once in a while ‘little’ and I get down to the nuts and bolts of our relationship. What does it mean to become a man? Are you a man yet? How do you get there?

It seems that ‘little’ is on a precipice right now in his life. As a fresh teenager he’s starting to understand his lot in life. He understands that he has an up hill battle, as many people do, to get what he wants in life. He has to claw and scratch for what it is he wants. Now he can look at this situation and be sullen about it and not do anything, or get up, be strong, work is hardest, become a man, and be a leader in his family and his community.  We’ve decided together that his main responsibility right now is to work is hardest in school.  Math is by far his strong suit. Science is a close second.  Reading is  a little tough for him.  It’s not so much that he doesn’t know how but it mostly comes to content where he hits a wall.  Often times when we’re driving in my car he’ll read billboards as we’re driving, pick up literature in the car and read them to me unsolicited, or read bumper stickers on the cars as we drive by.  He enjoys reading and likes to show me that he can. I challenge him a lot and never give in to words he doesn’t know.  Once he sounds it out he can usually figure out the meaning.

I stopped by Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities today and my match support coordinator really came through for me.  She counciled me on the matter of reading and ‘little’ and that this is something he really needs to get a hold of before he reaches highschool. Whether the content is boring or not he needs to be strong in the matter.  It just so happened that a huge amount of books had been donated and she loaded me with an arm full.  I can’t wait to dive into a few of these with ‘little’ and to be honest I wish we had spent more of the summer digging in. It may be tough to find time during school but once the snow flies, it’ll be a good excuse to hunker down inside.  That’s right, those great white flakes aren’t too far away!!!

Coming back to the idea of becoming men, in order to give ‘little’ the best chance of success in the future he needs to start now. He needs to get good grades to give him the widest array of opportunities post graduation.  Hopefully he can make it to college and of course he needs the GPA to carry him there.  If he gets the GPA we’re shooing for he may be eligible for the Federated Insurance scholarship program where any match that reaches 18 months (which we have surpassed) is able to apply for a full ride to many colleges in the area (including Saint Cloud State, U of M, Saint Thomas, Saint Catherine’s, Saint John’s, Augsburg and a few others).  He just in junior high yet so we’re not going FULL force on this initiative but at least we’re planting seeds.

Here’s the pile of books.  See any good ones you think we should start with? I’m think either Hardy Boys (pretty sure I read them all) or Chronicles of Narnia. I haven’t read the later yet and I would love to read along with him!

Here goes!!

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities Free Books

After a hard mornings work we went inside, I whooped up some Venison Hash, a real hardy mans meal, while he played games on my computer.  We decided to sit down and watch a netflix movie.  By the way, it’s really hard to pick a movie when you have to consider the fact that you’re watching it with an 11 year old (man, the things that I learn through our relationship due to being the youngest for four in my own family). Now judging from the movies that he and I have talked about before, I don’t think his filter is on too high when it comes to choosing, but still, as long as he’s watching it with me, it will be an 11 year old appropriate movie.  We looked in the action section and found Karate Kid.  He wasn’t overly excited about it until I explained the Crane to him along with demonstration and what that scene meant to all men between the ages of 22 and 30.

Crane (the move of the century)

We gorged ourselves on the venison and sat back and watched the movie.  WOW! Movies today are so different. The character development and story line are so  much more relied upon rather than constant action. I loved it… ‘little’ liked it too but I could tell that it was just barely keeping his attention.  I couldn’t believe it but when we were mid movie he actualy took a bunch of pillows and threw them between the two of us and leaned on my shoulder to rest. No kid has ever done that to me before.  There was an honest trust between us that he was able to do that. I still don’t even know what to say about it….hmmm. Really cool and heart warming.  Alright ** shift in my seat/clear throat** back to manly food eating and movie watching… It was great and he was jazzed by the marshal arts.  We both got up at the end, practiced our wax on/wax off technique, did a few cranes and I brought him home.

Now it’s question time… ‘little’ doesn’t really have to much of an idea on how money works.  I want to show him that he put in a few honest hours of work and that I appreciate it.  Now I kind of get the feeling that Big Brothers Big Sisters doesn’t want money to come into our relationship (gifts, allowance, presents, etc.) but I don’t think this really falls under that category.  I don’t want our relationship to turn into me providing him with work and him making money (boss/employee type relationship) and I don’t want him to expect me to be giving him money.  I mainly want to sugggest that if he wants something, than he has the mind and skills to go out, set his mind to what it is he’s looking for, and honestly attain it.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be money based, it could be applied to so many thing.  (money/item, school/career, etc.).  My plan is to pay him $10 for his help and actually give him $5 for himself, and set up a college account for him to put the other $5 in.  I wonder what any of you think about that.  I really fear money becoming a main stay in our relationship so I’ll try to really separate the two but I think it could be a great life lesson for him.  He doesn’t have to rely on other people to give him what he wants, he can go out and acquire it himself.  I know he’s young yet but I’m excited to get started.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any similar ideas of what it is that we could experience together along this same vein.

You must be this tall to ride this fire engine!

I have two friends that are police officers (my college roommates) and another that is a firefighter in St. Paul.  ’little’ has always, since he’s been young, (yes he still is) wanted to be a cop which I totally support and think is great.  We’ve been trying to plan a mini ride along/police department tour and it hasn’t worked out with all of our schedules.  As I was trying to get it together again a few days ago ‘little’ interrupted me and told me he’d rather head to the fire department instead for a tour.  Now this may sound weird but since we’ve been hanging out all the time, and I’ve become so fond of ‘little’, my parental instincts kicks in major and my pride overflows… yes I read in to the situation way to deep.  I immediately think “ALRIGHT!! He’s thinking of his future and how he can start now on reaching his goals!!”  Then he opens up on what’s really going through his mind and outright says “I don’t think they have the poles to slide down at the Police Department… ha ha reality check, he’s 11 years old and I should realize that. I just get so excited and I can’t help it.

Right when we got to the FD the ambulance was just returning from a call. We watched them, lights flashing, back into the garage.  ’little’ was already hooked! My buddy hopped out of the ambulance (he’s 6’4 about 285) and came right over to ‘little’ and greeted him with a firm handshake.  When ‘little’ was asked his name, I’m pretty sure he forgot it for a bit because he couldn’t respond for about 10 seconds. HILARIOUS!!

Fits like a glove!

We went walking in and out of every ambulance and fire engine they had.  We got a fire hose wracking demo, we got to try on very over sized fireman’s jackets, talk to the chief, called into dispatch and had them set off the tones in the station, checked out the living quarters/work out room/kitchen/rec room, and best of all get some majorly great advice!! This was my favorite parts.  Most of the firefighters saw ‘little’ and gave him a wave and a smile, but that was about it.  When we went to talk to one of the veterans on the squad, he immediately warmed up to ‘little’ and starting laying the advice on thick.  ”‘little’ you have to stick around positive people man, you have to strive to be a better person.  Don’t listen to those kunckelheads (verbatum) on the street, cuz they just tryin to drag you down ‘little’.  You don’t need a ton of friends, you just need one… one that thinks like you, is positive and makes you a better person.  I didn’t learn that til I was about 27, you can start now, start early, and be an amazing person.” ‘little’ was awed by the old seer!!

I asked the fireman, with a wink, “how important is it that you do ALL your homework at school? Is that pretty imporant, especially if you want to be a fireman when you grow up”

Without skipping a beat,  ”Knowledge is power ‘little’. People can take away your car, your house, your money… they can’t take away knowledge and that is what homework is all about.  Very important to get that done.  Tell you what, you do all your homework from now until you graduate highschool, then you come and visit me and we’ll have a good talk.”

‘little’ didn’t know what to do with himself, jaw wide open, and a blank stare in his eyes. He was so embarrassed and overwhelmed with all the attention being poured on him. It was a great sight to see.  ha ha  We said goodbye and went to check out the fireman pole.  Turns out you need to be 18 to go down the pole so we got to look down the hole but that was as far as we got.  It was still pretty neat!

The tour was great, ‘little’ was awed, and he is determined, for now, to get all his homework done!

I can’t express how proud I am of him! It was fantastic!

Two Peas in a Pod

You know where this is going.  Well maybe not.  Everytime I hang out with ‘little’ I’m always blown away by how innocent he is.  Of course I’m still not really used to being with a preteenager for an extended period of time and sometimes expect him to act as if he were one of my peers.  When we’re together though, I don’t really have to check myself, it just suprises me that some situations tend to be more tame/kid friendly naturaly.  His deameanor really leads our events to have these certain characteristics.  His jokes are elementary, his manner of speech is light and joking, not cutting or crude, and the path that his mind takes most of the time is optimistic and excited rather than reaisticly scared or pre judged.  It really is a pleasure.  I wonder if all it takes is exposure to such characteristics to pick those up, or if he’s naturally a good natured person?? hmmm…

Well this specific post doesn’t involve the two of us together.  It was actually inspired by a wonderfuly invovled big Erin Annie. She commented on a previous blog post about how when we’re, alone (without our ‘little’s) we are much less concerned about safety.  When we’re with our little’s, in the car for instance, every noise, every creak, every weird movement scares us.  We’ve become protectors and guardians, as we take these young children under our wings.  It puts life into a whole different perspecitve and makes me realize that I really can’t be totaly who I am when I’m around ‘little’. I can be myself as far as character and personality but I have to by way more responsible and understanding that I have his life in my hands.

Even further than that, when I’m not with ‘little’ I need to act a bit more grown up than I usually would.  That means so many different things (one less drink at the bar, only going 5 over the speed limit rather than 10-15, being more punctual, and being more friendly and outgoing around other people… they could potentialy be a connection that could enhance my relationship with ‘little’) I could go on.  I seriously think about him all the time.  It affects me way more than just hanging out with him and building our relationship together.  Turning in homework was a bit of problem this school year and so I’ve really stressed a good work ethic, and being responsible through our relationship. Since I ask that of him, I have to expect it from myself.  This may sound trivial but since our match I now try to go to bed at a more reasonable time so as to be fresh and at the top of my game for work the next day.  I don’t want to slack off while I’m asking someone else to work their hardest.

I have to be the change that I want to become, and ultimately what I want ‘little’ to emulate.  I certainly don’t want him to become who I am, I want him to be the best he can be, but I want to be the same things that I’m asking him to be.  So far, so good.  I’m proud of him, and the small changes that I’ve seen over the last 3-4 months. (respecting my time more, not acting out around me, not cussing, and my favorite, becoming much more patient and considerate of other people)

The funny thing is I don’t think that I would have matched ‘little’ and I together, coming into this whole thing blind, but I don’t think Big Brother Big Sisters could have done a better job.  Thanks a ton guys!  It really has been an eye opening experience.  I’m super excited to continue on.

]]> http://www.josefbig.com/2009/07/wwld-what-would-little-do/feed/ 3 http://www.josefbig.com/2009/07/grease-monkey-central/ http://www.josefbig.com/2009/07/grease-monkey-central/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:49:31 +0000 admin http://www.josefbig.com/?p=182

What is this sludge mister??

I went on a trip to Kansas City with a buddy from work the week before and I was way farther over 3000 miles than I care to admit, especially being the son and brother of mechanics.  They think (and they’re probably right) that I’m so derelict in my care for my car.  I really wanted to hang out with ‘little’ but I felt like if I went one more mile on the sludge (oil) in my car that everything would lock up and I’d be carless, which would be no good.  It’s incredible how I negelect the tools that are so important to me and my life.  I only appreciate them when I don’t have em.  Well,  I thought I’d like to take this situation and turn it into a teaaching moment.  I’d teach little about something I fail daily at, appreciating what we have and taking good care of our assets.
When I picked ‘little’ up I told him to go right back into the house and get his greasy clothes on because we were getting dirty this afternoon.  He looked at me, looked at his clothes, and said, “I don’t know what you mean.  I don’t have any other clothes that are different than these…” alright, onward and upward my friend!!
We went over to my house, and fired up the grill so we could have some hot charcoal ready and waiting when we were done being men and getting dirty.  ‘little’ got right to it.  I gave him the jack to ‘make the car fly’.  I showed him how to make sure he was on the frame and then start pumping.  He didn’t have enough weight to put into it so he had to jump on the handle to get the car to budge.  It took him a while but he certainly didn’t want any help from me.  We got some cardboard slats, slid em under the car and got to work.  I showed him the under parts of the car.  He was hooked.

"Let's Make It Fly"

It was so much fun to impart these skills to him.  It really made me appreciate my old man and what he did for me.  ‘little’ was tough and strong (as strong as a 10 year old can be) but delicate and definitive in what he was doing.  He couldn’t get the nut loosened up at first to drain the oil pan so I got it for him but he was quick to take back the wrench.  When he got oil from the drip on his hands he was so obviously in heaven.  He really was a true grease monkey.  I gave him a shop towel to use and without coxing he draped it from his back pocket like a veteran.  I couldn’t wipe the grin off of myself, to see him so serious.  I showed him the filter and he went to town trying to loosen it.  When replacing the filter I explained that in order to get the best seal it’s good policy to moisten the o-ring by dipping it in the old discarded oil.  He was eating up my direction and trying his hardest to understand what I was saying and why it made sense.  Bolt back in, filter back on, I showed him the dipstick and how to measure the oil level.  He filled her back up to the full line. He looked at me… “is that it?”  You could see it in his eyes, he wasn’t even close to being done. We checked and double checked the air filter, trany fluid, oil level, washer fluid level, tire pressure, wipers, turn signals, break lights, headlights, brights, power windows, power locks… It was amazing.  He was even intrigued by the double latch underneath the hood and we opened and closed the hood about 5 times.

Natural Grease Monkey

It’s fascinating seeing what excites him and what doesn’t.  The week before we had gone to the science museum (which I still need to write about) and it was so hard keeping his attention on one task at the exhibit hall.  He was all over the place and really just wanted to play around and he really wasn’t in learning about science related issues.  Here in this situation he was so set on learning more, doing more, and immersing himself in the internal combustion engine.  It was great to see him so fascinated.  Seeing inspiration in other people is one of my favorite past times.  That may sound weird but was more he was more intrigued than I’d ever seen him before and that includes cruising on the lake the week before in the fishing boat, ha ha.
This outing with ‘little’ was hands down my favorite.  I finally have tapped into something that he wants to know more about.  I’m not sure where this is going to go, but I’m sure we can find more similar activities together.

A True Fisherman!!

Big Brothers Big Sisters does a fantastic job both organizing and alerting bigs about upcoming events.  This one in particular event went off with out a hitch and took so many pieces to go off right.  3M, the scotch tape and post-it note people, also a major company here in Minnesota that has been around for years, has an anglers club that sponsors an exclusive event with @BBBSGTC (Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities on twitter) where big’s and little’s together team up with an experienced fisher and have a day on the lake to learn and show off our skills, or lack there of.  Thus the adventure begins.
I usually get to hang out with ‘little’ about once a week but the week before last I was SUPER busy. I had a wedding to go to, friends that were coming into town, and work was really taking off on a few projects.   I wasn’t able to see him for almost 2 weeks.  I didn’t realize how much I missed hanging out.  I called ‘little’ four days before the event and let him know, he was surprisingly upset with me that I hadn’t called in a while .  I definitly got the feeling that he was feeling neglected, almost that I had robbed him of our time together.  I wasn’t sure if he’d want to go because we had to be at the lake by 7:00 in the morning and it was a little bit outside the cities.  That meant I’d have to pick him up by 6:10 in the AM to ensure we get there with plenty of time.   He had no problem accepting that.  I was up a little longer than I probably should have been the night before and needed a double dose of coffee that morning to get going.  When I arrived at his house 5 minutes ahead of time he was sitting on the side of the curb waiting patiently.  He didn’t seem fazed at all about the time, and acted as if it was noon.  He was super excited. It was such a pleasure to see his enthusiasm.  Honestly, I feed off of his energy so much! I guess I don’t realize that most kids his age are probably in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 or so.  Maybe he’s not really at that stage where he stays out to all hours hanging out with his friends.  I have so much to learn about youth ha ha.  I feel like I was never one.
We drove over to beautiful Stillwater, a somewhat historic city right on the Minnesota/Wisconsin boarder and then drove 20 minutes or so north on the St. Croix River.  We drove past a couple Marina’s with some REALLY nice boats.  The mist was just coming off of the road and the river, it made for an extremely scenic drive.  We arrived at the lake, Big Carnilian, and the crew was ready and waiting or us.  I’d say there were probably about 12-15 other matches there with us, and about 8-9 boats to accommodate us.  The boat we were riding in that day was a Ranger with a 225 horse  motor on the back.  It was an incredible boat with a ton of power!  I don’t know my boats that well but I bet this one was upwards of $100 grand.  It was such a smooth ride. To be honest I was a little bummed.  I don’t want ‘little’ to get spoiled with these great experiences and then be bummed if the next time he doesn’t have access to these great resources… (WHEN DID I BECOME MY PARRENTS?? ha ha) Of course I’m not complaining by ANY means.  As the sun was just cresting we took off on the lake. We really couldn’t have experienced a more pictureque launch than what we saw.  I know no one is going to believe me but directly between us and the sun a bald eagle swooped down about 400 feet away and snagged a fish and brought it to a nearby island for an apparent feast.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the eyes of a child get so large.  I wish I would have taken a picture.  We saw everything from his launch from the tree, snagging the fish, and the massacre that happened on the small rock island right in front of us.  It was quintessential nature unfolding right before our eyes… Incredible!

The guide had never been to the lake so he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of where we were to go but he had a depth finder and plopped us right on top of a bed a of hungry sun fish. He immediatly set us up with some fishing poles and worms and leeches for bait.  It was almost as if the fish were jumping into the boat at first.  I didn’t even use my pole for the first half hour because I was to busy baiting ‘little’s’ hook and removing the fish.  He could do the worms, but it was the leeches that gave him the willies.  He was a little weary of the fish too.  He wasn’t grossed out but he was scared of getting poked and they were flopping around to much for him to get a hold… it was a funny scene! Throughout the day I was working on him/trying to trick him into working with the leeches and removing the fish.  I’d casually say, “hey man, quick hold onto this fish.  I need to fill up the live well so we can keep them and clean the fish later” or ” hey ‘little’ quick grab me a leach!! I see a big one swimming down there.”  Leaches… no chance but he was so intrigued by the idea of cleaning the fish that he almost forgot about his fear.  When the fish jumped  in his hand though, he was quickly reminded.  I finnaly got him to grab the fish but he used his shirt as a buffer zone, ha ha it was so humurous.  His shirt reeked by the end of the day but he couldn’t care less.  Between the two of us and our guide we ended up catching 50 sunny’s of which ‘little’ and I kept 22 to clean.

22 Fish... all in a days work!!

To be honest, the event definitely tested ‘little’s’ patience.  It was really interesting because that was the first time I’d ever seen him amongst the company of others and how comfortable he was at social interaction.    There were a few times where I thought he was a little forward with our guide, for example, asking him if he could drive the boat a few times, if he could operate the trolling motor, if he could pull up the anchor.  It was great to see him comfortable enough to ask questions that were on his mind but the guide didn’t really know how to respond, so he decided not to.  ’little’ didn’t understand his nervousness so kept asking and was a bit put out and when I somewhat sternly told him “no, sit down.  Whatever the captain says goes.” He was bit chagrined but got over it pretty quickly.  He was also a bit careless of where his hook was when he was casting and I needed to physicaly stop him a few times and let him know about the safety issues at hand.  He didn’t understand until he was putting a worm on his hook and stuck himself.  When I explained that could happen to others when he was casting he was much more careful. He wasn’t bad by any means, and it was a pleasure to fish with him.
At the end of the outing we gathered up our fish, and hit the road.  We went back to my house and cleaned the fish.  Cleaning sunny’s is somewhat of an easy task but he was absolutley flabbergasted to see the actual operation.  I cut the fish up so he could cut the last piece of meat off of the skin.  He was overjoyed to participate and apparently had forgotten all of his squeamishness from earlier that morning.  We cleaned the fillets, rolled them up in paper towels and got them ready to bring to his mom as a gift.  He loves to bring presents back to mom which I think is fantastic!  He has so much love for her.  On the ride back to his house he quickly konked out in the car.  The 5-6 hour excurision defintily wore him out, but I think it was a true testiment to how great it was.  He was sure to thank me before he got out of the car at his house.

Konked Out

One of the greatest parts of my day with ‘little’ is when I drop him off at home, and not for the reason that you may think. He is so innocent, questioning, and curious when he’s with me, but the first thing when his siblings come around is he puts on this tough guy fascade to let them know that, “no, 22 fish caught, removed from the hook, and cleaned in a single morning isn’t that big of a deal”, and “what?? you guys have ever been fishing with your mentor before??” knowing full well that they don’t have a mentor, nor have they been fishing before.  He such a tough guy. It’s hilarious.
Mom was happy, and suprised that we were giving here 44 filets.   The day was an absolute blast, and I couldn’t thank 3M and Big Brothers Big Sisters enough for the awesome coordination of this great event.  The guides were great, and apparently more than happy to be bringing us around.  It didn’t sound like they do this for too many other groups but that they held BBBS up as a special organization to be a part of.

Thanks guys!!