Nemo is dead...Oh Well!

     Hey everyone!  It has been a while since I have written a blog post.  I have been busy training for the 2nd Annual Karen Petty Memorial Double Century Bike Ride Against Pancreatic Cancer.  The ride is over.  We completed the 200 mile trek last Saturday in 14 hours, and have raised almost $15,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to date and we still have donations rolling in.  Now that I have a little more time to spend out of the saddle I will be devoting more time to my blog.  I have literally lived and breathed the bike for the past 6 weeks, and it is nice to finally have a little breather, although I plan on keeping up my riding...I have to do something to combat the gut that is still hanging under my shirt!  
   

This picture is a little old now, but she
is still the same little meat head!

     Well enough about me.  Tonight my 8 year old daughter Ailey lost her second fish in her aquarium to some unknown disease, or perhaps old age I guess.  She dutifully takes care of this tank every day, and it literally looks as clean as the day she got it.  I have been waiting for one of the little guys to kick off since she got the thing.  I thought she would be upset when they died, but I was surprised by how matter of fact she is about their deaths.  "Hey dad there is a dead fish in my tank."  That was it.  No drama at all.  I wonder how many kids are like her and how many aren't?  She is really just a matter of fact little booger, and she is tough as nails.  I fished the sucker out with a spoon and flushed him down the toilet in typical fish burial style.  Ailey didn't even attend the funeral!  Just snuggled up in her bed and called out for me to get her some water.  I love all of my kids for many reasons, but when it comes to being rock hard I can always count on Ailey to hang tough.  For that I believe she deserves a fresh fish from the fish store!


I Love You Ailey!


Your Wacky Dad 

How To Build A Tomboy

Abby and Ailey bag their first pheasant with dad at age 7 & 5
Holly is 6 for any of you that care!  Pheasant's age - unknown

What do you do when you have 3 girls and you love to do "boy" stuff?  You do your damned best to build tomboys!  Since having 3 girls I have resigned myself to the mission that I am going to show them both sides of life.  They get plenty of the girls stuff from mom, and their grandmothers, but it is my duty to show them the man's side of life.  If I don't do it, how else are they going to learn whether they might like the activities that I love.  All of my girls are pretty proud of the fact that they are "little meatheads" like dad.  I am writing this article because I was reminded of how important my role is in teaching my girls these lessons this weekend.

     Yesterday my wife had a school fundraiser that she helped to organize called Getting Gorgeous.  It was a day where moms and their daughters could go and have facials, hair makeovers, nails done, etc.  Cathy took my 2 older daughters with her to this event and My 3yr old Mia and I stayed home.  We were supposed to be getting the house ready for a dinner party for later in the day but I had a different agenda than the one my wife left me on the kitchen counter (I hate those to-do lists!)

     The first thing I had to do was clean out my car before I could do anything.  It looked like the tool department at Home Depot exploded in my entire car, and Mia just wouldn't fit.  We spent a couple of hours outside cleaning the little Honda Fit out.  In the mean time I happened to look up from vacuuming the back of the car and I saw a wild turkey wading in the stream in our front yard.  Of course what do you do when you see a see a wild turkey in your yard?  You sick your three year old daughter on him like she is a damned bird dog and have her chase him through the neighborhood and create a tomboy lesson out of it!  See the video below! 


  

Damn she is cute!

Getting a turkey to show up on your front lawn is tough to predict, but now you know what to do if he does show up!  The next part of the day was planned.  Mia and I were to take our first fishing trip together.  She is 3 and all Costantino's get initiated to fishing by their third year, it is an unwritten rule.  We hopped into our newly cleaned car and headed to the local bait shop.  Mia thought the bait guy was totally the man when he fished 6 shiners out of the livewell for us and put them into our bait bucket!  We paid up and headed to the pond.  All the while I prayed to every god I know, Jesus, Zeus, Yahweh, Jupiter, Allah, and many more, that we would catch at least one fish quickly, if you don't your screwed.  Here are the results!

So Proud!

My God if that picture isn't worth a thousand words then what is!  The kid totally thought she was ready for the next Bassmaster classic!  We went on to catch 3 more nice sized bass!  What luck for an impromptu fishing trip!  I did have it in my head that the bass are in the spawn this time of year and that we would be pretty likely to succeed with at least one fish.  But I was really pleased with the rapidity at which we caught them and my daughters response to the experience!  Here is a little video clip of her holding a nice sized fish that we caught next!  






How many 3 year olds would even consider touching that thing!  I think that I have successfully in creating a little fishing fool out of Mia, definitely a prerequisite for tomboy status!  Also she has real potential as a bird dog, whick I might need if she eats one more of my wifes couch pillows!  More work ahead but I am hoping I'm up to the task and this kid really makes it look easy!  


Proudly,


Wacky Dad

An Easter "Clam" Hunt?

That is one cute little kid and a nice clam!

Well most people might have searched for Easter eggs this morning in their back yards.  Not us.  My 3 yr old daughter Mia and I had a little different idea.  Since the weather was warm and we happened to be at Cathy's family's house in Milford CT. we decided to leave the eggs alone and search for a few Easter clams.  We caught the end of the low tide and fished up a couple of clams on the sand bar.  The highlight of my day was watching my little one digging clams in her best Easter clothes!  Even better was my wife telling me not to worry about getting them dirty!  By God I am one luck man!  Even though we didn't have enough time to fill a bucket we still had a darned good time. 

I teach them how to clam young!

We practiced catch and release today since we didn't have enough to make a meal of (I love clams more than anything!).  You will hear more in the future about my clamming and "Quahoging" experiences.  It is an obsesssion that I have somehow left out of my blog repertoire!












Happy Digging!


Wacky Dad

Deep Sea Fishing...What an experience!

So, I went on an amazing Deep Sea Fishing trip on my recent vacation to Mexico.  It was a great time and only 20 minutes into the trip, we got our one and only catch of the day.  I was lucky enough to be the guy closest to the boat seat so down I sat and the fight began.  55 minutes later, my 9 foot friend was pulled in, wrangled on board for a few photos and then released back into the sea to fight another day.
I spent the rest of the day scanning the seas like a diligent Former Marine, looking for another catch for some other boat-mates but did so to no avail.  In the end, the day was awesome and I am definitely going to sign up for another ride out onto the high seas.  And next time, I'm draggin' the wife and kids along!
*And Just a little side note- this trip idea will be added to my next list of great things to give a dad for a present.  Can't go wrong giving the gift of a Chartered Day of Deep Sea Fishing.

 

Famous Cabo Arch!

About 40 minutes into the fight-

yup Sweating!

 

Amazing

 

A great fight by both of us!

 

One final shot and back to the sea he went!