Captain Cate

Another sure sign of spring...the boat is back in the yard after a winter in the neighbor's back yard, which has tons of storage.

The "Papa 2" was the boat I grew up on. My dad took my sister and I on a multitude of fishing trips, mostly on the Colorado River. A few years ago, he drove the boat up from California with what at the time was Greg's new truck and gave us the boat as a gift.

Looks like my dad has to pass the Captain-hat over to Cate now. The kids have been really enjoying jumping in the boat and playing and pretending that they are having seafaring adventures. In fact, I have trouble getting them into the car with the boat right next to the car -- the call of the boat is pretty strong.

Strangely, Christopher has been frightened of getting in the boat when it's in water. Last time Greg tried, he took him down to Whittier. Another boat in the harbor was flying a pirate flag (the skull and crossbones) for fun -- but Christopher was convinced that real pirates roam the seas. That flag was validation of his worst fears. Ever since then, he's been more fond of shore fishing. Maybe this year....