Candace, my 3 ½ years old cousin, had made plans to spend the weekend with Toby, Dustin, Logan, and I. The weather forecast was calling for a beautiful weekend, so we planned a fishing trip for the children. Although we had extra fishing poles that she could have used, we knew Candace would want her own pole, so I made a phone call to her mom asking her to allow Candace to bring her fishing pole with her. When we picked her up, Candace had brought two fishing poles with her and she was ready to go.
Like many children, Candace loves the outdoors and has developed a growing interest in fishing. We woke up on Saturday morning to a cloudy sky and a chill in the air. This was not how the weather was supposed to be for our fishing trip. Candace was eager to head to the water, but not wanting the kids to get sick we told them we needed to wait until it warmed up some. After a few hours, the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the day had warmed up considerably. To the delight of the children, we headed to the river to see if we could catch some fish.
As soon as we got the vehicle stopped, Candace wanted out of her car seat and was hunting for her fishing pole. With her Disney Princess pole in her hand and her hook baited she cast out her line. Her line would get tangled up from time to time as she tried to, but she never gave up. We would help her untangle the line and she would immediately try again. She did not even want anyone else to carry her pole to the water’s edge or back to the vehicle after fishing.
I watched as Candace cast over and over again, the look of determination on her little face. The current would catch her line as she reeled it in and she would yell, “I think I got one, and it’s a big one!” As the line got closer and she saw there was no fish, she would quickly reel in the remainder of the line and cast again. 
After fishing for a while without catching any fish Dustin, Logan, and Candace gave up their fishing for the day and headed to the water to play. They had little fishing nets with them and used the nets for catching crawdads and frogs. They also walked along the bank picking up shells, many of which Candace stuck in her pocket as souvenirs to take home with her. What fun they had!
Before Candace left our house to go home, I asked her if she was going to go fishing with us again sometime and she eagerly said, “YES!” Some people might think that the trip was not a success since we did not take home a stringer full of fish, but I believe that the outing was a wonderful adventure for all of us.
