For Such A Time As This: Are You a Fishing Fanatic Like Me?

Okay, I have to admit that me and my family are complete and total nuts when it comes to fishing! ANYTHING that has to do with fishing gets our blood boiling to the point that we get the fishing fever! Imagine our surprise when we found out that the Wal-Mart FLW Tour was coming to our area to hold a fishing tournament! Everyone, including me, was excited.

Stephen got online and started researching and found out that it would be a 4 day event, but two of those days would be Family Fun Days. We love Family Fun Days anywhere! If you want to know what that it, usually it is an event that is FREE of charge and the kids get to do all kinds of fun events. What we didn't know is that all the pro anglers who were eliminated from the competition from day 1 and day 2 would be there to talk to everyone and sign autograpghs, and offer tips and things.

We drove there with all the excitement building. The kids were extactic but I think more than them, my husband was the most excited. All his life, he had always wanted to go to a real live weigh in of a bass tournament, and today that dream of his was finally going to come true.

We got there and had to wait in line for a little bit, but once inside we were all totally blow away. We just had to stand there for a minute and take it all in. In the background I could hear music playing and I was totally blessed to hear all my favorite Christian artists being played over the loud speaker.

Once the shock of being there wore off, we decided to snoop around. Man oh man, I was in heaven...freebies and samples GALORE!!! All the sponsors like, Swiffer, Foldgers, Land O Lakes, Tums, Castrol Oil, Berkley, Snickers and M&M's, and many others were giving away free items. I came home with about 6 dusters, 5 things of coffee, lots of candy, and tons of other stuff.

The National Guard were the ones responsible for getting the event set up so they were giving away tons of stuff. The kids got free t-shirts--3 to be exact, hats--like 4 or 5, and many toys to play with.

They had fun events for the kids to participate in. While Robert tried his hand at paintball wars and the rock wall,

Kayla decided to see if she could handle some waves on the virtual surfboard. She lasted a pretty good while.

They also had a trout pond, which quickly became my kids' favorite of the day.

They also had a virtual boat game which both kids loved. They want one for their room...uh...I don't think it will fit!

After all the fun and excitement of the games, we decided to attend a few seminars by Berkley Trilene. This was Stephen's favorite thing, because they show you how to use the lure to get the best strike effect. They also were giving away freebies if you could remember answers to the questions at the seminar. Smartie Pants Robert won bait and line because he rememberd so well. I remembered mine to late. I was trying to win the large goodie bag for Stephen...I missed it by like a tenth of a second! Bummer!

After that, it was time to settle down and watch the weigh in. Just looking at all those bass made me want to go fishing! Here are a few pics of those HUGE monsters that I love to chase.