Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Cast For Kids

This past Saturday we participated in an event called Cast For Kids. It's an opportunity for special needs children to get to go fishing and do other fun stuff. It was held out at the Old Bridge Beach at Bay Springs and it's beautiful out there. The weather was great Saturday too. 

This was our first time to participate in anything like that, and I was really excited about it but it still managed to exceed my expectations. All the volunteers were so kind and helpful. Each of the participants got their own fishing pole and tackle box to keep, as well as a t-shirt and a hat. Korban, of course, was very pleased about the hat!

Hanging on to daddy. 


Sis just wanted to play on the rocks. 


She even brought Hundley for some fun in the sun. 

Happy little girl. 

There were also people from the marina that donated their time and their boats to give the families boat rides. My kids had only ridden a boat one other time before, when we were in Florida two years ago, so I knew they were going to love that. 

We had the choice between a bass boat and a pontoon boat, and we chose the pontoon. I was expecting it to be a short little trip but it was a nice long ride. We enjoyed it so much!

Here's Korban climbing on. He was ready to go!  No fear whatsoever. I was so thankful. 

I just love this picture of Korban. He didn't even know I snapped it, and the calm, relaxed smile on his face makes me feel good. 

Of course, Miss Selah was super happy to be on a boat too!

One of the men with the marina had his pug along for the ride. Naturally, Selah was smitten. :)

We even got an up close look at an osprey nest. A nest that big is not something you see every day!  

Pure happiness!

They didn't want to get off the boat but there was a lot of other fun stuff to do. Like games...

And face painting...

(Or arm painting, for those who don't relish having their faces touched. ;)

Balloon animals!  Korban chose a dog. 

Selah picked a snake. 

You could even get a sword or whatever you wanted.  The guy was really good!

Selah did some tree climbing...

And some sand castle building...

And some wading too!

She sure does love the water. 

And everything that goes with it. 

Korban didn't wade, but he sure was happy to be there. 

We didn't really do much fishing.  Turns out there was so much other stuff to do, we never actually got around to doing what we came to do. I am NOT complaining about that. It was a fabulous day, and we will go fishing another time, especially since Korban has all the equipment now. :)

They served us all a really nice lunch under the pavilion and then passed out awards. Each kid that participated got a plaque with their picture on it. So cute!  I can't want to hang Korban's in his room. They also got to pick a toy. He chose a Planes Lego set, which I thought suited him really well. He loved that movie, and he loves to build too. 

This was our first year to do Cast for Kids, but I definitely don't plan on it being the last. So thankful to have such an awesome event in our area. It is an annual event and I would strongly encourage any of my local peeps with a special needs child to sign up. We loved it!