Last Friday we went to the Kids Ice Fishing Derby on Thomas Pond. We’d never tried the sport and some friends suggested we go to the derby to learn how to do it. The problem with learning something new is realizing what you don’t know you don’t know. Or in our case, simply not thinking through what the activity entailed and what we should bring. The kids preregistered for the derby so we knew the fishing gear was provided but we realized as soon as we got to the pond that we needed some other stuff. Like chairs. Snacks. And other stuff to do to pass the time waiting for a nibble on the trap. And in case you didn’t know this already, sitting on ice is both wet and cold. Yeah, clearly we didn’t think things through. But we’re pretty good at going with the flow so the kids walked around to see derby volunteers drilling holes. They thought that was pretty cool, especially because the drill had to go almost to the hilt before it hit water. The girls were given a hand with the traps and help baiting it by a derby volunteer. Then the girls asked what they were supposed to do once their trap was set. Uh, wait? Well, the Almeida kids are used to moving around and being active so they decided to ‘skate’ around in their boots to pass the time. A short while later a little girl in figure skates skated by. The crest-fallen look on my girls’ faces prompted a pang of sympathy that I didn’t think to bring our skates either. After that, the girls crouched by their trap for a few minutes and I think this photo sort of sums up their thoughts about ice fishing that day. We ended up spending about an hour total on the ice and did not catch anything. L. was pretty disappointed we didn’t stick it out longer but I actually wasn’t feeling well and had to get to the doctor’s office for an appointment. We decided since we could keep the traps, we could try ice fishing again near our house …. and prepare better for the sport by bringing additional gear with us. The derby was a busy place!