Read with love

We really enjoyed Braden. We will all miss him, his "teenhimers" and fun personality. I think he is finally learning that half (or more) of what Dad says he cannot believe. We have really enjoyed having a teen around the place again. It has been fun.

I am not writing this because I want money. I will be insulted if you send money. Gramps and I did what we wanted to do because we wanted to do it.  You are always good to us when we come to see you and we wanted to be good to Braden when he came to see us. What I need is a solution.

They have raised the price of the fishing licenses for out-of-state fishers. We paid $32 for Braden for a one-week license (the fewest days possible because they no longer have a five-day license). That is OK. But when both boys come with you, you might be aware that it costs so much. I don't know, if in the future, we should just go someplace camping, which seemed to be what Braden enjoyed more than fishing, or if you think that is an OK price. He really wanted to skip the fishing trip and stay longer with the Westerns but Dad had already paid for the license and Braden had just been overnight with Dad when they took the trailer up so I made him come back and go. I said, "Who did you come to see, Westerns or Grammy?"  He said, "Them. I won't see them for a whole year." Of course, he said it with a smile. But I made him go fishing because I wanted my money's worth out of the license. (Bad Grammy!) Jim and Julie had also set aside time to go just so they could be with Braden. I hope he had fun. I sort of kept him on his feet. We went for walks and fished and, I hope, had fun. Jim had fun. Mary had fun. I hope Braden had fun.

Anyway, back to the topic, do you think the boys, Braden and Benjamin, like fishing as much as just being in the mountains? Todd and his family seemed to enjoy being in the mountains. We went up to Ponderosa. (They and the Gordons did go to Yellowstone after that.) But your boys are older and they may really like the fishing part. (Also, Todd only has one boy over 12.)

Also we may need a different place to go, other than Ferron. They have made some changes to the dam, because it leaked. Well, it still leaks so the solution is to let more water out and not hold as much in the reservoir. There is no way to launch a big boat like the one Grandpa gave to us. Only little canoes and smaller boats that can be carried into the water work there now. We sold the little boat. (The island is not much of an island anymore. You can walk to it.) Put your thinking cap on and let me know.
Love, Mom

Melanie wrote: We were planning on taking them fishing in New Hampshire in August, because they asked us to. I know they like the camping. Scouts has done wonders to help build up tolerance. Tell Dad that I am sending him the reimbursement for the chaperone. It should be there in a few days. I will send it as a gift check, which I will have paid cash for, but you can deposit it or use it like a traveler's check.

Thank you for all the time. He had a good time. He was so excited that he didn't want to go to sleep last night. I made him go to bed because we aren't on Utah time. He is so funny. He thinks he has to keep up with Siovhan. I am glad to have him home!

Love, Melanie

Todd wrote: I think you really meant to send this to Melanie. <grin>