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From: Jayfer
Date: 5/16/2017
Time: 7:15:51 PM
Seawolf: I posted this back in 2015 but it still is very pertinent now:
We have taken our kids all over the eastern seaboard fishing. They just love it when you get down to their level: sit in the sand with them, make roads in the sand, airports, fire stations, etc. My boy loved having trucks and loaders in the sand . . . especially when I helped him.
We use a minnow trap to catch minnows (go figure) and they loved taking half of the trap and running between the breakers using the 1/2 minnow trap to scoop out sand fleas. They would save them in 5 gallon drywall buckets and I would use them as bait. We would walk up the dunes and jump off as far as we could. They also loved digging in the dunes. Blackbeard may have buried his treasure there.
The NPS has a lot of information on their website about CALOs history and ecology. I printed off all their stuff and take it with us to read to this day, even though our kids are now grown. Go to the Blackbeard exhibit at the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort and make sure he sees what was found of Blackbeard's ship's remains right in Beaufort Inlet. My wife made a "prize bag" and our kids would get one "prize" for each day of their vacation. How they looked forward to each days' "prize". Our kids loved when we would play a board game or cards with them at night. Have them bring their favorite songs with them and listen to them (over and over and over) at night. Bring a shell ID, bird ID, fish ID, clam ID book with you and try to see how many of each you can identify. Binoculars come in handy. Go for a hike but make sure he carries his water and a compass. We always brought "special" food with us on vacation which we would not allow them to have at home. Have him plan and cook one breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maybe it's time (if you haven't already) to give him his very own fillet knife and teach him to fillet. So what if he messes up - he will love eating what he caught and cleaned. I have always been a die-hard fisherman, but I quickly learned to put my fishing aside when my kids needed me to play with them. It took me a while, but even this ornery old fart learned.
God bless your time together
Wow. I really miss those times.