it's a tradition . . .

A week or so ago, Tom mentioned that it would be fun to go fishing the day after Opening Day and invite Jake along . . . we saw Jake that afternoon and I made sure to tell him about it so Uncle Big Tom couldn't go back on his word. :) Sunday morning, I asked Tom if this would be our new tradition . . . to go up the day after opening day, and he said we had to do it once and see how it went before he was declaring it a "tradition".

I was a little nervous because we picked up the boat a few nights before and Grace kept saying, "No boat, Daddy, no boat." She didn't want to sit in it or have anything to do with it, but as soon as we dropped it off at Tom's dad's, she kept saying, "forgetted the boat Daddy, forgetted the boat!"

The whole drive up to Silver Lake, we were getting her amped up and excited about riding in Daddy's big boat in the big watee and by the time we got there, she was saying, "Daddy's big boat . . . so essiting!" (exciting). She freaked out a little bit about wearing the life jacket, but we kept telling her that was the "rules" . . . she's really into what the "rules" are lately.

Grace loved helping Tom "drive" . . .It didn't take long before she was walking all over . . . not nervous a bit to be out in the "big watee"She took her job as "net girl" seriously . . . no kiddie fishing poles for Grace . . . Tom says those are "against the rules" . . . you have to learn how to use the "real" thing. :)

The first fish of the day! She wasn't scared of the fish and LOVED holding them and touching them . . . I think Tom's big smile in the background is priceless. He was pretty proud of his little peanut . . . I think they are going to be good fishing buddies. She spotted Grandpa and Grandma and Jen and the boys waiting on the dock for us and started yelling, "Nampa, I toucha the big fish!" There goes Grandpa, Jake and Tom . . .

Mom, Jen, Max, Grace and I were left to set up "camp" (our picnic area) . . . the kids ate lots of Cheetos and Licorice while we waited . . .

They're back! And they caught a few more fish . . . Tom barbecued hot dogs for us and we had a picnic . . .

The ride back across the lake . . .

Grace had the net ready for whenever Daddy might need it . . . Yep, I really was along for the ride . . . I even changed a poopy pants aboard the boat! Grace fell asleep about halfway back and we both ended up with some rosy, sunburned cheeks. Who would have thought we would get sunburned after the miserable day it was before?
While Tom was cleaning up the boat, Grace got ahold of the fish . . . She counted them over and over and over again . . .After we got home, Tom declared that fishing the "first nice weekend day after Opening Day" is the new tradition. I know he will still do lots of fishing with the guys, but I love that us girls get to come along once in awhile too.