Searching for Billy Badass

We arrived after two hours of singing along to Willie Nelson and Rick Springfield and The Partridge Family in the hopes of avoiding the inevitable cry for "The Mommy Teapot Song."  TT had already been there and told us it was darling before she left to go get a fishing license, and when we pulled up the kids piled out and started running.  The Man who hasn't had small children for over two decades tried to get them to help unload, but Sam and Eva were more interested in exploring, running from room to room inside and then cautiously stepping out on to the wooden pier to see how deep the water was out by the bench bolted to the end.  We unloaded the car, and the kids and I started playing in the water while The Man ran to get the traditional $30 loaf of bread.  By the time he came back with three plastic bags of goodies, Sam's shorts were soaked and Eva was in just her undies and TT had reeled in her first big bass.  Rain moved in as the sun went down and we built a bonfire and started our weekend on the lake.  But as the bass flopped in the bucket and the kids crawled all over the adults, laughing and telling jokes, it was already worth every penny we spent to rent the cabin.  We woke up to very cool sunshine and a beautiful fog on the lake, and although the temperatures struggled to get above 60 and the winds out of the east mostly kept the fish away, it was a beautiful fall family weekend.  So much fun to see the kids drive the pontoon and learn to cast and constantly search for the fish that TT named "Billy Badass."  I'm just hoping that when Sam tells the story at his Catholic Kindergarten he remembers to call the fish the name that Mommy gave it: Walter.