The Big Catch

Today Billy and Will had a father/son excursion (of which I'm sure there will be many more to come over the years--activities which don't include mom. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I love seeing the bond between my husband and son). Some good friends of ours (Ryan and Ryan David Keathley) invited them to a father/son event through their church. It was a day at the Texas Disposal Systems Exotic Game Ranch that included a bus tour to see all the animals like giraffes, zebras, rhinos, etc, clay pigeon shooting, barbecue and of course, fishing.

Billy made sure and packed all of their fishing gear and off they want this morning to the ranch. After the bus tour, they hit the pond to fish. Will has his own fishing pole, and as I've mentioned before, we have taken him fishing without any luck catching anything in the past. Today was different. After several nibbles on his line, he finally landed a small blue gill. Billy said Will was so excited and apparently several of the other fathers and sons that were fishing stopped and congratulated Will on his first catch.

Later at the barbecue lunch, there was a brief awards ceremony. Billy, Will, Ryan and Ryan David were eating their lunch when they heard the emcee say "And where is Will Fanning?" Apparently the event organizers had gotten wind of the fact that Will caught his very first fish that morning, and they gave him an award (along with a $15 i-Tunes gift card). They asked Will to stand up, so Billy held him up on his lap and everyone in the room clapped and cheered for Will (and mind you, there were about 200 people there). Billy said the look on Will's face was priceless when he realized everyone was clapping for him--grinning ear to ear--and then he got a little bashful (nothing like a roomful of 200 strangers staring at you when you're two to make you a little timid).

Needless to say, I'm proud of my little angler. Here's a pic of Will and his proud pops--and the famed fish: