D's Notebook

Tag: lake (Page 4 of 4)

Tubing

August 1, 2012 /

Another entry into the list of things the girls did for the first time in the summer of 2012: tubing on a lake.

Thanks to some friends, the girls got to go out on a boat over the weekend. M. and C. both got a couple turns on the tube behind the boat. Both had great times.

M. was the first up. I was a little surprised at how eager she was to get out on the water given her cautious nature. But she had been watching older kids in our group tube for awhile and I guess that helped her get over any qualms she had about doing it. We took a lap of the lake, at a moderate speed, and she did fantastic. No wipeouts, no moments where she struggled to stay on. She even gave us a thumbs up to go faster a couple times.

Then it was C.’s turn. Where M. may have gained confidence from watching the others, C. had no fear to begin with. She decided was going to do everything the bigger kids had done. So, as soon as we took off, she throws her hands in the air, pops up onto her knees, and shows how she can ride without hanging on. First time ever on a tube and she’s already doing tricks. That’s about right.

I got her to lay back down and hang on, but she was busy rocking her tube, trying to crash into her tubing partner on turns, and lifting her arms up every chance she got. Then we made the big turn and the end of the lake. Her tube rocketed around the turn, hit the wake, and when it slammed into the lake surface, she flew off. This she did not like so much. She screamed and cried, I think more out of fear the boat was leaving her than any pain or surprise from getting tossed. She calmed down just enough to swim at a near world record pace to get back to her tube. With some help from her partner, she climbed back on and was ready to go again.

They went out again Saturday. While I was not with them, then, I heard they did great then, too. No wipeouts for either girl this time.

Both times L. watched from the boat. She did not love the boat, both times getting grumpy and closing her eyes after a while. Probably not a lot of fun to be the only kid on the boat who didn’t get a turn. Maybe next year she’ll be ready.

Diving boards. Plane rides. Trips to the mountains. And now tubing. It’s been quite a summer.

ↁ

Lake Fun

August 4, 2008 /

A quick but good trip to the lake over the weekend. There were four families, and ten kids total, at this get-together, which made things a little crazy. Especially when the three two-year-olds decided to get wound up. Unfortunately, we were the only family without an older kid – each of the other three had at least a seven-year-old – so our girls lagged behind everyone else a bit. While even the other two-year-olds were hopping into the water (with life jackets, of course), ours would only stick a toe in, or walk ankle deep while holding one of our hands. The house we spent Saturday at sits about 40 feet above the water, with a long staircase down to the boathouse and shore. M. walked up and down that staircase at least 25 times, as she struggled to fit in with the bigger kids and their games. It was a little sad to look up and see her, once again, tentatively starting down the stairs, talking to herself the entire time.

The older girls loved taking care of our girls and the other little ones, though. They kept telling us they were setting up a free daycare so the parents didn’t have to worry about the kids. Free is good. The oldest girl, who will be eight soon and is a total sweetheart, kept picking C. up and carrying her around, which C. completely loved. All the girls (seven of the ten kids were girls) also found a snail and decided to built a little town for him with rocks. By the end of the day, they had built a “house,” “library,” “gym,” and some other structures for him. They also had a birthday party for him. Whatever keeps them occupied.

We pretty much stuck to the boathouse since we had so many people. We took one quick boatride just before lunch, but that was the extent of our true lake time. We had perfect weather: low-to-mid 80s, low humidity, and cool evenings. You can’t ask for better than that in early August.

It was fun to get away. It would have been nice to stay longer, but only if there had been fewer families together for the weekend. I’m sure all the kids were getting on the parents’ nerves. Especially when some of our friends have very different ideas on how to discipline their kids than others do. There were about five minutes Sunday morning, before everyone else had woken up and while our girls were still mellow, when we could just sit there, relax, enjoy the silence, and breath in the clean, cool, lake air. And hope the girls all get scholarships so we can shift some money from the college fund to the lake house fund sooner than later.

We came back early yesterday, as S. had to run into work for a bit. By 12:30, the girls were asleep on the couch. A few minutes after S. left, I was asleep with them. I guess that’s a sign that we had fun.

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