Taking the Party to the Lake

When the Schillings come down in the summer, we really try to take advantage of any time together to get them out on the lake. This time, Michael stayed behind doing "homework" (a house he had to design for work) - which was fine as, with the Whites included, it was a pretty full boat. That's why we had to kick all five kids onto the tube:





In reality, the water was super, super choppy yesterday. It was a bummer for those of us wanting to do something more than tube, but with the beauty of the blue sky and the awesome company, it was hard to complain too much.







John really encouraged Brayden to get out on his board this time as so often he's inclined to just tube. The thing is, Brayden actually has skills...his first time out he actually flipped the direction of the board, which is something I've never been able to accomplish (at least when trying to do it on purpose). On his second run, we encouraged him to pose a bit - what a little stud.....



Natalia was next up. Her and Brayden were far and away the wild kids yesterday, wanting the most bumps and twirls on the tube. She was over-thinking getting up, but once she relaxed and remembered how little work actually needs to be done vs. letting the boat do the work, she got right up - and had a lot of fun - crossing the wake etc. Given how horrible the water quality was, it was really impressive.


Mikayla also gave it a run this time. Way to go sweetheart. She didn't have much of a problem at all getting up, but at just 50 or so pounds, once she got up she was literally being tossed by the waves. Brayden snapped these pics of her and caught the second one as she was nearly swept into the air by the force of the water. You can see how little surface of the board was actually touching the water. Needless to say, she wasn't able to stay up very long - just too little.


Travis took a run on the wakeboard and proved to me, it wasn't worth my effort. No pictures of him in motion this time, but in the next post I put up, you'll see evidence of what happened at the end of the run. Travis flipped the board horizontal to the boat (as he's skilled at doing) - but, this time, the edge caught the water, and tripped him with such force he did a nasty face plant in the water. The poor guy was sporting the beginning of a below the eye shiner last night - and I expect even more color to emerge when we see him this afternoon. Sadly, that eye wasn't even the one that hurt the most....yikes! Yup, no need for me to consider boarding....(good choice, huh Mom?) =)

However, my die-hard sister couldn't pass the chance up to go out on slalom - the trip from the one side of the lake to the dam was horrendous (water-wise), but once we reached the dam, that stretch of water smoothed out and Michele felt like the decision was well worth it. She was having the time of her life - singing to the music as she cut rooster tails.


So, all in all, it was a very fun trip. Due to all the "twisties" we did in whirling the boat around (with everyone safely on board) - we took in SO MUCH water. When we parked the boat in the garage, it drained water for a good half hour....