When I was a teenager I really looked forward to summer… but then again, what kid doesn’t. The long, hot days with nothing that you have to do. Television, friends, trips, family bbq, sleeping in past 8, the feel of sand in your sheets at the foot of your bed because you had gotten home and been so tired that you just crawled into bed all salty and sandy! I also have fond memories of many trips I took with my high school youth group. Looking back, those teenage summers were “awesome”. One thing that I remember thinking about when I was a teen was that I wanted to take fun trips and do fun things with my own family some day, when I was all grown up.
Well guess what? I’m all grown up now, and I really haven’t been able to share very many fun things from my youth with my own children, we are just always swamped and so busy. Not to mention the cost of things has sure gone through the roof. (now I really sound old) Mike and I have been very frustrated about the “grind” that our life seems to have become. We have both sacrificed so much for our family… but where is the fun! We try to make even the mundane thing, like washing the car, fun! But we both miss some of the adventure from our youth. I used to begin my high school summers with a trip to the Colorado River, complete with heat, friends, boats, jet skis and bon fires. I miss that feeling. That feeling of time standing still. That feeling of relaxation. That feeling of being so stinkin’ hot that you just want to lay in the water all day! When we were first married, we used to surf, go to the beach, stay up late, watch movies, go to Vegas for the weekend. For goodness sake, did we give up all of the fun by having kids? I think NOT!
A few months ago, I began a dialog with Mike about all these things that I missed and hoped to share with our family. We talked about renting a boat and taking a trip to the river. But man, have you seen the cost of a decent boat rental. We were facing $500 a day, for 3 or 4 days, in Lake Havasu. Then Mike started talking about hobbies, and that maybe we should consider purchasing a water craft. So I began to do some research. I was looking into a 3 seater Sea Do. Then we decided that wouldn’t work, because Rylie and Griffers really probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the water play on a Sea Do. So we began to search small boats, to see what we could get. Then we took it a step further, and actually rented a boat in the Oceanside Harbor, to see how the kids would respond to time spent aboard. They had a BLAST!!!
We found a lot of boats on Craigslist, but did not feel comfortable buying our first boat off of Craigslist because, come on now, we don’t know anything about boats really. So we searched local boat dealers and set our budget. At the end of our hunt, we found a little 2006, 17.5 ft Bayliner, and it has taken up residence in our garage. It is a great boat for our young family. It is rated very well, as an entry level boat, and because we bought it from a dealership, it is in excellent working order.
Please forgive the poor image quality on this one. It was taken with my iPhone, on the day that we purchased the boat. Obviously, Wesley was excited about the new family toy. At one point, he hooked up his PS3 in the garage, and sat in the boat while playing his new Shawn White skateboarding game ;o)
We’ve been on a steep learning curve. Suffice it to say, just trying to get the boat launched has proven to be a bit difficult with 4 kids! But Wesley has been very helpful. He can follow directions to put out the fenders, or tie the boat off to the dock. He learned the hard way, to wait until we ask him to untie the boat! (but that’s another story)
So our adventure has begun. Apparently, there is a saying in the boating world… “The best days in the life of a boat owner, are the day you buy the boat, and the day you sell the boat!” I hope that isn’t true. We’ve been on the boat a half a dozen times in the past month. We are hoping that Wesley will learn to be a shredder wakeboarder! It has been fun for the whole family… and so far, we are very happy to have an excuse to do something fun as a family. Mike plans to also use the boat to rekindle one of his favorite hobbies… fishing! He is already talking about taking some guys out on the boat.
kids boat video
The kids arrived with my Aunt, and gifts in tow. Initially, Rylie didn’t seem to care much about anything. She just watched the commotion. She got tired in the play room so we headed back to her room, so that she could lie down. Wesley took the opportunity to read her the new book, and watch a movie on Netflix. It was awesome that the hospital had wifi. We were able to stay very entertained with the iPad and Netflix.
My Aunt Rita was amazing! She did such a fantastic job, and she bonded so much with Griffers. I could not have imagined going through this without her support. The whole family is eternally grateful for her selfless support!
We were so happy to be able to bring Rylie home from the hospital after a short 6 day stay. Her recovery has been fairly textbook, according to the doctors, which means, no complications!! We are so grateful, and consider ourselves very blessed. The Lord has heard all of our prayers. She is on several new medications as she adjusts to the new plumbing in her circulatory system. She tolerates them fairly well. We are also having to do weekly blood draws to check on her blood thinners. The blood draws create quite a bit of anxiety, but she is learning that they are over quickly. Her wounds are healing well. We celebrate each “sticker” as it falls off on it’s own. She will have no part in my helping them along. The hardest part of the wound care has been trying to keep her out of a submersion bath, or the pool. It is summer for goodness sake! Overall, we are so happy to have the surgery behind us, and Rylie is doing very well. We continue to lie low, and enjoy the lazy days of summer. Here’s to several more weeks of relaxation and healing!
