Our Handful of Children

Hunter, William, and Wyatt

Monday, May 30, 2011

Water on the Brain

May 30 2011. Memorial Day.
“It’s Water on the Brain that leads a Man to Boating” Yes, Jon is suffering from Water on the Brain and in a wild turn of events we are now the owners of an 1987 19’ Bayliner inboard/outboard ski boat. We told Jon’s cousin we did not want to buy it twice before we gave in and said wait a minute we DO WANT to buy it we just need to figure out of we SHOULD. Stiles turns 10 next Sunday and will be of legal Spotting age…that was the clincher for the deal. The Kids had not a clue that a boat was even a possibility and I was not sure that Jon would go ahead and get it in the end after all but when He pulled into the drive with it behind the truck I am not sure his grin could get any bigger. Then Jon called all of the kids out to see it and Jon’s grin did get bigger. It was like Christmas morning times ten. Now we have a hung Jury. The Vote is now 50 50 between a Yellowstone trip and the Lake Powell trip. Two Months ago it was a unanimous Yellowstone trip. But after we heard some plans for a “slide” and a few other factors namely Jon would have his own boat the votes have done a wild swing and we are recalculating perhaps a “Day Trip” to Yellowstone instead and a bunch of fun at Powell seem like a better plan for me.
Well So far the weather for the weekend has been like the rest of the weather this past May. Cold, Windy, Rainy, and Cold. We really didn’t expect too much different. But We did manage to make Saturday quite memorable of course with our afore mentioned addition to the family. (THE BOAT SILLY no I am not expecting!!!!) We decided very last minute to haul the boat out to the American Falls reservoir and meet up With Jason and Nanette Who were doing the crazy camping thing out on the Aberdeen side of the lake. Now remember that with my 6 brothers there has been almost NO occasion for me to drive the boat and Jon has no idea about the whole process either. HE did Awesome by the way. But to make a few fun laughs at our expense and to not poke fingers at anybody but ourselves let me tell you a very funny story about our own stupidity.
Stiles want’s to kneeboard right off the bat. A friend of ours lent us a pile of wetsuits and a few toys for us to use our first time out and she Laughed as she drove away and called us crazy! So Stiles in his excitement has put on a wet suit. And it is I think a 2XL. In the mean time about every little kid has jumped into the boat except William Wyatt and the Twins. So Jon has got 8 little kids and His Mother wants to go and take pictures of Stiles taking a turn. Well I kept on thinking that Jason would get in the boat with Jon and all of that mess and so I decided that it would be better to stay on the shore and tag team with Nanette to keep our 4 little boys away from the water. Now keep in mind we are not at a nice dock or sandy beach, we are on rugged lava rock cliff like rocks. Well the next thing I know Jason has pushed Jon off and the only other adult in the boat is Grandma who hasn’t a clue in the world how to help Jon get Stiles out behind the boat. Now this is where the story gets pretty good. I realize that Stiles needs to change into a smaller wet suit and he insists he can not because He is not wearing anything underneath the current wetsuit. But his swim trunks were on board so Jon has to help him do a quick wardrobe change into Jons size XL, Still way too big, but by this time I am kind of done yelling out orders to Jon on the boat who is yelling back to me, asking me why in the world I was not in the boat helping him out, after all, of all adults present I am the most nautically experienced and that is not saying much. So now they get the rope and it is in a tangled mess and they are slowly drifting away. So Jon and Grandma start working on untangling this rope inside the boat with 8 wiggly little children. And Jon and his mother are not precisely yelling at each other but their voices and words were carried to the shore and they were very frustrated. So soon after they get the rope untangled they have dropped Stiles in the drink and He has a hold of the rope and Jon starts to head out and it doesn’t take too long to realize that the rope had not been properly secured up through and around the cleat, it had only been looped over and of course had come off and now Jon needed to circle the boat and go get Stiles again and fish the rope out of the water and hook it on again. I will not quote the words that came floating to shore at this time an even though they were appropriate for children’s ears I’m not sure we want to really remember the exact wording. So Eventually Stiles is able to give the “hit it” cue and they are off and the rope is about twice the length it should be. Of course I notice this but do not try to call out any words of wisdom from the shore lest my Husband should indeed lose his temper and colorful language should appear. Well they made it back and nobody got hurt but I did get in the boat and we had a few quick boating 101 lessons and threw Mckinley and Jason out in the water behind the boat. We would have got Tessa and Marcus out on a tube ride but the tube was missing the right plug and could not be used. In the end we ended up getting Jason’s anchor stuck, and getting rained on very hard while out on the water. Jon said he felt like his face got froze off trying to get us back to the camp. And we discovered that the boating thing is definitely Williams ‘Thing’. Getting the boat back on the Trailer was another great story but I won’t bore you with the details I just want all of my brothers to know That I hooked up the trailer all by myself and backed it down the ramp, all by myself, and it was lined up straight! Next time out should be better and we will get better with practice I am sure.
In other news Wyatt is teething! 2 year old molars should be outlawed, they hurt and my baby is miserable. Stiles got his Giant Pumpkin plants in the ground today. We are still patiently waiting on the rest of the greenhouse plants until there is more than 2 days of consecutive sunshine and no more overnight freeze warnings. I think On Wednesday we might get them out. WE have two more days of school left. Yes my kids have Tuesday and a half day on Wednesday. I am looking forward to having them here. I need some helpers. I have enrolled my three oldest in Piano lessons and they are making great progress. Even Jon is impressed with their new found skills they are learning. I love that my good friend Heather is their teacher. William is in the middle of potty training endeavors every day is a little bit better but I do not know nor do I want to know the when, how, why, or who, for the poop smeared all over the outside of the tub and on the floor in the bathroom. We are doing copious amounts of laundry around here to try and meet demands. And the Washing machine is throwing fits. I think it will have to be fired and replaced this week for failure to perform the work assigned to it. The transmission is dying or in fact at this time dead.
Well I think you have been brought up to date and there is little left to say except that if you can’t find us at home and we are not in the barn check to see if the boat is there or not. If it is we are somewhere around if it is gone so are we.

Love Monica and the ‘Get Wet Woody’ Woodin’s

1 comment:

Heather said...

Yikes! That boat sounds like it will bring many crazy adventures. And, yes, your kiddos are doing awesome at piano. They are so fun to teach. :)