Boating with Dan

Dan Passmore invited us to go with him on his boat. We were going to go last week, but the weather was cold and being on a boat sounded fairly miserable. Today, however, was hot and perfect for boating, so we joined him at Deer Creek. Dan is headed to Lake Powell at the end of the week, and he wanted to make sure there wasn't any issue with the boat. We were the test run accompaniers, and were delighted with the invitation.

Kent packed a picnic dinner and we left as soon as I got home. Dan backed the boat in the water and asked Kent to wait to make sure the boat would start. It didn't. Dan had to fiddle around under the "hood" a bit, then fidget with the key. We were a bit worried that the farthest into the lake we were going to get was the loading ramp. But he eventually got it going, and we were able to speed away from the dock. 

We drove over to an area near the shore and floated while we ate dinner. Dan, Brandt, and I all went for a brief swim, then we got Dan up and skiing. He gave me the five minute "How to Drive a Boat" lesson, then hopped in the water with ski and rope, and I drove him around. I will admit, I love being at the helm of a boat. I love the speed, the wind in my hair, the slight mist of water coming off the front of the boat. So fun! We did a bit of fishing, then a bit more speeding around, then called it an evening as the sun was ducking behind the mountain. It was a terrific outing that felt like summer. We are so pleased that Dan invited us. In fact, on the way home, Blythe said, "I want to do this again!" 

Indeed.

Dan, on the floor of the boat, making adjustments.

I thought this might be as far as got.

Youth Boating Activity

The young men and young women of the ward had a boating activity this evening.  They had dinner, played in the water, rode on the boat.  It was great fun according to Brandt.

Kent reported the refreshments were good.  Dinner was from Chik-fil-a.  Kent stayed on the shore because there was limited time and limited space on the boats.

  

Brandt said, "It was fun.  On our boat, we did tubing.  One boat was the sit and talk boat, the other was the tubing boat.  I did the tubing boat.  We were heading out.  On the boat were Brother Runia, me, Evan, Paul, Will, and Nathan.  Then girls, too.  Rebekah, Ashlyn, Lucy, Laney.  Evan was in charge of the music, so we were listening to all sorts of different music; Back in Black by ACDC, and music the girls liked.  I went out on the tube.  I was the very last person out there.  I mostly stayed in the boat talking.  I did ask Brother Runia if I could drive the boat, but he said no.  So sad.  It was a four person tube, but we mostly had two people on it.  I went out on the tube with Paul.  Brother Runia drove fast, but we didn't fall off."

I asked Kent to take some pictures, and to ask someone to take a picture a picture of him and Brandt together.  These two are the best pictures I got.

Boating

Kent and Brandt left this morning for scout camp.  They are calling it Deacon Low Adventure.  I'll report on that in another post.  We spent some quality time this morning getting them ready to go, and then rested in the yard under the shady tree after they'd gone.  Mikayla and company, as well as Grandma Sue, came over, and we talked together.  Dan Passmore came over to chat with us, too, and then the kids wanted to get into his boat.  It's an attractive nuisance, made more attractive by the fact that Dan is terribly permissive and lets the kids get in the boat pretty much whenever they want.  Well, they wanted today, especially Cora, so in they climbed.  Well, we practically all climbed in.  The kids AND Grandma Sue, after Cora sweetly invited her to join them.  Too bad the boat wasn't actually afloat, because that would have been really nice.

Boating

Uncle Lee and Aunt Cammie bought a boat last week.  Yeah!  The only thing better than owning a boat?  Knowing someone else who does.  When Brandt found out that Lee had a boat, he was super excited.  I told Brandt that Lee would take us out on the boat soon, but Brandt wanted to know when.  On Wednesday or so, Brandt asked if Lee was taking a day off work, and when I said I didn't know, he said, "Let's call him."  So we did.  Lee promised that we would all go out on the boat on Saturday.

It was a long wait for Saturday to come.  But it did, finally, and we went boating.  Brandt was so excited he could hardly contain himself.  And Lee was wonderful about letting Brandt help him with anything he possibly could.  He would have even let Brandt drive the boat, but in the end, Brandt didn't want to.  He did, however, hold the orange flag, he tied us to the dock, he pulled out buoys, he was on board as we unloaded and loaded the boat, and watched very closely to every operation.

Blythe was very brave and rode on the giant tube with me as we were pulled behind the boat.  She was even braver than Brandt who would not ride, but she was not super happy once we started being pulled.  It was certainly a thrill.  It was especially thrilling when Blythe got back in the boat and Lee pulled me and Kent way faster.  I found myself shrieking and laughing simultaneously.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten to charge the camera battery, so I didn't get all the pictures I had hoped.  I told Lee we would have to go boating again so I can take more photos.

Love this picture!

This is me and Blythe being pulled behind the boat.

Our brave Blythe.

This is Kent being pulled behind the boat.

A small and daring sailor.

A Lovely Week, somewhat focused on B

It has been a gloriously beautiful autumn week.  Every day has been sunny and warm and we have been out and about reveling in the last days of summer-ish weather.  On Wednesday we biked to the library for story time.  I got the bike in a bit of a jam and fell over giving myself a rather largish bruise on my thigh (for B week!), but the children love to be in the bike trailer moving along at a fast-ish clip.

On Thursday we did a B project, decorating wooden Bs with paint and buttons.  Brandt's B is green--paint and buttons alike--his favorite color.  Blythe's is pink with lots of different buttons.  They love to paint.

On Friday morning, with nothing much on the agenda but with a couple of errands to run, I decided we would "walk" our errands.  I put the children in the stroller and we set off for what ended up being a two and a half hour walk.  It was so beautiful and the children were so good.  They even walked for a bit along the river trail.  

Brandt and Blythe on a bridge.  How's that for Bs?

One of our stops along the walk was at the grocery store.

We needed B foods for our B dinner.

We bought Kix as well, although neither Kix nor cereal start with B.

They were on sale.

Blythe wanted to carry a box, and as a result, so did Brandt.

On Saturday afternoon we took the children to a play.  We went to see Taming of the Shrew, but adapted for young audiences.  It was a circus themed production and absolutely delightful.  Brandt loved it.  He was completely focused on the stage, and when there was a short break to have some children from the audience return and ask a few more up, Brandt said, "Is there more?"  There will be several other productions this year that we will attend.  

Brandt is conducting the pre-production music.

Our B week activity was to go on a boat ride with Paul, a friend of Kent's.  Kent did Paul a favor a while ago and he offered to take us out on the boat, so I encouraged Kent to call him this week and arrange something.  Paul stays on the boat on the weekends, so we went Saturday afternoon for a ride.  It was great.  Brandt climbed aboard, went below and saw the tiny kitchen, asked where Paul slept, and then announced, five minutes later, that he knew "all about boats."  He is a quick study.  Brandt asked lots of questions about everything, hung too far over the side and made me and Kent very nervous, and tried to open anything that looked like it could be opened.  Blythe followed right after Brandt, also hung too far over the side, and ate lots of animal crackers.  The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, the lake was calm, and Paul drove fast which Brandt really, really liked.  The boating was a wonderful B activity.

While we waited for Paul, the children threw rocks in the lake.

Hanging out of the boat.  

What could possibly be so interesting?

A beautiful girl with a handsome dad.

Brandt had perma-grin the whole boat ride.

Speeding along in the boat.

And now, at the end of the week, we had our B dinner.  Without seeming to brag, may I just say, it was awfully tasty!  There are lots of B foods I could have cooked, including broccoli, bacon, beans, and bell peppers (all of which the children like), and beets (which they don't), but here is what I made.

Beef (steak) with basil sauce (yum!)

Berry salad.

Butternut squash with brown sugar and butter.

Brie.

Bread (fresh, warm, homemade).

And then we had brownies for dessert.

The baking part of B week didn't go so well--

both the bread and brownies were doughy in the middle.

Oh well, you can't win them all.