On our annual camping trip with my Aunt Marty and Uncle Tom, I wanted to take the girls out canoeing on one of the lakes at Warbler's Cove Campground. We pack up the golf cart with towels and life jackets and headed down to the lake. I didn't even forget the ores.
This was exciting, I hadn't taken the girls all together in one canoe before. I proceed to flip the canoe over. To my surprise, a big fat garter snake is slithering around at the bottom of the canoe trying to get out. My first reaction is to grab it by its tail and get it out of the canoe, but as I'm approaching the snake I make the mistake of saying, "Oh, there's a a garter snake in the canoe." Then the one and only Child #2 starts an ear piercing scream that startles me and the snake. The snake slithers into the boxed in area at the back of the canoe. I couldn't get it out. It didn't matter anyway Child #2 refused to even get within 20 feet of the canoe. At least Child #1 and #3 were calm and reasonable through the whole ordeal.
Well my next option was the paddle boats, but the boat was kind of dirty and I didn't want to spend time cleaning it out. The third option was a row boat. Now this is something I've never experienced. Yes, I've never rowed a boat before. I've canoed and kayaked, but not rowed a boat.
I love trying something new. After the snake incident, Child# 2 didn't have all that much confidence in me. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it, but I managed to get us around the lake without any other disasters. Child #1 and #3 tried out rowing for a few minutes each. Child #2 refused. At least the boat didn't sink. We had a great afternoon rowing all over the lake.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Captain Saves the Day!
Planning, starting and finishing a road trip is an exhausting adventure, though extremely fulfilling and exciting all in one. Our big 2012 road trip this year was kicked off with driving down South of Chicago to take my Grandma out to lunch.
It had only been the third day of over 100 degrees. Not exactly great conditions, but it was a great break in our annual drive to Michigan. Plus my grandma was able to see her great-grand daughters before we left for a few weeks.
Lunch took a little longer than expected so I was a little off schedule, but not by much. No big deal. As I'm getting my grandma's walker out of the truck, the girls jumped out, I dropped my keys, and then slammed the door. Funny the door didn't close all the way so I tried opening it again to re-close it.
Yup. You guessed it. The door did not open for me. At the time I thought I'd dropped my keys on the ground and Child #2 had picked them up. I put the walker down for my grandma and the girls already started walking her into her building. I yell for Child #2 to give me the keys, but she doesn't have them. I look into the back door and there they are inside the truck.
All I can do is laugh otherwise I might cry. I walk into the building and ask the security guard if he knows anyone who could open my door for me. His response is to call a locksmith, but that will cost a lot of money. His next suggestion is to call Captain Dubish (now as he says the name, the light bulb hits peak brightness, my Uncle is the Police Chief for the city that my grandma lives in). I smack my forehead and hustle grandma up to her room to call my Uncle Phil.
Uncle Phil makes it over to my truck within five minutes and has the truck unlocked within fifteen minutes. He doesn't unlock cars very often anymore so he said it took longer than his officers do. I was so thankful he saved the day.
Phew. I was sweatin' bullets for awhile there, but we made it to our destination in Michigan before dark. We still made pretty good time. And Child #2 didn't even complain once on the ride (it was a miracle).
It had only been the third day of over 100 degrees. Not exactly great conditions, but it was a great break in our annual drive to Michigan. Plus my grandma was able to see her great-grand daughters before we left for a few weeks.
Lunch took a little longer than expected so I was a little off schedule, but not by much. No big deal. As I'm getting my grandma's walker out of the truck, the girls jumped out, I dropped my keys, and then slammed the door. Funny the door didn't close all the way so I tried opening it again to re-close it.
Yup. You guessed it. The door did not open for me. At the time I thought I'd dropped my keys on the ground and Child #2 had picked them up. I put the walker down for my grandma and the girls already started walking her into her building. I yell for Child #2 to give me the keys, but she doesn't have them. I look into the back door and there they are inside the truck.
All I can do is laugh otherwise I might cry. I walk into the building and ask the security guard if he knows anyone who could open my door for me. His response is to call a locksmith, but that will cost a lot of money. His next suggestion is to call Captain Dubish (now as he says the name, the light bulb hits peak brightness, my Uncle is the Police Chief for the city that my grandma lives in). I smack my forehead and hustle grandma up to her room to call my Uncle Phil.
Uncle Phil makes it over to my truck within five minutes and has the truck unlocked within fifteen minutes. He doesn't unlock cars very often anymore so he said it took longer than his officers do. I was so thankful he saved the day.
Phew. I was sweatin' bullets for awhile there, but we made it to our destination in Michigan before dark. We still made pretty good time. And Child #2 didn't even complain once on the ride (it was a miracle).
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