A Day at the Lake

Knowing that our opportunities to take Carl's sister, Stacey's, boat to the lake were running out, the Solomon family headed to Big Hill Lake Sunday. With current registration in the boat's glove box (we were escorted off the lake last week for not having a registered watercraft) we started our day.

Carl grew up on the lake and has water skied since he was 5. I don't know squat about lake life. I stink at backing up a trailer, I have no clue how to drive a boat and I have the dexterity of a toddler taking her first steps...and that's on flat LAND. You should see me trying to walk around a boat. Ha! My limited experience includes pulling Carl skiing twice now and I'm certain the only reason he was able to get up and stay up was because of his skill. A less-skilled skier would have dislocated shoulders because I keep forgetting to take the slack out of the rope before I "Hit It!" In my defense, just before pulling Carl I had asked him if he was ready, to which her replied, "Ready!" When I reminded him of that, he said, "I WAS ready, but YOU weren't. You have to take the slack out of the rope." He didn't add "dummy" out loud, but he might as well have.

Carl chose not to ski yesterday. I wonder why.

At the beginning of this summer Carl informed us that one of his dreams is to be out windsurfing with Katie and Hailey. That's great with me. I prefer that the girls do cool things with their dad (like in this picture) rather than with some hormonal young boy...though I know those days are coming.


















Carl & Hailey on Father's Day 2007

Anyhow, Carl spent hours devising a way for the girls to practice with this windsurfer on dry land only to discover that the sail was too heavy for them to lift. Consequently, he spent two days creating a smaller sail out of an old blue tarp, which he then attached to a small windsurfer board that he has salvaged twice from my efforts to send to the dump. RATS! More fuel for his I-can't-throw-that-away-I-might-be-able-to-use-it-someday mentality that has our garage overflowing.

Finally the day arrived--today. Katie and Hailey tried out the homemade windsurfer and it was a HIT! They were both able to stand up and stay up for a good amount of time. That's as far as they got for the day. As an aside: I have bribed Katie to water ski by telling her she can quit piano lessons if she learns how to water ski without complaining. She took me up on that one IMMEDIATELY. Now she's informed us she would rather windsurf than water ski. Too bad. She gets to learn both.

How did I get a daughter that hates team sports AND music???

KATIE & HANNAH ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE LAKE