Boating with Ryan and Katie

Captain Ryan, Blake, Owen, and Tim enjoying bobbing up and down on the lake.

Katie, my friend since kindergarten, and her husband Ryan invited the family and me down to Lake Cumberland to go boating with them for a day. Katie is 17 weeks pregnant, and after such a long wait to add children to their family, I could not be happier for them. I'm afraid that their boating days may be numbered next summer, but we found out that it is possible. It's just not relaxing. I wish I had more time to talk to my old friend. With 3 kids and 4 adults, it still seemed like everyone's hands were full at any given moment.

We had a lot of fun even with a few hiccups in our day's plan. I haven't been on many boats like that, so just zooming over the water and enjoying the beautiful scenery was new for me. This is my review of the day:

Thumbs Down: Getting there later than we expected. I don't know why my kids become excessively needy whenever I am trying to get something done. I don't know why Tim becomes totally enthralled with other things whenever I am packing for a trip. I'd like to stop this habit of being late for EVERYTHING, but I don't know how it always seems to happen.
Thumbs Up: Getting to see Katie eventually. I miss spending time with her. Long distance friendships are hard to keep up with, but it's worth the trouble and the phone tag just to have her in my life because she's been there for just about all of it. We have a common history, a shared perspective. I heard a phrase on Noggin today while Owen was watching Toot and Puddle. Friendships are like flowers because they keep growing as long as you take care of them. Katie, ours is a friendship I probably need to take better care of, but I hope it continues to bloom until we're old.

Thumbs up: Getting to watch Owen be so excited about his first trip on a fast boat.
Thumbs down: Blake and Sadie were not comfortable in their life vests (big surprise right?), and so their experience was less than wonderful. They squirmed and fussed. I finally just rode with them in the cabin without their vests (don't tell on me).
Thumbs sideways: the boat ride did put them both to sleep.



Thumbs Up: Owen swam like a fish, jumping off the back of the boat a thousand times. Ryan was so great with him, and I know he's going to be an awesome dad here shortly.
Thumbs Up again: Getting to laugh at Ryan who wore his life jacket like some adult diaper. I guess it would be a more comfortable way to float for a long time.
Thumbs Down: I didn't get to swim because it took so long getting the babies fed, held, etc.
Thumbs Down: The rain! We only got to hang out on the lake for a short time because the weather turned bad VERY quickly.
Thumbs Up: Ryan got us back to the dock seconds before the sky let loose. Thank goodness he made it because I would have been terrified trying to ride it out in the middle of the lake with three little kids!

Thumbs Up: Cookout on the dock during a storm. Friendly boating neighbors, grilled hot dogs, and hungry people.
Thumbs Down: When we went back out on the lake, Owen swallowed some water wrong and out came the hot dogs. Owen, Tim, and Ryan went right on swimming, but it was dis-gust-ing!


Thumbs Down: Blake fell down 5 minutes before we left and bumped his eyebrow on a little snap for the carpet on the boat.
Thumbs Up: Even though there was plenty of blood, the actual boo boo was not too big, and it's all healed up now.

Here's Katie!

Thumbs WAY Up: Baby Bailey is on the way!

Thumbs Down: Headache and other symptoms of pregnancy.

Me and Sadie enjoying the ride.

Thumbs Down: My shirt. Just a note to any woman preparing to take off on a boat. You are going to be going through wind and wetness which will make fabric stretch. If you are going to be holding anything like a squirming baby, do yourself a favor and wear a CREWNECK! Sorry for continuously flashing everyone.

Thumbs Up: We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and it was super nice!

Thumbs Sideways: Staying on the boat seemed like it would have been really cool. We just had too many people.

Katie and Ryan, thank you so much for inviting us! We probably cramped your style some, but it's a memory I will keep forever. Thank you.