A day at the lake

Chris and I both grew up spending our summer days on lakes. His childhood spent swimming and skiing in the many gorgeous lakes spread across the Northern Wisconsin landscape, and mine with my family and family friends in Storm Lake. Looking back, I feel like every weekend started with my Mom packing lunches and beach towels, gathering sand toys and floats, driving to the lake and then meeting up with our second family, the Doxtads, and beaching and boating for hours and hours of fun in the sun.

Those days hold some of my greatest memories growing up. Getting slathered up in sunscreen, rafting in the water, looking for hidden treasures in the sand and discovering the mystery of the Secret Water. Learning to tube behind the boat, trying to ski, bobbing up and down in our lifejackets in the middle of the lake, dunking and splashing each other, fighting over floats and me releasing James Doxtad’s brand new super-duper tube into a boat current and watching it be lost forever. Yep, lots of wonderful memories. Well, for everyone but James... He’s still pretty bitter about me losing that tube.

So when our good friends, the Bounds, mentioned to us that they had found the perfect little beach on Lake James that they like to take the kids to, Chris and I, and the Scullys, jumped at the chance to get out on the lake. And because LeAnn and Jamie already have a boat, we went in with the Scullys and Paige’s sister-in-law, Beth, and rented a pontoon for the day.

And I’m not even kidding you, we were about five seconds out of the marina before Chris looked at me and said, Um. I think we need to buy a boat. And I was all, Um, okay. But can I get a new fridge first?

Captain Chris and his first mate:

The little cove that the Bounds had staked out was just perfect. It had a nice, sandy beach area, and plenty of room for the kids to swim. The water was so clear I could see my feet at all times, and the scenery was meant to be on a postcard.

And let me just tell you how awesome my little peanut was in the water. After the whole scared-to-death-of-the-ocean thing we went through at the beach, I was a bit skeptical as to how she would handle the lake. But all fears were tossed aside after her initial plunge into the water, and for the next five – read, FIVE! – hours, we literally had to pull her out to get into the boat to leave. She swam her heart out in that cove, and we were so proud of her.

And as if swimming and jumping off rafts weren’t enough, she and Chris even went on a short ride in the tube behind the boat. And she totally rocked it... Chris said that she kept yelling, Faster, Daddy! Faster! Which is ironic, because when the two of us are driving around town she always hollers, Slow down, Mommy!

All of the kids did awesome in the water, which made everyone’s day that much better. And it also allowed time for us parents to relax and enjoy the day as well. Meaning we were able to float in rafts and enjoy some ice cold beers throughout the afternoon. I mean, nothing’s better than a cold brew in the sun while sitting on a boat or on a beach, am I right?

And after getting everything back on the boat and headed back to the marina, the three girls, Taylor, Elliot and Rayn, Elliot’s cousin, just sat up front and watched as the boat moved through the water, giggling and dancing. It was the perfect way to end such a wonderful day.

And it was such an amazing day. And it’s not that I wasn’t expecting it to be fun as we were heading into it, but I just didn’t know it could be THAT fun. Part of me didn’t even know THAT kind of fun even existed. It was just an absolutely perfect day. One that made me super nostalgic for all of those days we spent as kids with the Doxtads on the lake at home, and also super happy that Taylor will be able to have those kind of memories with her friends growing up. Which means that I might have to put my new refrigerator-dreams on hold for a bit. But that’s fine. Because I couldn’t imagine how a new fancy ice dispenser could make me any happier than I was yesterday on the boat with my husband, my daughter and all of my friends.