Sunday, September 18, 2011

Stick a fork in it, the weekend is DONE!

This weekend was eventful.

My husband rented a canoe from the college rec center, so we were both pretty excited to take it out on a small lake area just outside of Logan. On Saturday morning we woke up in great spirits ready to embark on the journey of canoeing in an unfamiliar land (So ok, we were feeling a little Swiss Family Robinson) but, then...... it happened.

My husband (Reed)  went in to my son's (Keygen)  room to feed the fish (that were less than a week old)  and you guessed it.....we had a floater. Keygen, who is two years old, is patiently waiting his chance to see the fish begins pulling at Reed's leg hair. With a panicked look (or was it pain from being plucked?) he asked 'Should we tell him?" I shake my head with a look of "absolutely not!" Then I take Keygen in my arms and raise him to look at his now solitary fish. Not missing a thing he says "Mamma, two fish...two two two" Thinking fast I say, "Cheetah (yes, we had a fish named Cheetah) went to work as a showboat fish in New Orleans" Yes, I felt crazy for telling this to my two year old son, but he responded with "Oh, Cheetah work go bye bye" And all was well at our house again.

Quick thinking Mamma-1 Dead fish trying to ruin our day-0.

After an hour of hustle and bustle to get all of our gear packed, we were ready to start rowing. Of course, I have never rowed a canoe a day in my life so I had no idea where to start. Of course, I was a natural (sarcasm) and we moved like lightning across the lake (more sarcasm). After a few moments of getting used to actually moving my arms and keeping my hands in the right position (right hand on top of the handle. ON TOP! ON TOP! as Reed reminded me over and over....and over again), we were finally paddling at a pretty good speed. Keygen was very impressed with all of the ducks and he was even more impressed with how he could run his little fingers along the boat's edge and get his fingers soaked. And of course, those soaking wet fingers would find their way to his mouth. This went on for a few minutes, until a very large fish (definitely a record-setting 100-pounder)  jumped near our canoe. Then, I was convinced that one of those monsters would mistake my baby's hand for fish food. No more little soaking wet fingers.

Next, Keygen realized how much fun it was to throw things from the canoe. Twice, he threw a lid from his juice into the murky water, and twice we had to paddle back to retrieve it. I told him trash in the water would destroy a duck's digestive system. Hey, you gotta start explaining this stuff early. And he did stop throwing lids in the water, but not because of my in depth "save the environment" lesson. No.The only reason he stopped throwing lids in the water, is because he discovered the GPS and tossed that in instead. A GPS does not float, in case you were wondering.

We went out twice on the water Saturday. At the end of each trip I would remind my husband that I'm not a man and I'm not meant to lift canoes. He seemed unmoved by this realization.

Then this morning came and against my better judgment (I was still a smidge upset about the GPS fiasco) we decided to go back out on the water one last time. It started out same as before, a little wobbly. I got aggravated because Keygen wouldn't sit in his seat and insisted on sitting on top of me. I was hot. I was hungry. .......And then we got lost (I guess I can find solace in the fact that the GPS WOULD have been able to help us). I stopped looking at the birds with awe, stopped caring how beautiful the sunlight looked on the water, and I even lost my fear of some dangerous creature leaping out of the water and eating us. In fact, I was beginning to think that would be a better fate. I just wanted to be on land. For about an hour, Reed guessed which way we should go. Each time he would confidently say "this is the way". I flirted with the idea of what would happen if I pushed him in.  Would I be able to find my way back? Then the fear of the monster fish crept back into my psyche. Ultimately, I figured he was useful and could stay.

After a few long minutes of being completely irritated, I realized how lucky I was to be out on the water. It was a beautiful day. We had the water to ourselves. And I was spending time with the two most important people in the world. And, it also helped that Keygen curled up in his chair and fell asleep. He looked absolutely precious and I even laughed to myself about how funny the situation was...and how funnier it would be if it was happening to someone else.

Finally we made it to shore. We got the canoe loaded (I still was insisting I was not a man) and we made it home in one piece.

Today was the end of a great weekend. I love my family. I love my life. It also helped that we got to enjoy a 3 hour nap :) Hey, those canoes are heavy!

1 comment:

  1. Sheree! What a cute story! Please please please post more writing blogs! I find even if I read it multiple times, it's this cute little carefree spot to my day and I am definitely going to tell EVERYONE about my sister-in-laws' awesome blog, and well, just in general what an awesome person/writer duo you make! xoxo you and keygen (well, i guess reed too...)!
    -molly

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