Lake Days Waning

Just in time for summer to end, lake trips keep getting better and better.

Just Jeremy, the boys, and I went on this weekend's lake trip, but my family came up to spend half of Saturday with us, which was absolutely THE BEST. They showed up around lunchtime. As soon as they big boys got out of "Sissy's big, giant car," they had a monster gun battle with the little boys.

Then, the little boys went to bed, while the big boys - and everyone else but Mom - went for a boat ride. The fun began with kneeboarding and carried on with swimming and tubing and standing on an apparatus on which people are meant to sit.

After the boys napped, they (and Mom) hit the water with us. We boated to Boundary Waters (my favorite place to get a snack) and then to the Blue Otter where they wouldn't serve us, BECAUSE MY TODDLERS DIDN'T HAVE ON TSHIRTS WITH THEIR BATHING SUITS. No. Seriously.

When the time came for every else to head back to South Carolina, Jones was devastated. He watched them drive away and then asked me, "What about our friends?" I said, "They have to go back to their houses." Jones responded, very sullenly, "They don't need to. I need them to stay here."

I knew exactly what he meant.

Here's are a slideshow and some other videos of our amazing day.




The boys and I stayed on through Sunday evening. We had a DELICIOUS breakfast at Mary's - seriously. We need to start going there more often. I LOVE it! - and then came home to get ready to go to our "wake church."

After naps, which were surprisingly short for a Sunday afternoon, we took another boat ride (again to Boundary Waters). It rained through a big chunk of it, but the boys were TOTAL troopers. They didn't complain once about being cold. Once "Mr. Sun" came back out (Freddie always says, "We in tree tunnel; Mr. Sun can't find us"), the boys started wrestling. It was all in good fun, but MAN, were they laying into one another.

Whenever Freddie would stop, though, Jones would beg, "Freddie! Play with me!"

At one point as they played, Jones took Freddie's beloved "boat hap" off of Freddie's head and put it on his own. Then, as the words, "DON'T THROW THAT HAT" came out of my mouth, JONES THROUGH THE HAT INTO THE WATER.

As soon as Freddie saw it go overboard,
he turned to me and said, "Pease get it."
Broke my heart. He LOVES that hap.

AS SOON as it was out of his hands, Jones was IMMEDIATELY saying, "I'm so sorry. I am so sorry. It's all my fault." Whether he was really sorry - or was just trying to put off his inevitable punishment - I can't be sure, but I TRULY get the sense that it was a crime of control. They were laughing and having fun, and I think he just lost control of himself, though not maliciously at all.

We talked about his need to be self controlled, and he continued apologizing over and over again. I told him he'd have to earn the money to buy Freddie a new boat hap, and he agreed without arguing.

Jeremy turned around, and we spent a good twenty minutes searching for the hat in the water, but it was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, it'll be easy to order another one - and it's a good way for Jones to learn that, sometimes, paying for your mistakes means LITERALLY paying for your mistakes.

So when we got back to the lake house, the boys took a bath. When they were done, they got out of the water, and Jones went to work, which backfired a little bit, as he LOVED it. I should've known better than to punish a neat freak by giving him more chores. He had to clean the tub, the sink, the toilet, and the kitchen countertops (I didn't let him use any cleaners; he just wiped where I'd - unbeknownst to him - already cleaned), and then he helped me put the silverware back in the drawer.

"What's my next job, Mama?" he'd ask, and suddenly, I've got a huge list of things he loved doing to add to his list of chores at home. For his efforts, he earned $4. $21 to go.

On the way home, we stopped at Vito's in Franklin and had some of the best pizza ever, which was an appropriate end to one of the best weekends ever.

Our last lake trip of the year is scheduled for Labor Day weekend. I can't believe summer has come and gone, and while I'm so ready for Fall, I'm gonna miss our days at Lake Chatuge until they start up again next Spring.

A few funny things:

1) Jones wanted to rideon his Pop's tractor at the lake. He told me, "I'm gonna ride it with my pow pow, so everyone will get out of my way." Good thinking, Son.
2) Freddie always points to boats and bodies of water - be they real, imagined, or in a book (or even the Delta Queen picture that hangs on his bedroom wall) - and says, "Nah my jacket," meaning "not without my jacket." I guess my hammering the "YOU MUST WEAR A LIFEJACKET NEAR ALL BODIES OF WATER" has dug in deeply. Woohoo.
3) When he felt the rain start, Jones said, "That rain is getting more water in the lake." I thought that was a really astute observation. No, seriously!
4) I said, "Do you feel that rain?" Jones answered, "It's not rainin'. It's drippin'." I said, "Do you mean 'drizzling'?" He said, "Nope. It's drippin'."
5) When they were in the bathtub, I gave them some red Solo cups to play with. They stood up and put one foot in their cups. Jones said, "We've got cups on our feet! We're Captain Pete" (which is a character on "Pirate Mickey").
6) Freddie locked the door to his grandparents room ON HIS WAY OUT of it, so I had to take the doorknob off. I had trouble getting this done. Jones told me I needed to use a Mouseketool. "It can help you," he said.

Freddie has the biggest heart. This is evidenced in many
ways, not the least of which is the way he makes sure
his bear his covered up, too, when he goes to sleep.
"Bear want binkie," he'll say in his sweet little voice.

After I dressed the boys for church,
I told them to stay in their chairs,
while I got dressed (Jeremy was in
the shower). I heard scuffling in the den
and came in there to find they were sliding
around as if they were wheelchairs,
but they were, technically, still
in the chairs.

I loved having both boys squeeze on
to my lap and wondered if they'll both
still fit there next summer?