Monday, July 19, 2010

You say pedal, I say paddle

So on Friday we went to a small lake where they have swimming and you can rent paddle (pedal?) boats.  We had a wonderful time.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring a camera.

We spent an hour swimming in the lake in the morning.  It's amazing how fast the lake fills up with people.  We had a prime parking spot, and when we got to the beach, we were the second or third family there.  An hour and a half later, when we were eating lunch, it would be impossible to swim ten feet in any direction and not bump into a person or three.  And after lunch, when we went to move our car to the boating part of the lake, we saw the parking lot was packed.

So we went to the boating part of the lake, and they have a little mobile trailer that serves as the boat rental office.  It was 94 degrees that day, and inside the mobile trailer it was probably somewhere near 110 degrees.  Thankfully we didn't have to go inside to rent -- they have a window.  But the poor kid who works there!

Anyways, they had available to rent kayaks, what they called paddle boats, row boats, electric boats, and duffy boats.  We rented a paddle boat, piled in, and went around the lake once.  Did it mention it was 94 degrees that day?  Elizabeth and Abigail complained about the heat after about ten minutes on the lake, asking us when are we going to be done, when are we going home, when are we going to stop, and I'm sleepy.

After about fifteen minutes on the lake, we returned to the dock, and went home.

I still don't know if it's called a pedal boat or a paddle boat.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Where did this summer go???

Maybe it's because we took a trip to Southern California the second week of summer vacation.  Maybe it's the solid month of nightly swimming lessons.  Maybe it's because I'm working pretty much five days a week (albeit part time).  But I just realized I'm getting one week off of work (it's my turn at work, per budget issues), followed by one week of VBS, and then it's already August.  Where did this summer go??

I had a "summer bucket list" of stuff I wanted to do, but it seems like although my day-to-day is more relaxed than during the school year (thanks to not having to deal with 8:10am dropoffs and 2:50pm pickups), my schedule is still just as full and unavailable for doing "fun stuff" like camping, visiting water slides and water parks, going pedal boating (which, incidentally, I just realized is NOT called "paddle boating"), mini golfing, Tahoe, amusement parks, and other tourist traps attractions.  Where did this summer go???

I think it's because my husband is still working just as much, and I don't feel comfortable doing these things alone with the girls.  Combine that with the stuff HE wants to do while the weather's good (basically anything that doesn't involve the family -- biking, poker, UFC, half-marathon), and I think that gives a pretty good picture of where our summer has gone.  *sigh*