So, before I put Gabe down for a nap I told him, "When you wake up buddy, we're gonna go swimming. Do you want to go swimming?" His little face lit up and he repeated, "swi-ying?" (swimming?). We also talked about riding on a boat, even though it was really a jetski we would be riding. Gabe really had no concept of what a jetski is, but he has ridden on a boat, so he was plenty excited. He went down for a nap and slept for his regular three hours.
When he woke up, I walked into his room, flipped on the light, and the first thing I heard was, "Swi-ying?" (swimming?). I couldn't believe it. What a memory this little guy has these days! He was so excited and just kept saying boat and swimming over and over. We got all packed up, let Libby (our yellow lab) jump in the back of the truck and headed north to the lake and the entire way there all we heard about was swimming and boats. When we arrived at the dock to unload the jetski, Gabe could hardly contain himself. There were boats everywhere!
After we got set up at the campsite we lathered Gabe up with sunscreen, got him all bundled up in his life jacket, and headed down to the water where the jetski was ready and waiting.
Lathered up with sunscreen.
The original plan was to just let Casey drive Gabe around.
Then the original plan was tweaked when someone suggested I ride too. It is a rather big jetski, so even though my gut instinct was thinking bad idea, I hopped on anyway. I knew Casey wouldn't drive wild and crazy with Gabe on.
Off we go. Gabe was so happy!
Libby was swimming along beside us and there was some concern that she wouldn't stop following us if we took off on the jetski. I wasn't worried. First of all, I knew in my head that we weren't going to be going that far out because Gabe was on the jetski. Secondly, I knew Libby was a very good swimmer and she's never had trouble in the water before. Casey apparently, wasn't so convinced. So, he turned back to shore a little too sharply causing the jetski to be unbalanced...
....and before there was any time to react we were all overboard.
And, Gabe was not happy.
And, I was not happy.
At all.
The dog can swim. Gabe can not!
Even though there was much protesting from Gabe, I decided he had to get back on the jetski. I didn't want Gabe to be afraid of getting on the jetski forever.
And, I also decided that I would drive him by myself.
It's much easier balancing a jetski with one adult.
Yay! Finally having fun!
Gabe and I rode around in slow, wide, very wide, circles until he stopped crying and finally started getting into the fun of riding.
Then, when we were finished riding, we headed back to the chairs where Gabe was rewarded with a juice pack for his courage and bravery.
Mm-Mm!
Eventually, Casey was able to get Gabe on the water.
And, this time he kept the jetski upright for the duration of the ride.
Gabe very much enjoyed taking the helm.
I'm sure he felt much more secure that way.
He even took a spin with Grandpa Danel.
He was nice enough to let Gabe drive too.
Leaning into it.
Aerodynamics are really important when you're traveling at such high speeds.
Bahahahaha!!
Then it was time to go home....
....and he was not happy.
Hopefully we'll be able to get back to the lake soon. We had a blast and it was the perfect cap to a very productive and relaxing weekend.
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