22 August 2009

A boating family

Today we had a church boating/skiing activity at Deer Creek Reservoir. I have not spent much time doing those sorts of activities. Like, at all. I have been on a motorized boat one other time, and that was at a church activity in Dallas. That one time I got to go tubing. I went twice, and then it was somebody else's turn. Primarily because of my lack of experience, I was not very thrilled about this activity. It's not that I didn't want to try skiing, it's just that I didn't want to take up other people's turns with my attempts while they could have been doing the real thing.

I had a series of dialogues during the activity:

Upon arrival:
Me: You know, I don't really see us as a boating family. It just seems like such a commitment to have a boat and have the gear and use it often enough to make it worthwhile.
Eric: Well, it is pretty fun once you do it, but you're right that it takes a lot of commitment.

Getting on the boat:
Boat driver: So, what do we here? Skiers? Wakeboarders?
Eric: I can ski, but I haven't done it since before my mission.
Sean: Same here.
Lanette: I'm not planning on doing anything, I just want to ride the boat.
Me: This is my second time to ever even be on a boat like this. I went tubing once.
Katie: Well, you can try kneeboarding; it's pretty easy.
Me: Okay, that will be cool.

After Sean and Eric had skied:
Boat driver: Well, before we hook up the wakeboard, anyone want to ski? You want to try it?
Me: I don't know. I've heard it's pretty hard.
Katie: You can try it, and if you don't like it you can switch to the kneeboard.
Me: Should I try it?
Sean: Yeah, you should. It's fun.

Then I got up on my first try. It was very thrilling. After I got back on the boat some of them commented about how huge my smile was. My facial expressions make me somewhat of an open book, so I heartily believed them.

While the others wakeboarded and we road the boat:
Me: You know, maybe we could be a boating family.
Eric: Maybe.

After we were done riding and were eating lunch:
Me: So, how much does a boat cost?
Jeff: I'd say about forty to fifty grand.
Me: I didn't expect it to be so high.
Eric: Yeah, they're not cheap.
Me: I changed my mind again about being a boating family.

Moral of the story: We need friends with boats.

4 comments:

Science Teacher Mommy said...

I grew up in a boating family. We bought a used bayliner when I was about 12. It was all we ever did for vacation and we loved it.

For all the other issues we often had (particularly with my dad) we didn't ever fight on the boat, and some of our best memories are still of those days.

I don't think Plantboy and I will ever have a boating family--he wasn't raised with it and money is a limiting factor, but I sure wish we lived close to my dad. He was going to sell that old Bayliner a couple of years ago, but when most of his kiddos moved home at the same time, he bought an upgrade instead.

Now I'm thinking about skiing. Thanks a lot!

La Yen said...

Check out Craig's List--we are considering becoming a boating or jetskiing family, and there are some sweet deals in this economy. Now I want to go to the river...

Packrat said...

Great post. :)

trishtator said...

If you were a boating family, I would be interested in being your friend(s).