Last Saturday, after chores and milking, we took our annual “thank you for all the hard work in the garden this summer” boat trip. We rented a pontoon boat for the day, loaded up a great picnic lunch, complete with fried chicken, potato salad, cookies, cake, drinks and snacks and all our fishin’ gear. Our whole family loves to fish. Even Grandma joined us – she is an expert fisherman!
We headed north an hour to a HUGE lake. I must confess that not a lot of fishing went on this time. I was to darn lazy to lift the pole! But I enjoyed watching the others and keepin’ my Mom company. Seems that the kids wanted to swim more than fish. We spent a few hours swimming in a quiet little cove. Very peaceful! It even had an old fashioned white church with a beautiful steeple sitting at the water’s edge.
Took the boat down to the dam so the kids could say they “swam at the dam”. Now, don’t ask me why that seems to be important…I haven’t a clue. Then off to look for another inlet for another swim before heading home.
All of a sudden, hubby swings the boat around…something had caught his eye and he was excited. The boys are all looking to see if HUGE fish are jumping and they missed it….Dad doesn’t normally drive a boat like that! Not a fish….much more important! A ROPE!
There was a perfect tree – hanging out over the lake with a long, knotted, yellow rope hanging over the water and a sandy bank at the shoreline. Someone had even nailed boards up the tree “ladder-like” to make the climb easier. Needless to say we spent a long time at this spot.
It was great fun watching the boys climbing like monkeys and swinging (and screaming) like Tarzan! The 7 year old was not too sure about climbing the tree that high. His oldest brother
came to the rescue. He hoisted his littlest brother up onto his shoulders (he stands at 6 feet tall),
helped him grab the rope and swing off. A much safer choice in Elijah’s eyes and he had a ball!
All in all, it was a great family day and a great break from the typical day on the farm!
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