First Boat Day of the Year

Well, this weekend was just irresistable. The weather was the best. Highs in the 80's and sunny both days. Bryant and I worked in the yard on Saturday so that we could reward ourselves on Sunday. Luckily, Reeves woke up Sunday around 6:30. Sounds strange that I would ever say that, but this was good on this day as it allowed me to put him down for a very early nap, say, at 10:15. Perfect. While he was sleeping, Bryant went out to the country to get the boat ready. We must have been good this year because, despite not going in for its springtime checkup yet, the steering was not frozen, and the motor actually cranked up. This is a first for us. This is also the reason why, until the boat is actually in the water and moving, we don't generally let ourselves get too excited about the first boat ride of the year. More often than not, we are winching the boat back up onto the trailer after numerous unsuccessful attempts at cranking, watching the sympathetic looks of all the other boaters at the landing as they all say to themselves, "There but for the grace of God...." But not this year!! Bryant called to report that, after running his initial tests, we were still set to launch. An hour or so later Reeves woke up, got lathered up, got suited up, and got latched up in the car. We were off to meet Daddy and the boat!boat! at the landing. Thank heavens this child is skinny. He was still able to fit into his lifejacket from last year.

We headed down towards Goshen, waved at Grandmama in the yard, then found this neat little beach right on the Intercoastal. It was perfect. There was just enough sand for Reeves to have room to dig, and he found the surrounding marsh would tickle his legs when he walked through it.Of course, there was a huge Corp of Engineers pipe left over from the dredging that took place all those years ago, but we luckily avoided it as we beached the boat. We didn't even know it was there until we got out of the boat. Reeves, of course, figured it must have been some toy the waterway gods had left for him because he headed straight for it, barnacles, slippery sides, sharp edges, and all. Why play with anything other than the most dangerous thing in our vicinity?It took Reeves a minute or two to remember the feel of wet sand, but it wasn't long before he was running in and out of the water. I don't know how he did it because I have way more meat on my bones than he does, and that water was freezing!I kept waiting for his lips to turn blue, but they never did. We stayed there as long as we could but were eventually run out of Dodge by more gnats than we have ever seen. It was like the movie, The Birds, but with gnats. They were in our noses, our mouths. It was horrible, and so fast! One moment, everything was fine, the next, we were throwing Reeves in the boat and pulling out as fast as we could. I couldn't even take the time to put Reeves' lifejacket on, we just had to get some air moving around us.Then it was time for some snacks. Reeves really enjoys walking around in the boat. This doesn't work so well when we're going fast. Luckily, he does like to go fast and understands that he has to be in my lap when that is happening, so this is not such an issue. We tried to head to town to pick up Gammy and Pops, but the tide and wind had turned against each other, and we were getting beaten up pretty badly, so we had to abort the mission. Well, that and they couldn't really meet us right then anyway, but it was worth a shot. We turned around and headed back to the landing with one super tired boy curled up on his momma's lap. What a great day. We all slept long and hard that night. There's not a better tired than a salty, sunny, windy, watery tired. We're so lucky to live where we do.