So Not 16 Anymore

Hi Friends--

Are you having a super 4th of July holiday?  Ours has been a blast so far--the weather's been gorgeous and we've managed to make the most of every minute. 

Yesterday we took John's parents out on the boat and met Amy and her family at the lake.  John took all the kids on multiple bumpy tube rides while Amy, Bob (her husband), and I bobbed around on inflatable chaise lounges.  It was awesome.  For a while.  Until I decided that Amy and I needed to ride the tube together.  As usual, Amy was up for the adventure (we can talk each other into pretty much anything), so we climbed on the big tube and John tugged us across Lake Winnebago.  We were determined to stay on and look like the cool moms we clearly are (in our own minds, anyway).  Amy screamed at the top of her lungs the entire trip;  it was hilarious.  Neither one of us was able to let go of the handles long enough to give our spotter the thumbs down symbol (indicating that we wanted to slow down), so we just kept bumping along.  The good news is, we stayed on, at least until John stopped, and then gravity and currents and whatever managed to knock me off.  (So close!)  : )  After another successful crazy ride, Amy and I climbed back onto the boat feeling pretty darn proud of ourselves.  There were lots of high-fives and pats on the backs.  We decided we were the coolest, bravest moms, ever!  Emily and Maddie went out on the tube next and flew all over the lake.  Maddie took some spectacular cartwheel-like-falls off the tube.  Of course, I couldn't leave it alone that Maddie fell off and we didn't.  John informed me that Maddie and Emily were going much faster than Amy and I did.  We refused to believe that.  Still feeling proud after my mostly-successful trip with Amy, I decided to challenge Andrew, her son, to a tube ride.  Andrew used to be one of my swimmers.  When I first started coaching him, he was a skinny, short 11-year-old.  Now he's 15, and taller than me.  For some reason, I convinced myself that I could not only hang with Andrew on the tube, I get him to fall off, as well.  My plan would have worked perfectly had John not decided to show me how fast he pulled Emily and Maddie. Yikes! Not only could I not push Andrew off, I managed to fall off myself.  Friends, it was not pretty.  Still undeterred, I decided to try again.  It was somewhere around the first 2 minutes of the second go-around with Andrew that I remembered that I was no longer 16.  Not even close.  This morning, every single part of my body is sore.  And not in a good way.

We're thinking about taking the boat out again today for more open water adventures.  I think I'll be skipping the tube rides, though.  Unless Amy wants to give it another try.  I'm pretty sure the two of us will still be egging each other on well into our 90's.  But no more rides with Andrew.  Ever.

Life is good!

Hope your day is good, too!

XO,

Vicki

Fun picture found (here)