Rowing our boat

This week was my oldest's kindergarten graduation, and after it was over, we were "encouraged" to take our students and spend a fun day with them. I did NOT want to be that parent who leaves her kid at school while all but one other kid get to go home at 9:45. First of all, my son would never let me forget it, but his teacher might not either. Far be it from me to be the one to jip a kindergarten teacher out of a day off!

So...while we were finishing up a couple of morning errands, we started talking about boats and remembered the inflatable kayak in our garage that's only been used once. That's how our fun afternoon on the lake was birthed! With my mom watching the little ones, C and I headed to Buffalo Springs Lake, a whopping 15 minute drive from our house. I haven't been there in 10 years or more because it's dirty and stinky, but dirty and stinky go hand in hand with 6 year old boys! We spent about 2 and 1/2 hours paddling around and chatting. We also spent a good bit of that time trying to keep the kid from swimming, splashing me, or peeing over the side. The water was so murky that I was terrified of getting a flesh-eating disease or that if he came out of his life jacket, I would never be able to get him. Eeeh! I don't even like thinking about that now. I also had to keep tugging at my life jacket because I accidentally grabbed my husbands extra large, and it kept riding up my neck making me look like a turtle with it's head in its shell.

We had to sing "Row row row your boat" and make up other little rhymes to keep our rowing in sync. Harder than you might think. If we rowed in unison, we zig zagged, but if we could stagger our strokes -one rowing right, left and the other rowing left,right-we could slice through the water much faster. Good workout and great bonding time. I hope we get to spend many more days on the water together. Next time though I will remember to sunblock my legs (or at least toast the backs of my legs first so they stay even), bring a life jacket that lets me see out and breathe, and work my triceps in advance so when my biceps are firm from rowing, the backs of my arms won't look extra saggy like they do now.