A Little Afternoon Boating

Anchors Aweigh

 Except for the annual Pattishall family beach week, our summer has been one long "staycation."  Steven started a new job as a hospitalist at Wake Med hospital on July 1st. While he's been adjusting to work, Edmund, Evie, and I have been doing a lot of exploring kid-friendly places in the area with several friends.  So while we haven't traveled too far from home, I feel like my kids have had a fun-filled summer with plenty of memories.  One of the perks of Steven's new job is that he, for the most part, is off every other week.  When that happens we not only get quite a bit done around the house, but also have the pleasure of his company on our outings.  Yesterday when I got home he informed me he had an adventure for our afternoon all mapped out.

Edmund at the Helm

He decided to take our family to Lake Crabtree for an afternoon of boating.  We've lived in the area for 3 years and I have no idea why we've never made the trip before.  We've been to other boating locations before, but they've always been too far to make an impromptu trip of it.  Lake Crabtree, on the other hand, is only 10 minutes from our house.  Our one worry was that there would be no "peanut" size life-jackets available for Evie, but fortunately they had one that fit her perfectly.  As a family of 4 we could choose between a pedal or row boat.  We decided on the row boat.  Even though this meant Steven would do all the hard work, it was definitely for the best, as we learned Evie needed a full-time wrangler.

With life jackets tightened, we loaded into the boat.  As the boat attendant pushed our boat from the dock he exclaimed, "wow that's a big snake."  As we looked back we saw the body of a massive red and black snake coiled around the dock.  Thank goodness it didn't try to hitch a ride in our boat.  I'm not sure what would have ensued had we known it was there when we loaded.

Little Mischief Maker

The lake was fairly big, but we didn't explore very much of it.  Evie, who is fearless when it comes to water, wanted nothing more than to climb out of the boat and into the lake.  She and I struggled for most of the ride with our conflict of interest, as Steven and Edmund rowed the boat. After about 30 minutes on the water we decided to head back to shore.  Any more time and Evie probably would have triumphed in our struggle.  As Steven rowed back I reminded him to be on the lookout for the snake.  I certainly didn't want to anger it by docking in its resting place.  I'm glad I remembered to watch for the slithering creature because as we approached the dock we saw the snake now had it's head of of the water, its tongue sticking out, and hissing in our direction.  I told Steven there was no way we were going to dock in our boat's assigned spot.  Fortunately for us, the attendant agreed when I pointed out the snake.  We were able to dock further down and made it to shore unscathed.

Steven really wanted to go sailing, as he had done a bunch of sailing in college.  Unfortunately the Sunfish sailboats only seat two, so that mean two in our family would have to sit out.  As much as I really wanted to go sailing, I had to agree with Steven that it didn't make much sense to leave our troublemakers with no supervision back on shore.  In the end Edmund got to be the skipper.  I have to admit this was the first time I've been jealous of my son.  I still have yet to go on a sailboat, but Steven promises we'll go back to the lake without the kids one day.

Setting Sail

When Edmund and Steven came ashore, it was clear from Edmund's uncontainable excitement they had a grand time.  I am glad that was the case as I missed most due to chasing after a strong willed toddler.  I'm very glad we have found a great outdoorsy place nearby with boating and trails to explore.  I love being outside, but know I'll probably never get into hardcore backpacking or the like, so this was just my speed.  After this trip I tried to convince Steven that we should take the plunge and get certified in SCUBA.  He says we ought to try snorkeling first.  If Evie's love of water keeps us, she might just beat us to it.  For now I'm just glad we have a fun outdoor activity our whole family enjoys.

The Turtle and the Ice Cream Truck: An After Dinner Tale

The Turtle in the Garage

I was downloading and organizing pictures today when I came upon one picture that screamed "you have to write my story down."  OK, the picture didn't really scream, but if it could I'm sure it would have.  I have no doubt this story will end up as Pattishall family lore, much like the lobster in the pot is now Mercer family lore.  

One evening after dinner our family decided to take advantage of a cool(er) summer night.  As I walked outside my neighbor came over to tell me that she had seen a large turtle heading for our garage.  She had chased it away and it was now residing under our holly bushes.  She warned me to be careful just in case we had a snapping turtle on our hands, though her best guess was that it was a box turtle.  I brought the rest of my family outside to enjoy this sight of nature so rarely seen in suburbia.  Our neighbor's two boys also came over to visit the turtle.  

After some time the novelty of the "giant" turtle wore off.  This turtle gets bigger every time I tell the tale, but in my opinion it was monstrous.  The various children dispersed and then we all heard the sounds of an ice cream truck.  I don't know who shouted louder.  Edmund and I were both screaming for Steven to get us some money for some ice cream.  As a parent I now get the creepiness of the ice cream truck, but I suppressed that momentarily as fond memories of Ninja Turtle ice cream pops with bubble gum noses flooded back to me.  And can you believe they still sell them?  Of course that's what I got.  Is it sad I can't remember what my child chose as his first ice cream truck treat?  .

We stood in front of our neighbor's house eating the Popsicle with her children who had also been lured by the sound of the ice cream truck music.  While the children dripped sticky Popsicle juice all over themselves, I lamented the fact that I had ruined my amazing memories by partaking in the ice cream pop.  It probably still tasted the same, but was not what I remembered.  After we cleaned the kids' sticky hands we all dispersed and went our separate ways.  

Our family decided to take a quick walk around the culdesac before calling it a night.  I asked Steven if we should shut the garage as we had been warned that the turtle was hightailing it for our garage earlier.  His response, "It's a turtle (read slow), and we'll only be gone a few minutes."  After our very short back we returned home and the turtle was nowhere to be found.  I asked Edmund, who is lower to the ground than I, if he saw it anywhere.  He pointed under the car and said, "it's there!"  It took Steven and I awhile to see it, but eventually we did and now had to determine how to remove it from the garage.  

I took the kids inside and Steven moved the car.  The turtle was in its shell and Steven was able to back up without disturbing it.  Eventually, after some careful work with a snow shovel, Steven was able to remove the "gimongous" turtle from the garage and steer it back towards its peaceful home at the pond.  When I came downstairs to make sure all was well I spotted liquid of some sort in the garage.  I was informed that as man and beast cowered in fear of each other, the beast lost control of its bladder.  The next day our 5 year old boy could not contain his laughter as he heard there was turtle pee in the garage.  And thus concludes this telling of The Turtle and the Ice Cream Truck.