All the Grand Babies in the Water

I slept a little bit later than earlier in the week, but only by 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, it was yet another hot, sunny start to a vacation day. I whipped out 50 sit-ups then 50 push-ups then settled down in front of my PC for 30 minutes or so enjoying coffee and the internet. I headed off on a run sometime around 845am. I ran shirtless, just as I had done the entire week before.

Mindy was up when I got back from my run. We briefly discussed our boating day. Mindy reminded me that she wanted to be back by 6-630pm so she could run to the Jerry Spears to pay her respects to an old family friend.
I tried contacting Ashley all morning long but to no avail. I left a VM at some point. Like the day before, Mindy ran to Wal-Mart to get more boat snacks. While she was away, Rachel showed up to clean the house. It was a bit awkward us being home while Rachel attempted to clean. I promised we'd be leaving soon but it ended up being more than an hour later.

We finally heard from Ashley somewhere near 11am. Said she and Olivia slept in and wouldn't be joining us. I encouraged her to reconsider and shared that we would wait for them to get ready. We also asked if she knew where the boys might be. They were at base, or Magdalene preschool.
We offered that we would contact Lindsey to see if they could go boating too if she would be willing to pick them up. Mindy called Darwin to see if Lane wanted to join us again too. But Darwin nixed that idea, stating that Lane hadn't finished a summer homework assignment he was expected to already have completed. Yikes!

It was near 1145am by the time Ashley and the kids arrived. Mindy had swim suits ready for the boys to change into. All three, Olivia, Landon, and Rocky were stoked about boating/tubing. Ashley was excited too. We stopped at Thornton's to gas up the boat. It took 14 gallons. We headed up and around 270 then route 23 with ease arriving at the Alum Creek Marina around 1230pm. There were a few more trailers parked at the marina but no other boats putting in at the time. We took our time making sure we were water ready. We put the boat in with little trouble.

Had to review the rules of the boat more than once with the wee ones. They were wanting to move all about the boat while we were moving. We didn't wait long to get the tubing underway. We started directly across from the beach in the SE corner of the lake heading north. Jacob and Bella went initially Rocky chickened out. Eventually Olivia opted to give it a go, one upping all the other g-kids. She made me promise to go slow and I did. But not long into the ride she asked for more speed. Soon she was digging it. Ashley did some tubing before lunch, too.

I'm guessing it was near 2pm when we made our way to the swim cove. We anchored near the same spot as the day before. And not long after dropping both anchors the kids were leaping into the water to swim. Rocky and Landon were both reluctant to jump in. While Rocky toiled with his fear from the edge of the swim platform, Jacob unwisely shoved him into the lake. Mindy lit into him and made him sit in timeout while the rest of us swam. Everybody got in for a swim, even Landon, but he never strayed too far from the boat's ladder. Unless I am mistaken, this was his first time on the boat, so his apprehensions were somewhat founded. We ate, played and swam for about two hours in the swim cove. Rocky, Jacob, and Bella asked to tube out of the swim cove. Rocky got his first ride on the tube going extra slow. Only with a thumbs up did we go faster once out of the cove. He seemed to enjoy it and rode for a quite a while up and down the north end of the lake.

It looked to be clouding up to our south but clear blue over top and to our north. Thought it might storm, but never did. It cleared almost as soon as it started. Over the next hour or so, Ashley and the kids, minus Landon, all tubed again. Can't recall if Mindy tubed or not. We headed back for the dock near 500pm after a fast loop around the south end of the lake. It was another fun-filled afternoon on the water. The kids shared how much fun they had. Because the dock was empty, there wasn't a need to drop me off then have Mindy take the boat out. Instead, Jacob held the boat in check while I went for the Pilot and trailer. Happily, the trailering went without incident. We spent about 30 minutes wiping down the boat and then stowing all of our gear for home. I'm thinking it was 530pm when we hit the road for home. I had to stomp the brakes a couple times to get the boat all the way up into the "V" saddle.
The kids harassed each other the entire drive home. Mindy wasn't at all pleased. Got home shortly after 6pm. Ashley and the g-kids stuck around for just a few minutes before heading for home. Ashley planned to drop off the bots on her way home. She reminded us that all the kids had baseball games on Friday evening. We made tentative plans to go watch them. Mindy took a quick shower then left for the funeral home. I'm thinking that she was gone for about 90 minutes. While she was away I heated up leftovers for the kids and watered all the flowers. Things are getting really dry in these parts. I poured and enjoyed a Bodhi or two before and after Mindy got home.

It was an extremely warm evening with temps hovering in the mid/upper 80s. We hung out inside until bed time.