Boating on Lake Choctaw

I was up around 730am to sunny skies and cooler temps. It was only in the 60s. The kids were awake and quickly at my side downstairs as I prepped a new pot of coffee. I wasn’t thrilled about not having some alone time but half expected the wee ones to be up. They pestered me incessantly all the while the coffee brewed, sharing that they wanted some too.

When it finally finished brewing I poured the three of them (Landon, Rocky, Olivia) a cup with mostly chocolate milk, a little coffee, heavy on the flavored creamer, whipped cream, caramel topping and cinnamon. They dug it.
I poked around on my home PC and then spent a little time further tweaking my work laptop after Friday’s reimaging. The plan was to head out to Lake Choctaw around noon. However, before any of that I needed to run. Mindy wasn’t up until about 900am. Once she was up I headed off on my run. The kids insisted on joining me. No!
As soon as I was back, Mindy ran to Wal-Mart to get some of their yummy pre-made subs to take with us. She was also working on Lindsey’s laundry since she had to work all day. Mindy was gone for a while. Turned out, she had to visit two Wal-Marts, the one in Hilliard then the one near Tuttle. They didn’t have any subs made in Hilliard.
We were ready to head off to Lake Choctaw near 1145am. All seven of us loaded into the Pilot and off we went. It took just a couple minutes longer than Mindy said – about 25 in total, but it’s about as easy of a drive as you’ll find. It’s straight out I-70 to exit 56 then less than a mile from there.

Doug, Tara, their niece Hannah, and son Kevin were watching the DVR’d Olympic games opening ceremonies when we arrived. This was my first visit to their house, at least while they were there. We actually stopped by on our way back from Yellow Springs a couple years ago just after they closed on the deal. They weren’t home. We peaked in the windows and visited the beach.

Doug/Tara gave me a mini tour then we started prepping for a day boating and beaching. The women and kids loaded in the Pilot and headed to the beach. I went with Doug to get boat gas and then to the dock to get their boat. Mindy gave him $60 for gas.

There was a bike race going on and the field was using the gas station as a stopover point. There must’ve been at least 200 bikers there. At the private boat dock, Doug discovered that their boat battery was dead. Said someone left the blower on. We opted to remove the battery from the minivan temporarily then jump start the boat. That worked well. We filled the boat with gas using 3 of the 4 five gallon containers we bought at the neighborhood gas station.
Sandwiched in between the gas station and the dock was a quick run back to the house to get some hand tools. After 45-60 minutes we were finally ready to set sail. Their boat in a Ski Master ski boat. They have one of those enormous aluminum board and ski racks that straddles the entire boat. They made their own racks for each side using 3” PVC. Tara shared that they saved about $500 by making them. Hey, if it works.

It was just Doug and I in the boat. All the others were at the beach awaiting our arrival. It’s just up and around the corner from their private dock. Doug was a little peeved that Tara didn’t bring the bungi cords to hold the skis and wake boards in the makeshift racks. Said they didn’t’ need them. Doug felt otherwise and was sure they’d fall off in the water. He planned to make a point to gun it as we passed the beach to see if they’d fall off right in front of Tara, Mindy & the kids. Yep!

I carefully pulled the gear from the water and stashed them along the very limited seating. In fact, I was more than a little surprised at how uncomfortable the seating is in one of those ski boats. Our boat, on the other hand could seat 9 passengers without a problem. Not that I’d ever want that many aboard though.

The thing about the inboard motor is that it takes up the entire center of the boat. The only comfortable seat is the driver’s seat. No open bow either. We docked at the courtesy beach docks then all the little kids loaded on to ski with Mindy and Tara at the helm. Doug headed back to the house to get a shower and meet his parents. I stayed on the beach with all of our stuff.

Bella skied first, then Mindy. Olivia was going to ski but bagged it. It was uncharacteristically choppy, at least for Lake Choctaw. There was a slight breeze blowing and a number of weekend boaters out on the water. Lake Choctaw isn’t that big or deep therefore it doesn’t take too many boats at all to stir up a good chop. After the wee ones had their shot, Jacob and Rocky headed out. I stayed back again. I was actually sleepy and enjoyed a couple small naps. Rocky opted not to ski. Jacob, on the other hand, wanted to wake board and got up easily. Said it feels natural – a lot like snow boarding.

About the time that Doug came back to the beach with his parents in tow, Tara and Mindy were back from boating too. Doug’s parents hung out for about an hour. They seemed real nice – friendly. Olivia insisted that she wanted to give skiing a try, so against my preference, I headed out with Doug, Olivia, Hannah, and Landon. Olivia chickened out again after watching Hannah do it. By the way, Hannah was willing to be in the water with Olivia until she got up. I thought about giving the wake board or slalom skiing, but didn’t. I’ve never had the opportunity to ski behind a real ski boat. It pops one out of the water a lot faster than our boat. Anyway, Doug seemed anxious to get the boat back to the dock and frankly, I didn’t want to injure myself either.

Olivia complained of not feeling well when we got back to the beach. All the other kids played in the water, including Landon who surprised me. He spent almost the entire afternoon playing in the lake. The afternoon went fast. It was 6pm in a hurry, the time we originally planned to be home. Mindy and Tara talked about going back out with the boat again, but I suggested we head home. Doug was leaving for poker night with his peeps anyway. We helped pack everything up and then unload everything back at Tara and Doug’s place. We said goodbye to Hannah who shared that she was heading back to DC for the school year Wednesday, August 1.

It was near 630pm when we hit the road for home. The kids tormented Olivia on the drive home. She was tired and grouchy. Oh boy! The plan was to celebrate Rocky’s birthday as soon as we were home and the Lindsey and Ashley showed up. They were there minutes after we arrived home. Mindy quickly dispatched Bella with the pug. Originally, we were going to enjoy pizza before the b-day brownies, but changed the menu to subs since we had so many. Everybody enjoyed them. There were at least three varieties: Italian, turkey, New York deli, and ham and cheese. I washed down my sub with a Bodhi. 

We lit candles on the stack of already sliced brownies. Rocky enjoyed blowing them out. The brownies were uncommonly delicious – fudge-like. Olivia complained of not feeling well. Mindy got the thermometer out and checked her temp. Yep, she had a fever of 102. The girls and kids hung out until about 815pm when they all went home. That left just the four of us in the silence. Ahhhhhh!

Afterwards I poured another beer and tuned into the Olympics catching some swimming. Mindy headed to bed early. I stayed up on the sofa enjoying three beers in total across the entire evening.