Don't let go...

So I spent the weekend with the Nashvillians in my family---Dan, Emily and their small fry, Ethan. Saturday was the high point of my summer activities thus far. What gets me through the long Kentucky fall, winter and spring is the thought that summer is on its way again---hot, bright sunshine, a cool pool, visits to the beach and color instead of palor. So on Saturday, we dropped of the Little Guy at my sister-in-law's parents' and headed out to the lake.

We spent most of the afternoon on the water since we'd been been sure to bring plenty of snacks and drinks. The water was the perfect temperature and, after the boys kneeboarded for a while (yikes! that looks scary), we jumped in and floated around. Delicious!

Now my brother is a hot dog. He LOVES to show off. And he's good at everything, which can be somewhat intimidating. We'd brought along the tube as well as the kneeboard and, once we'd had our fill of floating along like driftwood, we hooked that round puppy up and I (only kind of reluctantly---I didn't want to look like TOO much of a wuss) hopped on. [Okay, I didn't really "hop" on---more like: swam out to the tube, attempted to pull myself up onto the tube while wearing The Straightjacket of flotation devices, gave up, took off the "life"jacket, threw it into the tube, clambered up onto the tube, put the jacket back on and prepared myself for the ride. Argh.]

I know that I've been tubing before, but I can't even remember when it was and it was definitely more than five years ago. So I was a little scared. Especially when I'd heard the words "fling you off" tossed around as I jumped off the boat into the water. So my supreme goal was to stay on this thing. My brother's supreme goal was to get me off that thing. My sister-in-law had helpfully suggested that I keep my elbows tucked in. Which was great advice and which I followed to a tee. And I stayed on. The whole time! Dan finally gave up on his evil scheme and declared that I'd "done good". I think he was impressed with my skill at staying on, which in actuality amounted to nothing more than a fear-induced death grip on the red handles of the tube. But, hey! What they don't know won't hurt 'em, right?

So then I asked what the difference between riding on my stomach and riding while sitting in the tube was (since that seemed to make more sense to me), to which my brother gleefully replied, "Let's see!" and then lept back into the driver's seat of the boat. Needless to say, there's a difference. Although I quickly learned to use my legs to hold my rear end up out of the bottom of the tube, this was way more like an amusement park ride---and not necessarily in a good way. But, again, I was successful in staying seated the whole time. Way fun. I even went back for more later, which proved not so successful. But we won't go there. Suffice it to say that my bathing suit bottoms came home with me and did NOT end up on the bottom of the lake and my arms, though sore, are still attached to my body.

I love summer fun.

Let's hear it for the boys...

The boys and me 

It's a teensy weensy bit belated, but congrats to my brothers (both younger, even though I'm the shrimp among the siblings at this point), Andrew (left) and Dan (right). They both graduated in May---Andrew from high school and Dan with his masters in social work. I'm so proud!

Chew on this...

A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.