Summer Vacation 2012 - NH, Part IV

Saturday
The activity of this day stands for a little prelude.  I grew up sailing and I loved it.  I'm a fish and I love being in and on the water.  It's definitely something I've always hoped to pass on to my kids...comfort on the water, skill in the water and familiarity with experiences like boating, swimming, water sports, etc.  So far Koen and Tavin both love to be in the water.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact I swam during my pregnancies (if that's the case, Penn will like swimming too), but probably not.  Perhaps it's that I take advantage of any time we can be in the water.  Whatever the case, I've been excited that they seem to be little fish like myself at that age.  I've been looking forward to the opportunity to get them boating and particularly sailing.  We've had some ferry rides and motorboat rides, but Koen has never sailed.  Well, Saturday was that special day.  And it was even more special for me because I haven't been on my Dad's boat since I was pregnant with Koen.  Actually, the boat itself was out of commission for several years and Dad has put some much time and effort into restoring it to its sailing strength.  So, drumroll please...  

Saturday morning we headed up to the lake after I fed Penn at 10am.  Mom stayed back at the house with Penn and Tavin while Doug, Koen and I were off on our sailing adventure with Grampa!  Koen was so excited for this big boy experience.  And I was thrilled to get on the boat and just take in the beautiful landscape, the calm of sailing and the special time with my Dad and Koen.  Here we are waiting on the dock for Dad to swing around and pick us up.

Much like the earlier picture, a nice side shot of Dad motoring the boat around.  It's an oldie, but a goodie.  So nostalgic of my childhood and the many weekends spent enjoying a sail.

Now I need to talk about my Koen and how proud I am of his sea legs!  He did great for his first sail.  No complaints of seasickness, no fear about being over the water, rocking on the water or being at the mercy of the wind.  Now, having a precocious five-year-old trapped on a 24 foot boat is definitely exhausting.  You should have heard the questions, the constant chatter and the complaints from time to time about things he wanted to do, but we wouldn't allow (he's not quite ready for going up and down the slippery deck while sailing and he was so adamant about getting up to the bow!).  But overall, he was impressive.  He seemed a little bored of it (thankfully we had little wind, so it was a very easy ride on him with little heeling over, but it also made for a slow pace).  Here are some pictures of my happy little sailor.

Koen thought he was big stuff being "first mate" for Grampa and even got a few chances at the helm.

Koen got to spot the Mt. Washington a few times which was an exciting event for a slow sail.

I think Koen looks like he has Grampa's eye shape in this picture.  Don't they look cute!  I was so impressed with Grampa's patience between Koen's thousands of questions on the few hour venture and all the moving around he did on deck.  Grampa kept his cool and just seemed to enjoy having his family on board to enjoy his hard work and one of his favorite pastimes.  

When we got back to the mooring, we went for a swim.  Koen got a second wind (he was actually quite quiet as we motored back into the harbor) and he was all excited about sailing and swimming.  He said he loved the whole adventure which was music to my ears!  Here we are enjoying the pristine and perfectly refreshing lake.

Goodbye Maranatha (the name of Dad's boat)!  Thanks for another great sail and creating another little sailor in the family!  Hope to see you next year!

Now, I was so excited to tell you about our sailing adventure that I forgot to mention the real importance of Saturday, August 18th...Mom's birthday and mine and Doug's anniversary!  Mom was so sweet to watch the two little guys for the majority of her birthday, but she said she loved spending that time with her grandsons.  She and Tavin had fun enjoying the blow-up pool in the backyard and Gramma always loves her snuggle-time with Penn.  When we got home we all had dinner together and then we got to sing to Gramma, have her open her cards and we all enjoyed a make-your-own sundae party.  Here are the boys "helping" Gramma open her cards (Koen was overtired and really obnoxious and Tavin was super sensitive and got upset that brother was taking such a strong role in the process - poor Gramma!).

Such a special day.  I haven't been with my mom on her birthday in years and I haven't been in NH on our anniversary with Doug since our actual wedding day.  More to come on our anniversary date in the next blog post.