The Hazard Chronicles

First of all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAREN! She is 1 year old today. She's had a great year. We're having a birthday-party family night celebration tonight.

So, besides that, we had an awesome week last week. The highlight was on Saturday when we all went to the Spokane Boat Show. Now, I have never really been that into boats. I mean, sure I liked going water skiing occasionally with my friends, but it was never really a significant part of my life. On top of that, I saw a lot of people who did have boats who didn't really use them that much. If anything, it seemed to be a hassle that took more time to plan and prepare than it did to actually do. Because of this, I never thought that I would even consider owning a boat one day. But all that changed when we moved to Post Falls. Why?

Well, first of all, Post Falls is right in the middle of a bunch of places to go boating. I mean, I could leave from my house and within 5 minutes be at one of three different boat launches. Add another 15 minutes to the drive, and the list of places to go boating seems endless (just off hand I can think of over a dozen). It is just a good place to be if you like being on the water.

Second, because we live next to a huge lake with a huge river coming out of it, it is pretty easy and inexpensive to get a boat slip. This is where you just keep your boat "parked" in the water all the time when not in use. Now, obviously you take it out from time to time, and to travel to other locations, but it means you can have a home base. 

See, when I was growing up and my friend wanted to take us boating, we would meet at his house, then have to hook the boat trailer up to the truck. We then carpooled (since we didn't all fit in a truck) to the lake, which was over an hour away. Once there, we would have to launch the boat. This always seemed to take a lot longer than it should- I don't know why. Anyway, after all that, we were finally on the water and we could enjoy a couple of hours of skiing (or whatever). When we were done we had to complete the process (in reverse) all over again. It was fun, but it was a hassle. And it took all day.

Compare that with a Post Falls location. Scenerio: "Hey, what do you want to do today?"

"Let's go boating"

"Okay, I'll get the kids in the car." 

Five minutes later we have parked the car and are getting in the boat, which is already sitting in the water waiting for us. Now, let's say we ski for a while and then it's time for lunch.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"Let's just go home and make sandwiches"

"Okay."

I park the boat in our slip. We get out, and five minutes later we are home eating sandwiches.

Suddenly, having a boat starts sounding like less of a hassle and more like a thing we would actually do on a regular basis. So, when the boat show came to town we thought, hey, let's have a gander.

Let me just say- I saw a lot of nice boats on Saturday. Like- really nice. And I guess it makes sense- I mean, around here nice boats are about as common as nice cars are in Beverly Hills. Like I said- it's a good place to have a boat. My favorite ones to look at were the large cabin cruisers. It sounds nice to have a sort of "home away from home" out on the water. Impractical...but nice in a romantic sort of way. I think Evelyn's favorites were the pontoon-style house boats with the water slides and roomy interiors. Rachel was a fan of the 56 foot motor yacht. Addy and Jack liked the small dinghies- probably because they could jump in and out of them without any help (a fact that I am sure the workers there loved). As for Maren- I think she'd be happy in pretty much anything. Anyway- we had fun looking.

Later that night, we had a babysitter come over and Rachel and I went to an adults-only stake Valentine's dance. That was fun. Rachel was later presented with a "best female dancer" certificate by a friend, whereas I only managed to pick up a nickname as the "dancing fool." Both are fitting, I think.

Like I said- It's been a fun week. And who knows- maybe one day we'll get a boat.

Despite all the fun "options" out there, we decided the most practical (and fun) for our family would be a small ski boat- sort of like this one...but older.

 I took this picture because it this has almost become a ritual in our home. Whenever I come home from work, the kids all run and hide under the counter. It doesn't matter that I am standing there and watching them, they still hide. Then mom says, and I quote "Our house is so quiet. I wonder where all the kids are." Usually there is some suppressed giggling at this point from one or more of the kids. I then walk in front of the counter and say, "I don't know, maybe I should look for them." (More giggling). Then I look down and say "Oh my goodness- there's a foot (arm, head, etc.) sticking out from the counter." I bend down and act surprised to see them and they all three totally bust up into laughter. Then they all give me hugs and go back to whatever they were doing before I came home. It's fun.

Every Friday I take the kids to Library playgroup. I am almost always the only adult guy in the room- which honestly I sort of like because then all the moms look at me and say "awww- what a great dad." Anyway, they have this new thing they do at the end that I have started calling the playgroup mosh pit. There really is no better way to describe it. Someone almost always ends up getting hurt and crying but so far all of our kids have managed to come out on top. It's pretty awesome.