Austin's First Boat Ride!

What a FUN weekend! We headed up to the Twin Cities again because I had a dentist appointment on Saturday morning and ever since I knocked most of my front 2 teeth out on a diving board at age 10, I don't trust anybody with my teeth but my childhood dental office. After my dentist appointment, Michelle, mom, and I headed out for a day of wedding dress shopping for Michelle. We found some GORGEOUS gowns and enjoyed being pampered at the bridal salons with a fun girls' lunch in between. Then it was home to Nanny and Grandpa's to see what the boys were up to...

Everybody was out front. Austin was splashing around in the kiddie pool and pushing the edge of the pool down to spill the water all over the grass. Brian was entertaining Austin by climbing the nearby tree and jumping out, Steve was supervising the splashing toddler, and Grandpa was running around getting the boat spiffed up.Friday night, we had supper, then let Nanny and Grandpa put Austin down to bed while we went out to see the newest Harry Potter movie.

On Sunday morning, Austin woke up bright and early and had breakfast around 7:15am. However, when Grandpa made his breakfast around 9:30am, Austin wanted to help with the eggs and ended up having a whole 2nd breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice.
Then on Sunday afternoon, we headed out to Lake Minnetonka on the old boat for some fun with boating and tubing! It was Austin's first time on the boat and Brian's first time tubing. A good time was had by all. Check out the photos of our fun day on the water...

Excited about being on the boat.
"We're in the boat! We're on the water!"

We have a tube with two openings to sit in. It is more stable than our "torpedo" tube which we rode on as kids (and makes an appearance later on). This tube has a leak, but we managed to get it blown up enough to keep it functional for a while before it got too deflated.

We got to take Austin out tubing!
Here is Austin getting situated to take a ride with Mommy and Auntie Michelle.

Austin really enjoyed it and when we went over waves, he declared,
"We're going BOING BOING like Tigger, Mommy!"

Waving to the family on the boat...
The only part he didn't like was when we stopped and the wave behind us got us all wet. The water was cold and he cried when it startled him by getting his bottom half wet. He still wanted to get on again a few minutes later...

Michelle and Brian were next.

Then Austin wanted to go again and this time, rode with Nanny and Auntie Michelle. Big smiles!
Then Michelle got a break while Nanny and Brian took a spin on the tube.
Austin had a blast helping Grandpa drive the boat.
And got to steer by himself from time to time (with supervision of course).
We took a break to hang out on the boat, dry off a bit, and enjoy some snacks.
Austin got to eat "Grandpa's cookies" and chowed about his weight in watermelon.

Grandpa's cookies!
Brian and Michelle being cute again.What a beautiful day for fun on the water.
After a bit of rest, we got Michelle and Brian to try out the "torpedo" tube Kevin, Michelle, and I used to ride when we were younger. It is MUCH tougher to stay on. We got pretty good at it as kids and dad usually had a tough time dumping us in the water after a while. Kevin was the best at it!

So far, so good...just getting on and steady is an accomplishment at first!
Brian having a blast!Getting pretty intense!
Trying out two at a time...much harder to balance. It was tough to even get on and steady!
Unfortunately, it didn't work for long. I think it was much easier when we were little and the 2 people on there were not adults. We shortly went back to one person at a time.

Michelle waving to us before she got going faster.Taking a break (and striking a pose!) before another ride.

Here are some video clips from tubing. There are 7 clips all strung together. The first 2 are Austin riding on the wider tube and the rest are of Michelle and Brian riding the torpedo. There is even a clip in there showing them trying to get back on the tube...entertaining. The wipeouts are mostly in the 2nd half of the video.


Overall, it was a great weekend and a fantastic day on the lake.
Austin had an absolute blast! Smiles all around!