Boat Ride With Daddy

When I came back from Maine, one of the things that I told Brett about was how much Todd loved going out on the little boat my dad rented for the week. Brett reminded me that we have a little boat of our own that we can cruise around in. Unfortunately, the timing never seems right-there are always things to be done at home or the weather doesn't quite cooperate. You need calm waters to make it a fun ride on Daddy's floundering boat.

I had been planning on working on the rental house yesterday afternoon, but Brett came home early and suggested a family boat ride. He said that as he was driving home over the Bridge that he noticed that the water was really calm. I was concerned that the gray clouds might produce more rain while we were out, but aside from that it was an easy decision: work--boat ride--work--boat ride. . . . I think I'll go with boat ride! [It was a good decision. As it turns out, the weather cooperated beautifully.]

The boys take advantage of the No Wake zone and lay out on the bow of the boat, looking ahead to the bridge we will be going under. Yeah! a bridge! There's even a barge and a crane right beside it! No tugboat though. Sorry, Ryan.
We did go just outside of the pass and into the Gulf. The swells were more than what we felt comfortable with in the little boat so we only stayed long enough to watch some schools of little Shoemakers (I think that's what Brett called them...) jump out of the water around us. That was one of the highlights for the boys. I just loved hearing them (the boys) laugh and laugh as they watched the fish.

Of course I tried to capture the fish on camera. . . naturally, it didn't turn out. Likewise, I tried to capture the dolphin that we saw in the bay on camera. . . naturally, those didn't turn out either. That is always one of the highlights for me - seeing how graceful the dolphin are as they swim nearby.

A surprisingly decent self-portrait.

"Surfing" on the bow in the No Wake zone. (I would have included Todd in this picture if I could actually see what I was taking a picture of. Evidently, my aim was a little off. I broke the display on my camera, and since my camera has no view finder all of my photos from July 19th on have been done by guesswork.)Pictures can be deceiving. One might assume from the following photo that Ryan enjoyed the outing far more than Todd did. Quite the contrary. Ryan tired of it and was is in no hurry to prolong the ride or make plans for another immediate boat outing. I think it is too limiting for him. You can't get out and play (or at least we didn't, since the out-going tide water wasn't the prettiest, and the jellyfish are in now). And, I think he just got kind of bored with the scenery.

Todd, on the other hand, always found things to look at. He wanted to keep going, and was disappointed when Brett turned in to the dock. What you are seeing in these photos is someone who is captivated by his surroundings. Plus, I have noticed that Todd's smile is sometimes a little slower in coming out, especially if he is too busy to pose for the camera.

Look how calm the water is!

This is kind of a goofy photo of me (I am often guilty of over-smiling), but look what Todd got when he took this photo. . . a smiling Daddy. The second one in a month!

Another highlight for the boys. When Brett saw this old sailboat he said, "Aye! I think I see an abandoned ship for us to pillage and plunder!" Although we didn't really do any pillaging and plundering, the boys (all three of them) had fun talking pirate-ese while we circled around the boat checking it out and looking at the little black snappers swimming around it.

How appropriate that this is how the boys were dressed this morning during their "imaginative play" (a.k.a. dress-up) with nary a clue what the afternoon had in store for them.