Finally - A Boat

It seems like this should have happened a long time ago, and a few visitors have made comments about it, but the right deal never came along, so we never did have a boat to explore our lake with....until Saturday. I picked up this beauty with a buddy. It is a craigslist "free" item and though it did cost about $40 in fuel to go get it, it still turned out to be a good deal.

I took this picture of Winter while swimming in the lake.

It's a fiberglass beater, but it does float, doesn't seem to take on water, and while it is a bit on the large side, beggars can't be choosers.

The kids and I spent most of the day on the lake (I am taking a vacation week to relax, work on projects, and watch the kids while Jessica does BYU Education week) and they wore me out pulling them back into the boat over and over again just to have them jump off the bow again. So while they were taking naps, I welded up a little ladder that fits where the motor normally goes that allows them to climb up on their own.

The kids were stoked and we had a good time. Winter blogged her thoughts about it for our FHE activity (followed by Oreo Cookie ice cream.)

By the way, it did come with a little 9.6 horse outboard motor, but I haven't jumped into that project yet. I've got too many other pots in the fire for now. We used a piece of 2X4 lumber (in true redneck fashion) to pole and paddle around the lake. It's a good thing there wasn't much wind.

With a touch of a sunburn ( I should have got their faces better) and after spending the day in the lake, let's hope that they get a REAL good night's sleep.