Zero to Three in 40 Weeks: Babies' First Boat Ride

Now that the update posts are taken care of, I'm going to make an effort to keep up with the other fun, and sometimes not so fun, stuff that keeps us on our toes at the DeBauche house.

It's been a while since we've really taken a trip anywhere with the girls. Besides short trips to some of the toddler classes that the county offers to give parents an excuse to get out of the house, we really haven't taken the girls anywhere recently which required us to go through the ~~painful~~ effort of packing for three one year olds.

This Memorial Day weekend, we decided to break our travel legs back in slowly with an hour and a half trip to the lake. For those that have been following us for a while, you may recall we made a similar trip around the same time last year. That trip ended in less than a day when we realized we forgot Izzy's diuretics and needed to rush back home. Obviously, their first experience on the boat never materialized and would have to wait for another year.

Fast forward to 2013. This year, we were prepared. Fully armed with lots of sunscreen and toddler-sized life vests, and a baby that's 100% off of oxygen and diuretics, the only thing that would keep us off of the boat this year would be a horrible storm or if someone forgot to put oil in the engine. The latter did actually happen, but Charlie preemptively resolved this situation. The weather, which took a turn for the worst after our first day, gave us one of the most beautiful days this spring. The girls went for their first boat ride--tears, yelling, smiling, laughing, and all.

I think they really liked being out on the water. Maybe it was the pretzels we were feeding them, but who's keeping track. However, what they didn't like were the toddler-size life preservers. They got used to them after they realized they were the equivalent of straight jackets and they'd have to dislocate their shoulders to get out of them. We actually had to swap Izzy's for something a tad smaller to get her to settle down. In the end, they all returned to shore unscathed and ready to play in the sand.

Unfortunately, the next day was 180 degrees different than the first and the forecast for the next two days was pretty ominous. The girls, ok mostly dad, wasn't handling being stuck inside a non-baby-proofed house in the rain without the creature comforts of our home and I made an executive decision, after checking with Meghan, to head home a day early, but not before I had a chance to take advantage of a sunny afternoon by cutting grass on riding lawn mower with a frothy beverage in my hand. It was very King-of-the-Hill-esque and an assignment I would gladly sign up for again in the future.

Mary, Charlie, Shallee, Kelly, if you're reading this, sorry we bailed. Thanks for the time we did get to spend together and we'll definitely do it again before the girls leave for college ;-)

Sophie, reeling in Cubby the miniature ~~rat~~ dog