Submerged into the Wakeboarding World!

Lately Caleb has been asking me to read him some of the family albums I made a few years ago and I realized that I did a much better job back then of keeping my blog updated. As a result I have some good detailed books with some fun information about my boys when they were younger. These books are just from a few years ago and I had already forgotten some of the fun things my kids used to do. So I decided to try and do better so I can continue to have some fun family books to flip through in the future. Instead of trying to play catch up from the rest of the year I'm just going to try and do better from here on out. So here's what we have been up to lately ....

WAKEBOARDING!

Oh my goodness, I have been fully submerged into the world of wake boarding! Funny story. We have some good friends from law school named Zeb and Leah Fish (If you want to read about their precious 6 month old boy, Caleb who is in the NICU, click here http://twofishinabed.blogspot.com/)They are also boat people and Zeb, like Jaren, also likes to wake board. So a while ago we get an email from Zeb that had been sent out to a lot of people saying that he wants to surprise Leah for her birthday and he is going to rent out the wake boarding cable lake (where you wake board by cable instead of behind the boat). He is wanting everyone's opinion on what weekend would be better for most people so that there can be a good turn out. We responded and a few days later got another email from Zeb letting us know the date was Saturday June 7th!Save the date! Seriously not ten minutes later I get a text from Leah and it says "Okay, I've been thinking about Zeb's birthday. It's in two weeks. I just had the idea to surprise him and go to the Texas cable park... It would be two weeks from now." I check the calendar and two weeks from then would be Saturday June 7th! I had no idea what to tell her. We had just saved the date for her own surprise birthday party for the very same night! After a quick call to Jaren for some advice I responded and told her that we would love to go but that we would have to wait until the following weekend because we already had plans for that weekend. So there it was! For two weekends in a row I was going wake boarding at a cable lake. I decided I better figure out how to do this the first Saturday so I can get out there and have a good time the second Saturday.

Also in regards to wake boarding, months ago Jaren and I had signed up the two boys for a wake boarding camp for the first week of their summer break which as it turned out, happened to fall right in between my own wake boarding adventures. At first my plan was to drop them off and have the week to get some stuff done at home but as the week got closer and closer I just got way too nervous about leaving my 5 and 7 year old all alone with other children I didn't know for 7 hours of the day. So when the first day finally came my mind had been made up, I too would be spending the week at wake boarding camp. I'm so glad I did. It was so fun to watch them progress and get more comfortable on the wake board. And the other children there were wonderful! By the end of the week the kids had all bonded and were good friends.
The older kids were very encouraging  for my two children and the fears I had of foul language or dirty jokes was just not a problem. These were good kids who came from good families and there was a common theme among all the parents there, we are investing time and money into this so that our kids will be excited about spending time with us!

The boys did so good! Austin especially really benefited from the camp. He started out the week only able to get up on the board only to fall a few feet later. By the end of the week he was not only control of the board but he could go in and out of the wake, switch his feet, catch a little air while jumping off the wake and even go off some of the kickers (jumps!). He did awesome! This child thrives in social settings. I think having all the other children there who were doing these things was a wonderful thing for Austin.

Caleb! His little body is so small! And oh my goodness did he ever look cute out there wake boarding! He too could only get up before and would just fall right over! Most of the week for Caleb was spent teaching such a small person how to take control of the board! He did awesome. He never complained and he wore himself out! Seven hours straight in the sun will tire out anyone and this little 5 year old was a trooper.

By the end of the week Caleb could indeed keep control of his board and he could turn. He never did go out of the wake or anything like that but I am so proud of him.

If anyone is ever looking for a wonderful camp I would highly suggest this one. Each child got the perfect amount of riding time. Much more and they would have been exhausted. The kids would take turns between riding on the cable and riding behind the boat. They each got one (really long) boat ride in the morning and then another one in the afternoon. When they weren't on the cable or behind the boat the camp had paddle boards set up for them to take out and a trampoline for them to jump on. When the kids get better the teachers take them over to the trampoline to practice flips on but for our kiddos it was just good entertainment. My boys got along really well with two of the other children there, Hunter and Cooper, they were 10 years old. When the four of them weren't wake boarding you would almost always find them on the paddle boards playing battleship.

Caleb just getting ready for his cable ride

Austin on the cable

Caleb having a snack between his rides. 

Caleb taking some to jump!

This is the dock where I spent my week with Lexi watching the boys and cheering them on!

Austin behind the boat. Notice he is outside the wake? Go Austin! 

The Boys with Brian, one of their instructors and the owner of the camp.

The same time as all this wake boarding came into my life so did Lexi, the dog. We had decided to try the whole dog thing. It didn't last! Not that she wasn't a good dog, because she was! She was a wonderful dog and ever so sweet. She was crate trained in the matter of a day and slept well, only had a few accidents and was super sweet. But in the end I am just not a dog person. And the amount of time and money that was going to have to go into training her was just not something I really wanted to be doing. Deciding to give her back was a hard decision, I cried, a lot! But now we know ... The Taylor's are not a dog family. 

A hot and tired Lexi taking a nap on the deck at the wake boarding camp.

This is Lexi. She is a pretty dog! She's going to be about 80-100 lbs. When she is full grown. She is Rhodesian Ridgeback. 

Can you see the ridge on her back?

This little boy cried like crazy when I told them we were going to give her back. He sat on my lap and cried for about 15 minutes with his head buried in my shoulder. Then he looked up at me and said "Actually, I'm really mad at you!" 

This little guy could have cared less. When I told them he looked at me and said "Can I go back inside now?"

With the dog back to it's breeder and the wake boarding extravaganza over I am proud to say I did it! I wake boarded. I tried it and I even got up a few times! I have a really long ways to go but hey, practice makes perfect. And Jaren and I have planned lots more wake boarding for the summer so I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice!

 At the end of all the wake boarding here is what Jaren looks like ...

And me ... Like I said, I'll have lots of times to practice! And I am determined to get better!