Less Hijinx, More Fun

Aside from the one day's hijinx, the rest of the week was a lot of fun. There weren't as many of us, a total of 12 with 6 different families represented.
The other 3 were at their own cabin closer to the lake.

We've got a pretty good routine that we stick with time and again.
Lots of jumping from rocks.

Touchdown fetching stuff from the lake.

Great smiles.

Lots of boys on the boat.
Max and I were the only girls this year.

And of course, smores every night that we weren't so tired that all we wanted to do when we got home was have dinner then hit the sack.

This year we had unpredictable summer weather.

3 of the days bordered on cold. Notice the boys wearing the shirts under their lifejackets.

A downpour cut our afternoon short on our 1st day. No complaints though, we all treasured the rain.

But another evening we had this view.

We had a few new events:
Reggie's old enough to pilot the boat by himself.

And our wrap around deck is finally done!!

We admit that we so very much love it. It was worth the 3 year wait.

That Time We Flipped The Boat

This year's Camp Retz was a little more eventful than I would have preferred.

As the boys get older and stronger and more adventurous, the harder we (Jimmy and and his brother Steve) have to work at keeping up to their level.
This is their friend catching air.

Normally when you're on a tube behind a boat, the fun is hanging out back there and go as fast as you dare, but for the most part, just enjoying the ride.
It's still like that with the youngest nephew.

But the goal with the oldest nephews, who are now 12 and 14, is to whip them around back and forth as sharply and quickly as possible to try to dump them into the lake, while they try their hardest to hang on.


Reggie is 5'11" now, so it's gotten easier to dump him because he's taller and his weight works against. It's still very challenging because he's an athlete and is really strong and fast.

But Jakee is still nimble and small enough to be able to maneuver himself on the tube very quickly, adjusting his weight to the sharp turns.

This year, we were towing Jakee behind the boat, and did a sharp turn and hit our own wake at the perfectly wrong angle and within split seconds, the boat was upside down.

Thankfully everyone was fine. No injuries at all. My biggest panic as i was under water, was the boys. We had 2 boys on our boat, Reggie and his 15 year old friend. Jimmy was piloting the boat, and I was facing backwards taking photos of Jakee. It's funny the different perspectives we all have. I was sitting on the side that went in first, and it was sooo sooo fast. I didn't even know it was happening because I was concentrating on taking photos of Jake. The next thing I knew, I was in the water under the boat. Jimmy and the boys said it felt like slow motion as their side of the boat slowly flipped over. The boys were in the front of the boat and they jumped/dove into the water away from the boat as it was flipping. Thank God! They were never under the boat, which is such a huge relief to me. Jimmy's side flipped over me, but we never saw each other under there. He said he felt the railing and just pulled himself out from under the railing and was out. I had to crawl my way out from under. I was told I was the last one to come up. I was never worried that I wouldn't get out or drown, but I was definitely on survival instinct because I needed to make sure the boys were ok. That was all I could think of while i was under water...get out to make sure everyone is ok. I'm pretty sure as I surfaced, I took count, saw everyone, and asked "is everyone ok??" And they all were.

Jakee was the safest since he was quite a distance from the boat. He thought he just fell of the tube like usual, and never saw any of the action ahead of him because it all happened as he was falling off. When he looked up, he didn't see the boat and was super confused before realizing the boat capsized.
This is the last photo I took.
You can see the water overloading the front of Jake's tube, which made him fall in. I was snapping photos as the boat flipped.

The youngest nephew was on shore with his mom and dad. They saw it all happen and Steve immediately got in his boat to rescue. I can't imagine what they thought as they watched the boat flip. He was there within 90 seconds. When he got to us, we were laughing and retelling our stories. He was very happy to see all of us fine and even joking around. The boys quickly got onto his boat. Jimmy, Steve and I assessed what might have fallen to the bottom of the lake and what was crucial to recover. Like the keys to the car. Which I thought for sure were at the bottom of the lake because they were in my backpack, but we were relieved to find it floating under the boat.

We hooked our boat to Steve's and towed it to the dock. It was very challenging towing it because of the drag. It pulled Steve's boat in unexpected directions making navigating difficult. But we finally got it there. Reggie, Jakee and their friend went to get Max and Danny and all of our stuff from where we camped out for the day. In the meantime, Steve and Jimmy and 2 helpful strangers tried to upright our boat. It took a while, but they finally got a heavy duty recovery strap, hooked it to the hitch on our car and the far side of the boat, and got it upright.

We did lose a few things, and my camera and cell phone were damaged beyond repair, but the only thing that mattered was that everyone was ok.

And the boys had a great story to tell when they went back to school in August.

Here's a video from the GoPro that was attached to the back of the boat. It was filming the boys on the tube. We don't have any photos of the tow back to the dock, or uprighting the boat, because...well...my camera and cell phones were both water logged. I was able to recover the photos from the camera card though, so yay for that!


We've definitely learned a lot from this. We had the best outcome for something that could have been so much worse, and for that I am eternally grateful. The boys realize it was a big deal, not just another adventure. It was an actual boating accident. And we'll be piloting the boat more cautiously.
And remember to always wear your life jacket.

Kayaking In Key West

I had lunch with Kristin, my friend who I went on the Caribbean cruise with in February. I haven't seen her since we got back. I've been meaning to do a few more posts about our trip...

Our first port of call after we left Fort Lauderdale was Key West, Florida. We originally booked a kayaking tour through the cruise ship, but they cancelled it, we're suspecting because not enough people had signed up for it. Kristin called around Key West and found that Blue Planet Kayak Eco-Tours could take us. Turned out that we were extremely grateful that the cruise-line cancelled our original booking, because it would not have been as hands-on nor as adventurous.

Since it was off-season, Blue Kayak didn't have any other people booked on the tour, so it was just the 2 of us. Our guide, James, was very knowledgable about the sea life in the keys and mangroves and we were able to hold, touch and feel a bunch of different sea creatures. The weather was perfect, not too humid with mild coastal breezes. Kayaking wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I have the weakest arms of any living person, but I was somehow able to keep up for 2 1/2 hours, quite easily in fact. I love being out on the water and everything on this trip turned out perfect. I have to say it was probably one of my top 20 adventures...probably in the top 5 that i've experienced without my husband.
Leaving the dock...still feeling a bit wobbly, but catching on quickly.

Kayaking through the mangrove forest.

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
There are about 80 different species of mangrove trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove forests only grow at tropical and subtropical latitudes near the equator because they cannot withstand freezing temperatures.

It was so peaceful kayaking through the mangroves.

We got to hold a jellyfish. Yes, we held a jelly! Doesn't it look weird when it's flat against your hand? Nothing like the graceful flowy thing you see in the sea. Our guide told us to keep it on the palms of our hands, where we are 'tougher'. Other parts of our skin might feel the sting more. Me being the allergic and highly reactive person, I started feeling numb and tingly soon after our tour. But nothing that an allergy pill couldn't help.

A tiny starfish. We held a much bigger one, bigger than my head. KC has a photo of that...I have to remember to get a copy of her pics.

Leaving the mangroves.

Out in the open sea.

We were in there!

Another weird sea creature we got to hold.

Prickly.

Don't you wanna do this, too?? You must do it! Most of the time the water was very shallow, 18" or less. We were only in deep (10'-15' so not really deep) water for about 15 minutes.

We didn't get to hold this nurse shark, but we did get to pet it. It felt like sandpaper.

James was very careful and tender with all of the sea creatures he handled, making sure they were not out of the water for very long at all.

Conch...look at that beautiful shell!

We had to patiently wait for the sea snail to come out of its shell.

I can't believe people eat this. Doesn't look tasty to me. They are protected in this area, the ones that are eaten are from farms.

If you ever find yourself in Key West, I highly recommend doing this tour. We probably held 20 different creatures and saw a half dozen or more sea birds. If in the unlikely event I ever find myself in Key West again, I'd definitely do it again. I'd rather paddle the seas than wander through a bunch of tourist shops anyday.

Safety First. Danger Next.

Camp Retz is over and everyone is back in their respective homes. Tired but happy.

Every year, our days on the lake consist of boating, tubing and rock jumping. As the boys get older, bolder, stronger and braver, they're doing more heart palpating adventures.

But, as the saying goes, Safety First!
...Then danger.
Life vests for everyone! Then you can go as fast as you can.

Fishing is pretty safe. For the humans at least. Maybe not so much for the fish.

Tubing is fun, fast and safe because if when you crash, you just crash into water.

Next on the list is rock jumping. A little more dangerous than the previous activities, but dad's always there to make sure they clear any hidden rocks.

Ending the day and the week with the most dangerous jump. My stomach jumped to my throat. But I had confidence that the dads had scoped the spot and made sure it was deep enough. But these boys fearlessly jumped at least 25 feet into the lake off that rock. That's almost as tall as a 3 story building!

So our running joke this week was Safety First. Danger Last.
I think we accomplished that.
Thankfully with nothing but a few bruises and scrapes that we'd all acquired though the course of the week.
(say a little prayer for us for next year)

Camp Retz: Year 6

Every year at the end of Camp Retz, I think "this was the best year yet!" As the boys (and their friends) get older, it just gets more active and adventurous. Sometimes it's physically harder keeping up with them, but it's so amazing to be able to talk to them as big kids, rather than little kids. They're at that age where you don't have to watch their every move, afraid of what might happen if they mis-step or stumble. When they get hurt, which all of us do during this very active week, they might yell "OUCH" but they don't go running to mommy or daddy. They actually shake it off and 5 seconds later are back at it again, just as 'rough' as they were before.

Danny is the youngest brother. He's not at the crazy wild, danger-seeking level as his older brothers are yet, but he's certainly brave enough to jump off rocks that most of us adults wouldn't consider. Both his parents are thrill seekers and athletic, so if he sees his dad do it, he's not too far behind. Yet he's still young enough to have that cautious apprehension when the rocks are too high or the speed is too fast. Jimmy described his thrill-seeking as binary - it's either over the edge fun or scary as hell. No middle ground - go fast fast fast then STOP NO MORE!

Jakee is the middle child and keeps up with his big brother. They are always side by side. Nothing is too fast or too high or too scary. He takes just a little more time than his older brother to analyze the situation and make sure where he's going will be safe.

Reggie's the oldest at 11. He's strong, fast and it seems like he instinctively knows the safest route even though what he's doing is dangerous. I have some video of him and he's constantly paying attention to his surroundings, knowing which way to lean or where to jump or where his footing should go. Since he's the oldest, he's the biggest helper, the responsible one. The 1st name you call when you need help.

Joining us were Steve's (my BIL) friend's family from college. They had 10 in their group, which included 3 boys and 2 girls, I think all of them were 13 years old. They have their own cabin nearby, but they joined us on the 'fast' lake one day and on the 'slow' lake another.

The 7 older kids all went out with Jimmy to take turns tubing.

It was Jimmy's job to try to make them fall off.

Danny usually makes a great spotter, telling the driver when someone's fallen off so he can go back and pick him up.

But this time he was happy to stay ashore and jump off rocks with his daddy.

Most nights we didn't leave the lake till after 7. You can imagine how hungry and tired everyone was when we got back to the cabin. Everyone slept very hard every night. We needed to so we could do it again the next day!