Beach Day & Boat Aggravation!

A cute moment at the house before the boat aggravation began!

I was so excited to pick up the boats this weekend. Well, ok, so the pontoon boat wasn't done yet because they were waiting on a part to fix the starter, no biggie. We picked up the motor boat yesterday. We had it serviced and "summerized" (that does not mean that the gave us a paragraph describing our boat, but rather they were supposed to make sure that the boat was in good working condition for summer). Key words "supposed to". I think that means they were supposed to put on the oil cap correctly so that the oil didn't leak into the motor and onto all of the tubes connecting the motor to the boat. It probably also means that there wasn't supposed to be nasty greasy oil all down the back of the boat and underneath the boat.

Ok, so we cleaned up all the oil. Except the battery was also dead. Um, ok, good working condition for summer generally means that the boat will run, right?? Am I asking too much?? Ok, so we got the boat started after jumping the battery and putting it on a drip charge for the night on Friday. So we launched the boat today and got our first ride. Picture in your mind....the boat motor is running beautifully and we are speeding down the lake, wind blowing in our hair. I slow things down and Matt starts to fish. He catches a fish almost immediately. Bliss!! So we are both feeling pretty giddy about a summer full of boat riding. And then, bam, the frigin thing stops running in the middle of the frigin lake! Frick! So we try to start it again and it won't start and it becomes clear that the dopey battery is dead again!! Double frick!! We can't start it manually so I dutifully jump into the water in my jeans and t-shirt and swim the boat into the closest dock (at the beach where our slot ISN'T) and Matt runs up to get the jump starter (why we didn't bring it I have no idea) and my bathing suit (just a bit too late)! So we jump the boat and it seems to run ok, so I figure it is a fluke (not the fish) until we get it not even half way to the next beach where our dock slot is. Super! So I jump in again and start to swim the boat in toward the dock. Matt starts babbling in an aggravated voice that I am crazy because it is about 1/2 mile to the slot but I am plugging away anyway because do we have a choice!? So this guy from heaven stops and asks us if we need help. Ok, it was actually a dude with a cigar, but whatever! So he towed us back to the launch slot so we could pull the stupid boat out of the water and bring it 40 minutes back to the marina to have it serviced yet again. We are pretty convinced that there is an electrical short somewhere and that is why the battery keeps draining.

[Here is Matt triumphantly displaying the fish that he caught about 5 minutes before he boat died!]

Anywhoo...after that we took Eva to the beach and she was swimming around and laughing and splashing. Then she was playing in the sand and pouring buckets of sand on me and my mom. Too funny! She has lots of trouble getting just water in the bucket instead of water and sand! Not sure when we will get the boat back (hopefully by next weekend) so I guess it will be beach days and fishing (for Matt) until we get the boat.

Tonight we took my parents to dinner at Sister's Cantina (our fav mexican restaurant up here) for Father's Day. Tomorrow I have a surprise present for Matt and I can't wait to give it to him. Stay tuned!