The Eye of the Hurricane

Braeden, Adam and Emma swimming in the lake.  (Adam's the one with a kid on his shoulders.)

 The weekend felt like a breather.  A much needed breather.

Last week was, with the start of a new school year, hectic and exhausting and jarring.  This week is shaping up to be much the same.  It was wonderful to go to my Happy Place, Lake Chelan.

The early morning view from the front deck of our cabin.  That's Braeden in the water.  Before 7:00 a.m.

The view mid-day.  I'm related to whoever is on that waverunner.

The dusky view.

We rented waverunners which are a little bit exhilarating and a whole lot terrifying.  While I was clinging to Adam for dear life as I rode behind him on the waverunner, I realized two things.

1) I am too young to die.

2) Trying to stay astride a waverunner as it bounces and jumps along waves is similar to trying to stay astride a horse that is bouncing and jumping.

My brother Tabor, who earns his living training horses, would be brilliant at waverunners.

Except for he hates water and I'm not completely sure he can swim.

Details, details.

Adam and his mom, Geri, and Braeden and Mark rode them for eight hours with a couple of small breaks.  Mark stood up most of the time and urged whomever he was riding behind to go faster, faster, faster!  Now that Braeden is 14, he could drive himself.  Adam was behind him at one point and became unseated.  He bounced along the surface of the water, did a few flips and Braeden wisely stopped and turned back to rescue his dad.

Adam put together a video with footage from Adam's favorite toy Braeden's waterproof video camera.



Emma and I stayed away from most of the action because she unfortunately felt sick with a cold and I, as I've mentioned, was mostly terrified.  Emma and I spent time in our pretty little cabin.  We watched HGTV and the Disney Channel.  We played cards (she beat me every single time).  We read and napped and I rubbed her feet.  It was lovely.

Though sick, Emma can't be near that much water and not swim so she did swim a little.

Yesterday, as we drove home we stopped at Red Robin in Wenatchee for lunch.  It was a memorable lunch.  For one thing, in a rare turn of events, I watched football over Adam's shoulder instead of the other way around.  The St. Louis Rams were playing and my cousin Harvey plays for them now.  I told Mark what I was watching and he was impressed.

"So you're telling me your cousin is on TV right now?"

"Yes.  He's right there, number 62."

"Mom, you're famous."

(I think it's going to take a little more than that to make me famous.)

During lunch, a man walked up to us and shook Adam's hand and told him that he'd been our daughter's P.E. teacher last year then he walked over to Braeden and Emma's table...they were sitting at their own table; it helped us get seated faster.

I had seen Emma's P.E. teacher last year and I didn't recognize the guy.  When he got closer to Emma he realized he had the wrong girl.  "Well you've got a twin in Wenatchee," he said as he walked away.  I felt kind of bad.  I wish Emma had been the right girl.  He seemed like an awfully nice P.E. teacher.

Maybe we should move to Wenatchee.

Most memorable of all was our waiter.  He was completely creepy.  We decided we could dress as him for Halloween and scare the pants off people.

Maybe we shouldn't move to Wenatchee.

We were, as always, happy to see our home.  But we're also happy in the knowledge that Lake Chelan is there.  Waiting for us like a jewel glittering in the desert.

Until next year.