Yay for a pontoon!

Friday, July 15

My cousin came over on Thursday to swap vehicles. We used his truck to bring the pontoon up to the lake. Rob gave me the duty of driving, to which I was a little nervous about hauling the pontoon – it's much bigger than the Waverunner. It wasn't so bad, though – just drove slower. Stopped in Motley for a bathroom/lunch break – little restaurant and gift shop attached to the Shell gas station.

The boys did okay for most of the drive. Keenan ended up napping for about 45 minutes. Brendan got to play with the Touch Pad during this time, which made him happy....but he ended up being quite a pill for the rest of the trip – bugging Keenan, whining about not getting Touch Pad time, etc... Unfortunately, this behavior didn't quit once we got to the cabin – I've had more than enough of his uncooperative, not-following-directions-or-being-helpful, sassy attitude. I hope it improves over the rest of the weekend.

After pulling into the driveway, we unloaded the truck. Rob started mowing the grass. The boys put on their swimsuits and headed for the lake. Brendan and Keenan were having a great time jumping off the dock. It is fun to watch them play and have fun. We were curious as to how weedy it was going to look – doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as that guy at the mini-golf place made it how to be.

Got the pontoon in the lake (and I'm darned proud of myself for being the one to do it, and without much of a problem!). Had a few problems, though – took us a bit to figure out how to get the tilt/trim to work and get the motor/propeller in the water. Then we forgot to prime the motor to fire it up. After a few tries of trying to get the motor going, we had nothing. Ended up pulling the pontoon back out of the lake (to which I was worried because the tilt/trim wasn't working at this point, either, and I didn't know if there'd be room for the motor to come out of the water). Back at the cabin, Rob took a look to see if he could figure out what was wrong, but he didn't have much luck.

I took a short walk – was hoping to chat with our neighbors. I am so glad I did! Our neighbors across the swamp are absolutely wonderful! Molly and John. John came over and looked at the pontoon – turned out the problem was that we didn't have the shift fully in Neutral. We must have knocked it slightly out of place or something. We stood and yapped with them for quite a while, though. They're a bit older than us, but not so much older that we can't enjoy visiting with them.

Made a second attempt to put the pontoon in the lake. This time, it was a success. I drove the truck and trailer back to the cabin, the boys rode with Rob in the pontoon to pick me up at our dock.

FINALLY!!! We get to go out on the lake!!! WE LOVE IT!!! Did a lot of looking at the shoreline – checking out the houses, docks, and boats. The boys wanted to go swimming, so we found a nice area to take a break – opened up a side door and the back door of the pontoon, and let them have a go at it. Keenan was the first one to jump in (that kid has NO FEAR). Brendan did most of his jumping with his life jacket on, but did about six or so jumps at the end without his life jacket. He's starting to try diving...and he's not doing too bad for not having any formal instruction!

By the time we came in from the lake, and I got the boys cleaned up, it was almost 8:00. Dinner consisted of corn dogs and broccoli. Eventually, I'll get around to better meal planning – I don't want to be eating frozen foods all the time.

I made a quick run into town to pick up a few groceries – ½ gallon of milk, some hamburger buns (for the association meeting/pot luck), and some lunch meat.

Saturday, July 16

Holy Humidity!!! It had to have been 100% humidity this morning. There was fog over the lake this morning, and our basement windows were so condensed, you could use a squeegee to clear them off.

I made a run into town (Park Rapids). Picked up a few things at Wal-Mart; stopped at the L&M Fleet Supply store (hardware/sporting goods store); stopped at the candy store.

The lake association potluck and meeting was today. It was nice to meet other people on the lake. Most of the people on the lake are like us – in that this is not our primary residence. There are only a handful of people that actually live up here year-round.

The sun finally started to peek out mid-to-late afternoon, and after the potluck/meeting, we went out for a pontoon ride and swims. I even jumped in the lake. It was chilly, but refreshing. The boys had a great time jumping off the boat (again). I'm glad I didn't sign the boys up for swim lessons this summer – it's just not necessary with all the water time they will get. It seems to make more sense for them to take swim lessons in the fall and/or winter when we don't have lake access.

And the lake --- amazingly clear!!! There is a guy on the lake that takes secchi disk readings throughout the year, and reports them to the DNR. He got readings today of 24 ft clarity!!! Beautiful....just beautiful.

Sunday, July 17

Another foggy morning. ALL the windows of the house have condensation on them!

One of these weekends we'll stay a little longer on Sundays, but it's not this weekend. Put the cover on the pontoon – a bit of a struggle doing it for the first time, but we eventually figured it out.

Left the Nissan up there again; we'll need it next time to put the Waverunner in.