The Nielson 5: boating

Bradley's Wake-Boarding Videos

TRY #1

TRY #2

THIRD TIME'S A CHARM

A Day of Boating Fun Part IV...Brad & Brandi

Now it's the time for the big kids' posting!! We had a blast being on the river. I was a little nervous at first simply because I had forgotten what it feels like to be on a boat. That smooth gliding motion over the water...even though you're safe...it just feels a little uneasy. It all went away as soon as we reached the Park. I didn't really want to do much tubing or wake-boarding but Jordyn really wanted me to so I decided I would try it. I managed to stay on the tube the entire time even with our wonderful Captain trying to trick me up...it was a great upper body work out. I also tried wake-boarding but was completely unsuccessful. My ankles kept coming out of the bindings but it didn't really matter because I wasn't able to get myself in an upright position anyway...but, I did try it!!!

Bradley was the first to go tubing. Mr. Captain wasn't as easy-going with him as he may have been later in the day with me and at one point, Bradley flipped over. He did really well though and you could tell he was having the time of his life.

Wake-boarding was a little different story. He, like me, couldn't get himself upright the first several times he tried and eventually gave up because you can only hold onto the rope so many times before your hands start to blister and your arm muscles burn. Later on, he tried again and was finally able to get up. The kids were so excited to see their dad gliding across the water.

Even though I'm sure the Lee's don't read this blog, I would like them to know that we are ever so grateful they took us out on a wonderfully exciting day. What was expected to be a day of sitting around turned into an adventure we'll never forget. Thanks for bringing back the memories for Bradley and I and for giving our children their first experiences on a boat. We will never be able to repay you for your kindness (especially with gas prices as they are) but we will most definitely try. We can only hope there will be many more trips like this to come.

A Day of Boating Fun Part III...Jordyn & Jeylin

Jordyn and Jeylin couldn't have been more excited to go on their first boat ride...they were also a little apprehensive. We found out last night around 6:00 that we would be going today but waited to tell the kids until right before bedtime. We loaded the kids up to go to Shopko and told them that we needed to go up there to get a life jacket for Kierra because we were going boating with the Lee's. They just screamed in the van and couldn't believe it!! When we told them where we were going, we had to explain it simply by saying....

We're getting on the boat at the park by our house and then we're going under this bridge (Southway) then we'll go under the blue bridge (Interstate) and we'll go by Costco and under another bridge (Red Wolf) and we'll stay on the boat for a while until we get to a little island with a campground on it. Then we'll stop at the beach and we'll play there.

Just then, the excitement changed a little.

Jeylin asked, "Are we going under the bridge?"

"Yes, we are."

"Are we going under the road?"

"Yes, we are doing that too."

"I DON'T WANT TO GO UNDER THE ROAD!!!"

He really didn't pursue that much anymore because he was excited to go under the bridge...just not the road. They both were a little curious if the boat would "go up" in the water. I finally got out of them that they were concerned that the front of the boat would go up in the water when we started to go fast. This all diminished the minute we were on the boat as well, as you can see.

When we first got to Chief Timothy, Jordyn wanted to go on tubing. Since she doesn't know how to swim yet and has only used a life jacket a couple times before, we wanted to have her tread a little water and "practice" first. We weren't going to let her go by herself but we wanted her to be prepared. She refused, saying the water was too cold and she really didn't want to do it anyway. We went on about our days and then, only after Mommy went tubing, would she try it. We had a good ride but when she thought we were going to fast, she begged for the boat to slow down. When we did slow down, we needed to turn around to head back towards our beach but the turn was too slow and we ended up sinking into the water. She came up a little panicked but calmed down when I grabbed her and put her back on the tube. But then she was done and only wanted to be on the boat. We might have continued tubing back to the beach but I couldn't lift my body back onto the tube...I think I need a little more upper body strength or just a little less weight on my lower half :)

Jeylin was happy just staying on the beach with the tube or in the boat with the orange caution flag. But he loved the trip home because he was able to sit in the front of the boat with Daddy. He wasn't worried at all about anything at that point. I wish I had pictures but by then, my memory card was full. Maybe next time :)

A Day of Boating Fun Part II...Kierra

Kierra's first experience on a boat was mild to say the least. She simply laid around on my lap in her steal-of-a-deal life jacket and enjoyed the ride. If it would have taken five minutes longer to get to Chief Timothy Park, she would have been asleep. The first thing we did was to strip her of her life jacket since we want to avoid her hating it since she's going to have to put it back on later in the day. We stood around and let the kids play in the water while we all just gabbed. The weather wasn't sweltering hot but the water was just right. It didn't take anytime to all to adjust to the temperature. Kierra pretty much stayed on the beach the entire day. She did manage to take a nap even though it was a short one (we didn't have an umbrella so she had to lay under a towel and it got a little warm) and she even enjoyed some wonderful "whole wheat oat bran with raisins" at a wonderful riverside cafe called the USS Lee. Her attitude was great with only one downfall...she hated that when she had her life jacket on she couldn't cuddle. No big deal, we'll just keep you on the beach and you don't need it. At the end of the day, we had everything packed up, all the life jackets on and we were on our way. No more that five minutes away from Chief Timothy but she fell asleep in my arms...life jacket and all. She slept the entire way back to Swallows Nest and only cried when I had to take her out of her life jacket to put her in her car seat. Here are a couple pictures of her first trip on the river...

Life Jacket OFF...Princess Robe ON...

(Just so there isn't any confusion as to who's really in charge)

You know, Princess Kierra would really like to go for a ride on this thing.

A Day of Boating Fun Part I

One might find it interesting that our family, living only minutes away from a river, would have been on boats many times but, that couldn't be farther from the truth. It has been over 10 years for either Brad and I and our kids have never set foot on a boat. Well, that all changed today! Our wonderfully generous friends, the Lee's, invited us to go with them today on their boat. We were overjoyed. They had all the life jackets and materials except, we did need to buy one for Kierra. Late last night, we headed to Shopko and found the last one they had, in her size, and what a steal, it was marked down to only $12!!!! SOLD!!! So, off we headed this morning at 10:30 from Swallows Nest boat launch (about a two minute drive from our house) towards Chief Timothy Park where our other friends, the Borland's, were camping with their boat. Here are a couple pictures of us when we first set foot on the boat...

All of us with Myka...it's shaping up to be a fun day!