Leigha and the Triplets

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Chance I Almost Passed Up!

In October, one of my friends from California was in town for the weekend with her extended family. Every year they rent a houseboat on Lake Mead. Jonna offered to have us come out and spend the day with her that weekend. Did I mention she was on a HOUSE BOAT?! That means that we would have to take a BOAT to get to the HUGE boat. Needless to say, I was skeptical! I haven't even taken my kids to a friend's house to swim yet. The idea of me trying to keep an eye on three three-year-olds around water scares the heck out of me!

As the weekend got closer, I have to admit I thought about not going. However, I didn't want to pass up a chance to see her and her children. This fall has been about breaking out of my comfort zone, so why not! I was feeling good about my decision until people started asking if I was crazy. That made me feel GREAT?!

The kids LOVED the boat ride over to their cove! Each of the kids wore one of Jonna's children's life vests. They did not fight it at all, instead they were thrilled to death to be buckling all of the belts. Off we went!



The boat trip took about 10 minutes to reach their cove.



It was a beautiful ride though. I hadn't been out on Lake Mead since the year before I moved down here.



There were some other girls, a little bit older than Leigha, on the boat. They were sliding down the slide into the water. I was hoping that Leigha would give it a chance. In the mean time she saw a big raft off the back of the boat. She immediately wanted to go out on it. Does she look like she's having a blast?



She was a bit confused as to how she was going to get away from the boat at first. I think she was ready for it to just go on it's own. So someone kicked the raft a bit to get it moving backwards. The enjoyment was wiped off her face fast, and replaced with a look of concern, followed by a look of panic. She started begging to be pulled back in.



They had a slide that went from the upper level of the boat into the lake. I tried to talk Leigha into going down the slide, but she wasn't buying it. The other kids showed her how easy it was, and then it was her turn. Leigha started a traffic jam. She wasn't moving, that is until her mother came around the slide and pulled her leg to make her go down.



Jonna's nanny and her husband were with them for the weekend. It was nice to know that there were extra eyes around. At this point I was just hoping to leave with the four children I came with! After playing inside for awhile, we all headed off the boat and on to the "beach". I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as rocky as parts I remembered. Leigha had been off searching for shells already, so we decided to join her. Thankfully, the boys didn't have the same reaction to sand as Leigha did the first time Noe took her to the beach. When she was two years old, Noe drove Leigha to Corpus Christi to see his family. Noe, growing up around the ocean, was thrilled to take Leigha to the beach. Unfortunately, Leigha HATED the sand and immediately started freaking out. I thought we would experience the same thing with Robert, because he hates to have anything in his shoe or on his foot. I was pleasantly surprised that they all just started taking off, even Matthew! Considering it was uphill AND in sand, Matthew did great!

It was a rare moment when all of my kids were in one place, with me, and someone else was around to take our picture! Finally, I have proof that I actually was around in the early years. Too bad Noe wasn't there to complete the family photo.



Jonna's kids (Jackson, Ella, and Landon)were so cute and played so well with my kids. They all sat down and colored together. They all ended up sitting in the sand and playing together. It's always a rare moment to get that many kids sitting still at the same time. Don't worry, they started peeling off immediately!



Ella was very concerned about Matthew. While Matthew was eating dinner, she ran over to help him drink everytime he grabbed his cup. Too cute!



Needless to say, I am very thankful I went out of my comfort zone and went out to meet up with Jonna and her family. We all had a blast, and I was sad when it was time to head back to the dock. Just think, maybe next year I will be the mother of four swimmers (Noe, that's YOUR job!).

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