When the Boat Feels Small … (June 14, 2014)

When the boat feels really small, there is only one possible way to make it feel bigger. Double the number of occupants. My mom came down for a visit with my younger sister’s three children (11, 9, and 6 years). They love the boat and scamper all over the marina with their cousins. After lunch one of the kids asks if they are sleeping on the boat. My mom looks at me questioningly. I start laughing, thinking she is joking. I stop when I realize she’s not. Of course she’s not. This is the woman who raised 6 children, had numerous foster kids, several Fresh Air Fund kids every summer, and seriously considered adopting again at the age of 72. Sleeping on a boat in tight quarters does not faze her at all. Am I really going to be a killjoy and say no? They stay two nights and every available surface has a body on it. The boat feels much bigger when they leave Monday morning. I breathe a sigh of relief (and tell Matt I am never doing that again).

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We take the kids out for a sail on Saturday and have a Father’s Day picnic with Matt’s sister on Sunday. One of our rituals is ice cream on Sundays. [Matt secretly orders a second one, gets busted and tries to hide it from the kids]. IMG_0766