A Mother’s Day To Remember

For Mother’s Day, I decided I wanted the whole family to go to the beach at Lake Tahoe and take my kayak, which I haven’t been able to use for years (between pregnancy, a new baby, and then a knee injury, it has been over 3 years).

The hubby suggested we stop by Mt. Rose on the way to the beach so that Little Man could ski. Doesn’t everyone stop for a quick ski on the way to the beach?!

Anyway, we got to Mt. Rose, where there was now a creek down the main run, and JB walked with Little Man in the mud and slush to get him to ski. Little Miss and I stayed back, as we were dressed more for the beach than tromping through slushy snow.

There was much crying from Little Man, and he did two extremely short “runs”.

Then, we were finally off to the beach. It was a glorious day, and I immediately put the kayak on the lake and took off with Little Miss in my lap. Let me tell you, we’re mighty close to the weight limit on that kayak, as Little Miss is almost 60 pounds now. That meant we sat low, lots of COLD Tahoe water was leaking in, and the smallest movement from her made me fear we were going to tip. Let me tell you, the water in Tahoe this time of year is frigid, and I absolutely did NOT want to tip.

JB took Little Man out twice. On the second time, I was sitting in my beach chair with my head tipped back and eyes closed when I heard crying in the distance. JB was far enough out with the kayak that I couldn’t tell what was going on, but it sure looked to me like Little Man was the only person on the boat.

Turns out that JB had flipped the kayak trying to do some sporty turn around a buoy. They both went in (thankfully Little Man had a life vest on), and JB had put Little Man on top of the overturned kayak. From shore, I couldn’t see JB. The first thing that came to mind was the recent accident where a man and his 2 year old son drowned in a Washington lake while canoeing.

But I rationalized in my head that JB is a strong swimmer, and has done numerous open water swims in triathlons. Still, the former lifeguard in me really wanted to go try to save them or offer help. I valiantly took several steps into the water, and my reaction was BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I then saw that two women had beached their kayaks right next to where I was standing, so I asked them if I could borrow them to go help my hubby. They obliged, and I tore out there as fast as I could (realizing their kayak was much sleeker and faster than mine). I arrived at our kayak to find JB in the water, pushing the kayak towards shore, and with a smile on his face. Little Man was still crying, but he was safe. We decided it was probably better to let JB continue pushing the boat, and my help wasn’t needed.

After this ordeal, we asked Little Man if he preferred kayaking (and tipping over into the lake) or skiing. His answer? Tipping over into Lake Tahoe. Ha!

Anyway, it was a glorious day, but I do think our kayak will soon make it to a Craigslist posting, and we’ll soon be buying a paddleboard instead (after the water warms a bit more)!