Brave

That is the word of the day....

It started out fine. We planned to rent a pontoon boat on Lake Coeur d'Alene for all eleven of us. The kids were excited to 'tube' behind and jump off when we found some coves. We woke up to some rain though, so our boating adventure was backed up until noonish.

At that time, the sky was totally clear and the temperature was awesome. I even noted several times how glassy the water was (read: FLAT). Eli and Cole went back on the tube first, then Cole by himself, then Maddux and Cole, then Eli by himself, then Treis (who was the only one to fall in because of his daredevil tricks). The beauty of the boat is that it couldn't' get enough speed up to really scare the kids or put them in danger of falling off unless they stood up.

Maddux showed her bravery by asking to go into the inner tube by herself. However, just as we were puling her in after her ride, she got another brave streak and stood up. Of course that resulted in her toppling in. No biggie - she's wearing a life vest AND she can swim. However, the water was cold and she fell in by surprise, so she was spooked. Lehr and I tried to calm her and coax her into realizing she was fine. And she was, but it was hard to see her scared. Lehr did a great job of locking in with her and convincing her to swim with her arms, which ultimately got her to us. (This whole time she was maybe 15 feet from us.)

All kids had a chance to drive the boat, with Grandpa Jim in control, of course. Maddux assured him, "I really know how to drive!! I drived Daddy's car home from the pool." Just as they all finished up their turns, the water got a bit choppy, out of nowhere.

Then choppy turned into very bumpy and rough. Then the splashes came on board. The next thing we knew, all people up front were hiding under towels because of the 'spray' as we hit the waves. Stop. Remember that we're on a pontoon boat in a SMALL lake. There shouldn't be spray or waves.

Things got ugly quick and everyone was soaked...it was unavoidable. We made our way to a private dock to get out of the mess so we could figure out how to get back to our marina. Eli was spooked. Really spooked. If you know me, you know i am not a fan of open water anyway, but I did not put that fear on him..I swear! Most of us got off of the boat for a breather and the decision-makers made a quick plan. We were getting back onto the boat and sticking close to shore to try and limp back in. I'm not sure how he found the strength, but Eli went back on needing very little persuasion from me. (That was a good thing because I could not have brought myself to force him back on.)

This time around I stayed right behind the captain's chair with my arms around Eli to reassure him. He was so scared, and that was the best place to be to avoid the spray. Actually, it was almost the only place to be.... We said a few prayers together and then braved it out as Grandpa Jim kept us in as many 'flat' places as possible. We made real progress but then it got really bad again. Eli's level of comfort disappeared completely and he asked me if we could talk to God again. He even cried a little at this point. (He'd been holding it in really well the whole time leading up to that point.) We made it to another private dock, much less smoothly this time, and we all got off of the boat for good. The great news was we were only 4 road miles from the marina, so we called in and got a bail-out. (We were not the only ones in need of rescue that afternoon; a few other boats called in as well.) Once on dry land, Eli was fine. The dock, however, was getting blasted by the wake; part of it was even coming apart. And ten minutes after we'd secured and emptied the boat, one of the rougher 'swells' came through and ripped the boat away from the dock on one side, taking the dock that was connected to the boat by a rope with it. And when we got back to the house there were potted plants and trash cans blown over and down in the yard, PLUS a tree knocked down in my parent's grass. Awesome....at least I'm not exaggerating how crazy the wind was...there were white caps, for goodness sake!

What about Maddux, you ask? She was none the wiser. She spent almost the entire time with Grandma Cathie, playing with Eden and laughing. The only times she showed any distress was when she got hit by a big splash. True to her character, she was happy-go-lucky and unphased by chaos.

Once again, if you know me you may be thinking, how did Nicole make it through that without a heart attack?! Totally because of the kids. I couldn't lose my cool or show any fear, mainly because of Eli. So even though I held it together to help him, his fear was the only thing helping me to keep it calm.

I talked to Eli afterwards about it, and reminded him how proud I was that he stayed so brave during the whole thing. Once we got home I asked what his favorite part was: the driving, the tubing..... He said, "Pretty much nothing." Even after that stress, he was still in good enough spirits to joke about it. Life is good.