Rozelle Reunion 2008

Day one consisted of waking up at 6:00 to Joshy bouncing on the bed asking to go and wake up Jessi. We had to be up at the lake at 8:00 so I scurried and woke up the other two cabins before heading back to my own to suit up for swimming. By the time I made it back outside, I was a little startled to see this deer just wandering around, walking up to people with no fear at all. Now, I am not an animal person and so swimming with the sharks, running with the bulls, and touching disease carrying deer does not come natural. Still, I was determined to stretch my Snow White roots and bond with the forest creatures as only a fairy tale princess could. For starters, the 75 deer ticks on that back of his head did not exactly scream fairy tale and somehow, every time I got close, all I could see was him going rabid and taking a chunk out of my hand. You know, I am not even sure if it was a him. Huh. Anyway, at first I would just slowly walk up to him with my camera and tried to get some good close up shots. This was before I realized just how little "fear of humans" this guy/girl had. Before I knew it, he was practically charging me, as seen in the picture below. You can just see vicious all over that expression...

After a few instances of me creeping up and then chickening out and running away, it turned its interest to others. More specifically, others with licorice.
Tina, of course, has no built in fear of all things wild and I suppose once you have dealt with sea lions and cranes, a passive, friendly woodland creature does not seem that intimidating.

I finally decided I was going to touch it. I couldn't let Tina show me up and let's not forget the Snow White vision. Attempt 1: Failure. Every time he walked closer, I would jump back a little further as attested by the blurry picture.
Attempt 2: Success. This of course was post lake boating/swimming but success none the less. Sweating girl with fro'd out Monica hair from severe humidity one moment, freakin' snow white the next. All the moment lacked was random bursting out in song and a flowy dress in a springtime breeze...

Back to the boating/swimming. Each year we rent a pontoon boat to go out on the lake as a family. Okay, I say each year but actually, last year was our first. This being our second year and having all the boating experience that we did, we knew that it would be a good idea to bring the fishing poles because the lake is only so big and once you have taken a good spin around it, there is only so much relaxing you can do. Also, we made sure to look for a ladder this year as nothing quite makes one feel so...um...large as having to have three people hoist you up out of the lake when there is nothing to use to climb back into the boat. Last year Joshy cried when we jumped into the water, so it was great to have him willing to get in himself this year. I have to credit Jessi here as she has slowly progressed him from "I don't want to get my swimsuit wet" to dog paddling on his own in his life vest at her apartment pool.

I can do the treading water thing, but the whole time, I am secretly worrying about the fish biting your toes thing. I just don't like not being able to see my feet. Plus, after a while, swimming in place becomes hard work. I much prefer the floating technique. Your feet are far away from carnivorous fish, you don't have to do any actual swimming and you get to feel the sun on your face. The downside: popping up and realizing that you now have to swim half a mile to get back to the boat.
My dad always lets Joshy and now Ben help him drive. There I go with the always again. Each time my dad has let the boys take part in the driving. Much better. Of course last year there was just a boy and not boys...you know, whatever. Joshy has a blast steering and watching the boat adjust course. Ben...well he just likes being held.

As the law states, you have to have life jackets on all children when moving. At least until you have moved out of the view of the dock anyway. Of course, they don't make many life jackets in six month old size...so baby burrito had to settle for child size.After our Tour de Greenleaf Lake. Hmmm...you know, I don't know what lake it is. Greenleaf is the park but I don't know if that is the lake. Pause while Laura researches... Aha...it is Lake Greenleaf. So, after our Tour de Lake Greenleaf, we broke out the fishing poles and tried our hands at fishing. Joshy was a pro in no time, reeling his bobber in and then casting it back out. The poles with bobbers were taken by the time I got to pick a pole, so I was left with the dumb fake bug thing that I had to keep casting and reeling in. I am convinced no one has ever caught a fish like that. Seaweed, yes, but fish...no.

The champion of the day was Tina who was not only the sole fish catcher but somehow managed to catch two. Of course we threw them back because what you are going to do with two fish. I mean, that is the official reason. The unofficial reason is that fish are just gross.
As we were heading back to the dock the motor was seeming to run a little more sluggish than we recalled prior to the fishing. Then about half way back, it quit altogether. None of us had cell phones and even if we did the reception was nonexistent. The first plan involved swimming to the dock. Tina and I willingly took the short straws figuring Dad could keep messing with the engine and we were the next strongest swimmers. As Tina put on her generic issue life vest I turned and laughed. Reference Tommy Boy as the flight attendant. In other words, lets just say the neck room was less than adequate. So we hatched a new plan of tying the vest to our ankles as a precaution and then swimming sans life vest to the shore. Just then we hear salvation in the form of an outboard motor. A small boat was headed our way on their route back from fishing. So, my dad and I start waving and Jess, in her own unique embarrassing way, starts yelling "SOS, Help Us!" as loud as she can. Finally my dad lets out one of his show stopping whistles and the boat turns our way. We tell them we are dead in the water and ask if they will notify the boat dock. Sure enough, as soon as they speed away we give the key another turn and the engine starts. Of course it does. So we take off towards the dock, 40 minutes past our boat return time, hiding our faces from the fishermen who went out of their way to help the boat that drove itself in 3 minutes behind them. Classy.

After resting, following our boating adventure, we headed down to play some softball in the park. I was impressed by how good we all were, considering most of us hadn't played softball since the Memorial Day picnic at Warm Springs. I hit far more than I missed and when not beaning the pitcher, managed to hit a few quite a ways into the outfield. The downside was that it was hot. Extremely hot. All it took was a couple of swings and you were pouring sweat. Batting and pitching were the most desired positions...outfield was a chore. It was like basting in an oven between sudden exertions of running and throwing.

Tina had the right idea...

Saturday night is the pool party. Families bring pots of chili and we eat and swim until it is too dark to play. It is fun to see the same kids each year, so much bigger it seems than the year before and tons of other people that you have no clue who they are. It's a big family. You just assume they are related somehow and try to keep the conversation general.

By the end of the party we had two exhausted and naked boys.

Sunday is the potluck lunch and this year Jess and Mom decided that we should wear matching t-shirts. The adults were in navy and Joshy and Ben in white. It is ridiculously hard to find a plain navy onesie.

This year 106 people showed up to squeeze into a room cooled only by two window units that fight against a constantly opening door. The lunch is followed by raffles and group pictures and somehow our family always seems to win. By our family I mean Jess, my dad and mom. I have no luck as it was all wasted on a purple dinosaur in 6th grade but that is a story for another time. Our family picture included two wiped out boys. Well, to be completely honest, two wiped out parents too. Still, I look forward to this weekend every year and am already anticipating 12 months from now when we get to do it all again. As I curled up in bed Sunday night, sore and exhausted, all I could think was how happy I am.