I gotcha!

It turns out that some of the stereo types about California are true! All the women are a size 3, tan, and in great shape, everyone drives a convertible and everyone owns a boat and/or has a pool! HA!! I wish! It does seem like everyone (but us) owns a boat though,  and for good reason. There are several lakes in the area and lots of sunshine and mild to hot weather.
  Luckily, we have managed to make our way onto a couple boats and enjoy the water. So, we set up a weekend to take out our land lords party boat and wouldn't you know it; it happened to be the very weekend Ian and Aden were going to a completely different lake to go wake boarding with the church youth group. I was a little bummed when I learned they wouldn't be joining us (wink, wink). Truth be told, they did want to come with us to spend the weekend fishing and complaining, I mean swimming. We were fortunate enough to take an excursion to Lake Sonoma earlier in the week with a life long water skiing family, and they were quick to teach Ian and Aden (and Melanie for that matter) how to wake board. With their new found confidence and abilities, they opted to go wake boarding with their friends instead of camping on a boat with mom and dad. I think that is the first time that they have chosen to go with friends instead of us. (yeah!)

  Off to Lake Berryessa we went. It was about 100 degrees out and the water was the place to be. Keep in mind that we were in big party boat, not a ski boat, but what an awesome way to spend the weekend. We went from cove to cove exploring and swimming. Apollo was less enthusiastic at first about wearing his life jacket and even less excited about getting in the water... at first anyways. Mid day, Apollo climbed up onto my lap, while I was driving, and fell asleep. We decided to shut down the motor in the middle of the lake and let the boat drift. We spent the next few hours swimming and sun bathing, while Apollo slept.
  Lake Berryessa is pretty large. We headed up to the north western arm of the lake. There was a lot less people in this area. We found another little cove to dock the boat and take a swim. This time Apollo was happy to go swimming. To our surprise, he was eager to get into his little floating swim suit, and impatient when he had to wait on us to get him in the water. He learned to kick, splash, and bob up and down.  We worked on holding our breath and blowing bubbles in the water. We were astounded at the major advancements Apollo made that day.

To date, one of my favorite things that Apollo has learned, is the manner in which he has learned to communicate his trust he he has in us as parents. A couple weeks ago, while camping at the coast, and climbing over rocks, Apollo would stumble, and as he would fall, I would catch him and say "I got ya.". He immediately repeated the phrase back, "I gotcha". Now, when we hand him off to one another in the water, he says "I gotcha". When he is uncertain of himself, he grabs on to you,"I gotcha". Even at night when he wakes and wants to be held, "Dada, I gotcha" or of course, "Mama, I gotcha". I am a sucker for this, and I just melt when he says it.
  Potty training is in full swing, so of course, Mr potty frog, got to spend the weekend with us. Apollo loves to pee in his frog and has about as good as aim as Ian and Aden...actually, I think Apollo has better aim...much better. He has been working on number two as well. I would dive into ice cold water if I had to, to get off the boat when this happens. After all, I am allergic to poop.
  As the sun started to get low in the sky, we found a little deserted cove to make camp for the night. We cooked some hot dogs and carne asada for dinner, on a little portable grill, had an hour long dance party courtesy of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, and then made up our bed for the night. We blew up an air mattress and placed it between the seats. It must have been 85 degrees at 10:00 pm. Too hot to sleep. We laid on the mattress and looked at stars, and shooting stars, the moon, planes and satellites. I have not slept in the open air probably since I was a teen. I mean to say, not in a tent or motor home, but under the stars. It was amazing. The only sounds to be heard were crickets and the occasional splash of a fish in the water. As the moon set, the star light became more intense and the reflection on the water was gorgeous. Morning came fast and so did the heat. We were up at 7:10 am, had a quick breakfast, and pulled out of the cove. I love the water early in the morning. It is like glass. We were surprised to see that very few people were on the lake in the morning with such pristine conditions. It wasn't until almost 11:00 am that we began to see more than a hand full of skiers out and about.

  Apollo had turned into a fish by the second day. "Swim now?"..."Dada, swim?"..."Mama, go swim now?". We swam, and swam, and swam. Apollo was all about sitting on the edge of the air mattress and kicking and splashing.
  We slowly made our way back to the marina. Taking one final swim, this time with shirts on as Melanie and I both over did it a bit with the sun, and the spf50 seemed to have little effect at this point. I would like to say that Apollo has a nice tan and no sunburn, though.
  We cleaned out the boat and headed off to the truck, wishing we could stay for another day.
  Apollo, some times so eager to go with the flow, put in his two cents as we headed down the dock; "Good bye boat, good bye lake, good bye big pretty boat...dada, I gotcha"