The Maiden Voyage

This is going to be a long story, but I think it's funny and Jeff said he didn't mind!

Ok, so some of you know that Jeff bought a boat and I wasn't very happy about it! (I won't go into the arguments for and against it!) When he first brought it home, Parker went around telling everyone, "We got a boat, but my mommy isn't happy about it! She doesn't like it!"

Jeff spent a couple of weekends working on it and cleaning it up. Last week he was so excited because he started it up in the driveway and the engine sounded good. He decided we would take it for it's maiden voyage on Columbus Day! The night before, we went to my parent's house to get the truck and then he took it to gas it up. When he got home he remembered that he left the keys and the lock on the bumper of the truck. Needless to say the keys weren't there anymore! He got in the car and retraced his steps all over town. This was around 9:30 at night! Finally at 11:30 I called him and told him to come home and try again in the morning! I was so afraid he was going to get hit by a drunk driver. The ridiculous thing is that he found the floating key chain, he found the chain that held the keys on the chain, and the lock, but not the key to the boat ignition. Each of the things he found were in separate places on Hwy. 92! He made it from our house to the gas station, to Carl's Jr. and then almost made it back to our house before the keys fell off! He didn't sleep at all worrying about the keys and what he was going to do. He was determined he was getting the boat in the water that day. He woke up about 6am and went to look for the key. Luckily he found it! He thought that would be the end of his bad luck! WRONG! We got to Patagonia Lake early that afternoon. He got the boat in the water without any real problems and then he tried to start the engine! After a few tries it finally started, but it didn't sound right! It took us about twenty minutes just to get away from the dock and out of the no wake area. He finally decided it wasn't going to work right and we drove around for a few minutes using the trolling motor before we went back to the dock! As much as I was against him getting this boat, I truly felt awful for him! Parker and him were so excited! He really does have the worst luck with things! We got it home and the motor ran fine! He called a friend and told him what the problem was and they figured it out. Hopefully it's as easy a fix as they think it is! He's hoping to go back out this weekend!

Another funny but not so funny story about the boat that I'll always get to rub his nose in- The weekend of my birthday he was out trying to cover the boat before it rained. My parents and my grandma had just arrived for dinner and my dad was out there talking to him about the boat. Jeff was using bungee cords to secure the tarp. Just as he was saying that he shouldn't use the bungee cord the way he was it popped off and hit him right in the eye! He didn't have his sunglasses on and his eye was wide open! He went into shock and couldn't see except out of the sides of that eye. We left my family there with the kids and headed for the ER! Now if you know me really well you know that I was scared to death that something was going to be seriously wrong with his eye but that I was also thinking! "STUPID BOAT! If you hadn't bought it we wouldn't be going to the ER and your eye would be fine!" We spent the whole night in the ER while my family ate my birthday dinner and my yummy birthday cake without me! I'll spare you the horror stories we had in the ER! We had to go see an eye doctor the next morning and he had to use drops for a week but thankfully his eye is fine!

When I told Jeff I was going to post this on the blog he asked if we should name the boat the U.S.S I TOLD YOU SO! I love it! I may just have to hold him to that!