Kicked the Bucket....

Remember my 'epic failure' at zip lining I mentioned in a post a few weeks past? Those moments of pure panic really did a number on my psyche! Now the summer has been emotionally draining for a million other justifiable reasons but that one incident has trampled my self-confidence to its core and left me feeling like a very old and un-hip Mom! It was with a sense of duty that I dragged my sorry, pitiful, woe-is-me self out of town and back up to Aunt Agnes' lake house so the girls could have one last 'Hurrah' before summer officially ends with the 'First Day of School' next Thursday. In one last act of desperation to engender some "My Mom is so cool" vibes I convinced Patrick that we needed to head on over to Lake Geneva and hire a speed boat.

You remember?!? My raised on an island but terrified of the water husband!?!? Who sat safely in the back of the boat with his life vest securely strapped into place the whole time we were out on the lake, husband!?!? But I also know I've mentioned a time or two how much the man adores his daughters and SPOILS all of his women so of course he agreed. There was a couple of runs at trying to stay on shore while we went but I TOTALLY pulled the whole guilt trip thing on him and he went "for the sake of the family memories".

I did mention ...spoiled, right?

Actually we all stretched out in the sun and enjoyed the ride!

Did I forget to mention that we had also arranged for the speedboat to have a tube on board?

Mari, it can safely be said, has a well hidden dare devil side to her that makes one heck of a wicked appearance once strapped into a live vest! My hates nature and worries about everything lady finds tubing to be the most fun thing she has ever done and the driver tried every speed and maneuver to see just when she would cry 'uncle' or fall off the tube. At one point he even was shocked as we unexpectedly hit some wake waves generated by a huge sight seeing boat and she bounced so high in the air we thought the tube may take off like a kite....but no, she landed back down on the water still hanging on tight!!

Would have posted one of Julia showing off with her one handed, fish tailing maneuver but her face was in such shadows and I don't have the skill or time to edit one tonight. She is usually my dare devil but was more than willing to let Mari take the lead on this activity. Did not take long however before she too was pumping her thumb up in the air which is the signal for the driver to pick up speed!

Darn cloud cover just as I finally had them in the viewfinder! May I also add that trying to take pictures of a bouncing tube from the back of a speed boat is a bit of a challenge?!?!?

So to get to the point of this post, which I am notoriously bad about doing in any kind of succinct manner, I must now break one of my personal photography rules....

I must show myself in a swimsuit...ugh! 

Just like our expedition out to the zip-line course, I donned all the necessary gear to go tubing. With a fierce determination [and my omnipresent competitive nature] I was not going to let another panic attack stop me from sharing a waaaaaaaay cool experience with my daughters!

And then this is where I have to admit I again failed.....

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is really me out on that tube and those are actual waves splashing up at me!

See, double proof ! 

Now I can say I've been tubing! I can feel a little less old and stogy than I have been feeling of late. My girls now have another memory of their Mom being 'cool'.

Now all I have to do is be super clever in how I pop the ibuprofen all day tomorrow for my aching arms and shoulders.....