The Weekend in Review

Much like their father, these kids' idea of luxury far exceeds the ability of their pocketbooks to provide it! Here they are practicing sunbathing on a $72,000 pleasure boat.
The boat show had everything, EVERYTHING. It was a great place to let the kids explore and Rick to dream.

Some of us tried to sit in the captain's seat of every boat there, the speed boats, the runabouts, the fishing boats, the duck hunting boats, the party barges and the yachts. They were all fair game. We also tried out the tow ropes for skiing, several of the fancy tubes and thought we were way cool when we stepped into the wake boards.

Tatum had a good time talking with a park ranger at the Dworshak Dam information booth. She told them we "already knew all about that dam" because we go there all the time - well, at least once a year. Then she and Rikard told the story of being at the dam's visitor center once during a thunder and lightening storm.

Many of the boats were set on the floor, off their trailers. This made it easy for me and the kids to see everything. Others had step ladders or plywood box steps leading up into them. It was difficult to keep track of the kids at some points when there were several boats with different ladders, steps and boardwalk systems in a small area.

When we got to the yachts, the salespeople were dressed markedly

different than the guys trying to sell the fishing boats. The stairs leading up to the boats were carpeted and the landings were decorated. Rikard could not believe his eyes when he saw inside one boat and it looked just like the inside of Papa's motorhome. Then, when we got around the corner to the party barges, they were amazed that the boats would have a sink and a counter and SO MANY cupholders. Oh, my!

We went away with armloads of information, but weren't the cause of one of these. We came close, but not quite.
Rick has his eye on a Hewescraft (the Fisherman's Choice according to their marketing materials) or a Crestliner, which according to him offers the perfect balance between fun for the kids and fishing for him.

Rikard had to be hauled away to the barber shop. He decided late at night that his bangs were too close to his eyes and attempted a self-styling job that went all wrong. Silly boy. The only fix was to cut his hair really, really short.

Sunday morning I settled into the kitchen and patiently peeled and chopped and fried until I had the perfect pan of homefries. Mmmm, comfort food.