The romance of canoeing

The Boy and I decided to travel to Lake Arthur for a day on the water. Me, “Can we rent a pontoon boat?” Him, “No, I was thinking we’d get some exercise.” I thought, “Okay – I’ve been slacking much in the way of exercise – canoe it is!”

You know in the movies how they paint the notion of how romantic it is to spend a summer afternoon in a canoe? The man is suppose to do all the rowing and strum on a guitar while singing, I thought…

Moraine rents the boats by the hour and you think, “That’s not enough time. This is going to be expensive.” Hold that thought the next time you go to rent a boat. If it doesn’t have a motor, you’ll be wondering why they don’t rent boats by the half hour.

As we paddle across the water, we admire the boats. I start talking about how I would like to have a sailboat and have my friend Roxy teach us. As we (he) rows, I point out, “Ooo, I like that one. No, I want this one. Wow, nix that! I want that one.” He crushes my dreaming with LOGIC, “Let’s take lessons first before purchasing anything.” I think, “That’s never going to happen – like, buying one will. ” <insert slight princess-like attitude here>

The Boy and I still have our kid-like imaginations and start to play pirate, and pretend the fireflies are dragons and the water plants are sea monsters. Having fun at play he says, “Do you want to steer?” Mistake, “Sure,” I say. We pull over to this desolate Island where the wild things roam. We switch seats, and I realize that my can-o-pop (he bought) has tipped over and spilled in the boat. My kid-like imagination soon turns evil because my life jacket (I’m not even wearing) is sticky. <insert slight princess-like attitude here>

As if I’m steering incorrectly, he says, “If you want to go right, then paddle on the right…” Before he could finish that statement, I immediately snap, “I know how to steer a boat.” He says, “Next time we are getting two kayaks and I’m going to watch you go in circles.” Playtime is over and we start to splash each other, I scream, “Stop it! I have a camera, but you don’t.”

Somehow we were on the other side of the lake when I realize that we have to paddle back. I say, “We should have gotten a pontoon boat.” <insert I told you so smart-ass tone here> He tries to use child psychology, “Let’s see how fast we can paddle to get to the other side…” So it works but only for a moment. I’m pooped saying, “How long have we been out here? WHAT! Only 40 minutes? Let’s go back. I’m done with boating on the lake.”

As we paddle back into port, I say to the Boy, “Stop paddling.” So of course he continues to paddle… We get closer to the ramp (filled with people watching us), I scream, “STOP PADDLING.” He says, “Why?” As we crash into another boat <long pause for drama…the moment seems to last longer than I want> trying to look cool in front of all those people, he turns to give me an evil look as though it’s my fault. In attempts to cool me down, he gets me an ice cream. Still a little pissy, I flash him one last evil look before biting into it.

Happily Ever After…