So we just finished a week of holidays (July 24 - 31). I had planned on going to Jasper for a few nights but we decided to just stay at the cabin with our trailer. Turned out very nice. The weather was awesome (in the 30s). Had a game of golf with the hubby, Marcy & Dorin. The game started out very good (Marcy got par on the 3rd hole! Beginners luck? Or is she a closet golfer?) After about the 5th hole her and I started playing worse and worse. Too funny.

We did a lot of BBQing. Yum!

Took a boat ride one evening to check out Bird Shit Island that's being taken over by pelicans.

One afternoon the water felt so warm the girls decided to put their fear of the bloodsuckers aside and went in. They were having a ball! It was so cute watching them chase eachother around. They found a golf ball in the water and were taking turns throwing it and the other would go find it. Then Erika tripped on an anchor (that was tied to the water trampoline) and cut the top of her foot pretty deep. That ended the fun. : (

Another day my dad, the girls and I decided to go for a boat ride. It was a little after 3:00 pm. We took off across the lake, the weather was a little iffy. Some clouds were brewing, meaning we shouldn't have been out there in the first place. We were in the middle of the lake when the boat ran out of gas in one tank, dad got up, changed tanks, and couldn't get the boat started again. The battery was DEAD! He tried pull starting it over and over, that didn't work. We had no cell phone so we decided to just paddle for it back to the cabin. Uncle Neil and uncle Allan were both out in their boats at the time so we were watching for them to come save us. Well we got about half way there and the wind started picking up, which created big waves that were very persistant in pushing us AWAY from the cabin. The girls at this point started getting sea sick. They were puking and puking, and crying and crying. Crying to go home and crying for their blankets. I felt so helpless and frustrated because this was so out of my control.

We saw uncle Neil at one point heading back to the cabin. I tried waving my paddle but he couldn't see us. So we continued paddling. We thought if we could make it to big point we would be good. We didn't make it. The waves at this point were getting so big and it started to rain steady. My dad was paddling at the back of the boat while I was paddling at the front of the boat on the same side but we just couldn't get the boat pointed in the right direction. It felt like we were going to flip over. The girls were sleeping under the deck, just laying on a life jacket.

We ended up way out in Mulhurst bay. We had no idea what time it was since we didn't have a watch either. We just kept on paddling. We gave up paddling towards big point and decided to paddle with the current and try to get to shore before dark. Dad then said so sadly, "Doesn't look like my brothers are coming."

I saw a boat coming, I started waving my paddle and noticed he was already towing another boat. So I gave up on that idea. Then Annika woke up and started puking some more. I was ready to loose it at this point. Then finally dad said, "There's another boat." I yelled at him to wave his paddle and he said the boat was headed right for us! Yay! It was uncle Allan and uncle Neil! I was SO relieved!!

Turns out it was almost 7:30pm, meaning we were out there paddling for 4 hours. Uncle Neil phoned back to the cabin and told everyone there that we were found. Mom I guess was bawling the whole time we were missing and was tempted to phone 9-1-1. So she was VERY releived to hear we were okay. So we got a tow back. Dad was freezing and shaking and it was a long ride back. I covered the girls with a couple more lifejackets to keep them warm and they went back to sleep and woke up just when we got back to the cabin. They got out of the boat crying so hard, my mom swooped them up and took them to our trailer and cranked the heat for them. I got out of the boat and could hardly walk straight. Marcy greeted me with a hug and that's when I broke down and cried a bit. I was a little scared out there. It was NOT fun. Dad headed to their motorhome to get warmed up while I gave the girls a hot bath. It sure felt good to change into dry clothing! : )
It was quite the experience I tell ya. But you know it could have been worse! It could have been storming more than it was.

So I think we learned our lesson. Take cell phone with on a boat ride and no more going across the middle of the lake, stick close to shore.