Cuba Missouri day two: getting wet

Day two started very early. Just before 2 AM Mrs Notthat, Duuuaaaaannn, Nnelg, and Ylime (not their real names) arrived at the motel after their all-day drive from San Antonio. Curiously, they seemed a bit tired.

After a good partial night's sleep though, they were good (ish) to go.

But before anything could happen, Mrs Notthat modeled for me the pink cowboy hat with tiara that she picked up in Texas. She had mentioned this in a Facebook post and I failed to believe her. (For the record, the hat is for grandkid Darci, although weirdly, I expect grandkid Riley to fight her for it.)

This is The Boy looking at the culvert that nearly cost him being able to see that last firework going off the previous night. For the safety conscious (which included nobody at this house that weekend), a wooden platform placed on the lawn was used for the rest of the fireworks. At least until the last night when the REALLY scary things were set off, when only the middle of the street would do (just barely).

From left to right, this is Annod (wife of Ddot, who together own this lake house and came up with the insane idea of holding the family reunion there), Duuuuaaaannnn (who is Mrs Notthat's kid-sister), Ddot, and The Boy.

Annod and Ddot have a number of boat-like vessels. Their house, while not directly on the lake, is extremely close to a dock. In this picture, Ddot is releasing the ski boat into the lake. That old van behind him is used almost exclusively for towing boats back and forth from the house. Extremely cleverly, it has a hitch on its front which makes the process so easy even I was able to help in useful ways.

I have tried several times previously, but have never succeeded in trying to water ski. I'm sad to say my prefect losing streak is still intact. I was pathetic. But the water was very nice, even when it was shooting up my nose at 30 MPH.

Yaj, on the other hand, is a great water skier, and maybe just a bit of a hot dog.

While a few of us were fooling around with the ski boat, the others cruised around on the pontoon boat.

At one point the two boats joined up and had an exchange of riders.

Mrs Notthat and Annod on the pontoon boat.

The Boy and Mrs Notthat. Note the lack of a blue sky.

Ddot not caring at all what color the sky was.

Duuuuaaaannnn relaxing.

The ski boat taking off for more skiing.

We came in from the lake for a bit when it started showering. It's not easy to see in this picture, but The Boy is dealing with the "run away from the lit firework" issue by just holding it and taking his chances (if you look carefully you can see something just above that tree that has shot out of that tube he's holding).

Duuuaaannnn relaxing after that stressful pontoon boat ride. Much time was spent on the front porch of the house (when we weren't on the lake).

Me doing some welding wearing remarkably inappropriate clothing. This thing is a dolly to be used to help get boats and trailers in and out of the water without using the van. I mentioned that I had used an arc welder once before, so I was drafted to try and get the handle reattached to the frame. (I had a lot of fun doing this. Much better than any old silly firework.)

If you got too hot, you could lounge in the air conditioned house. This picture also includes Ylime and Nnelg, who had slept a bit later than the others that came up from Texas.

The Boy working with some more fireworks. Note the pure joy on his face.

Ylime and Mrs Notthat on the front porch swing.

We headed out for an evening cruise around the lake. Everyone who has made it in so far is in this picture (although Annod is hiding a bit) except Yaj. Where is he?

Oh dear. There he is.

And here I am. I had jumped into the lake for a brief swim just before we headed out, so, being soaking wet, was made to sit on the other end of the boat.

Being soaking wet came in handy since it started raining again while we were out. Here Nnelg, who couldn't fit under the awning with the others, is using an umbrella to stay dry.

And that was about it for this day. The rain was a bit relentless that night and threatened to dampen the next day's activities, but everyone was still perky (if a bit tired from lack of sleep).

That's it - move along...