Navigating the Ark...with a little help from Noah: Fun at the lake

Most summer holiday weekends (and any other free weekends for that matter) David and I have always gone up to Lake Lanier for fun, relaxing, boating, jet skiing and good times with our dear friends Josh & Sheila at Sheila's parents' beautiful lake home. They treat us like family (Sheila's parents are our "sparents") and there is no place we'd rather be on a gorgeous summer weekend. The days up there are spent waking up to drink coffee on the deck overlooking the water, grilling out wonderful food, enjoying the amazing vegetables from Nancy's delicious garden, boating, jet- skiing and sitting around the fire at night talking til the late, late hours. This past weekend (Memorial Day weekend) was our first trip up there with a mobile Noah. Last summer we managed to skate by with him not learning to crawl or get around until after lake season was over. As much as I was looking forward to this weekend, I was a bit apprehensive about chasing a 19 month old (rather rambunctious) toddler around a body of water and a dock. Noah had the time of his life. Between the enormous yard to run around and play on (we have NO yard at our house), all the outdoor toys, the other 2 little boys to play with (Josh & Sheila's precious boys, Patrik & Andrew are our God-children), the dog, the cat and most importantly the LAKE! We have never seen Noah play so hard. (He sure did sleep great while we were there). I was still very nervous with him around the water but we kept his life jacket on at all times. I actually felt less nervous when David took him out on our wave runner with him (very slowly, just around the cove--stop worrying, Grandma!)than when he was running around near the dock. At least he was contained on the wave runner!
The weekend wasn't quite as relaxing as they used to be pre-Noah, but it was still a ton of fun. David and I took turns "chasing" him while he played so we each could have a few minutes of peace. David kept asking me "Are you sure you're having fun?" and my answer was always "I'm having as much fun as a worried mom can have with her toddler running around at a lake for the first time!" While the weekend at the lake may not have been quite as relaxing as it used to be when we went with no kids, the joy of watching Noah have such a blast was far more fulfilling.