The Official Summer of Awesomeness To Do List update

     Some good headway was made on two items from the FabFam's list this weekend.

        In March, The Evil Genius and I took the Coast Guard Auxiliary's boating course, which is required in most of the New England states for youth who wish to operate motorized water craft.  Years ago, Thing 1 and Thing 2 took the class with their grandparents.  The Evil Genius was just a little fella, though.  Now that he's 12-going-on-13, he's finally old enough.  As soon as he earned his boating license, the Evil Genius--and his grandfather--started looking for something with a low-horsepower motor.  "Getting a boat" was one of the first things my boy suggested for the Official Summer Of Awesomeness To Do list.

My stepdad came across one almost a month ago.  Keeping the secret until we could get the lad up to the lake house has been TORTUOUS. It was totally worth it, though.

To quote the young skipper, "This is the coolest toy I ever got!"

     While we were up at the lake, I got the chance to visit one of my "we have to get together soon" friends, too.  Karen and I became friends when I was 20.  She worked with my roommate.  Turns out, she grew up with the guy I was dating at the time.   We hit it off and were fast friends. Eventually, we became close enough to be the maids-of-honor in each other's weddings.  We had our babies together.  We've been sisterfriends for decades.  

BUT

    She and her husband live almost 4 hours from my home (only an hour away from the lake house, though), and our lives got busy like lives do, and we just didn't catch up with each nearly as regularly as we should have. In fact, it has been almost a year since we were last together.  I wasn't going to let this weekend slip away without seeing my dear friend!  With her daughters staying near their college campuses for the summer and her husband working, Karen found herself free to come visit me at the lake.  

    We had a wonderful day.  We caught up on our family news and the gossip about our circle of friends.  We joined my family on the "big boat" (now that the Evil Genius has a "little boat") for a ride.  We ate too much for dinner.  We laughed a lot. It was exactly the kind of visit I'd hoped for.