Paddle Boat, Paddle Boat, Go so slow!

Here are some true statements:

Boys can convince girls to do stupid things.


KK & I do not have very good experiences on non-motorized boats, specifically a canoe incident on Bear Lake was the most treacherous.

Having stated those facts, here goes the story.  B-town was visiting us last weekend, so we took him along to our church water & boat party.  Our bishop has a house on Lake Washington.  His backyard is literally a dock.  The party was well attended and had great food and lots of fun activities.  At one point I suggested that Big D take T Bear out on the yellow paddle boat.  B-town and Big D decided they both would take T Bear for a ride.  As they lifted the paddle boat into the water, they somehow got a lot of water into the boat (in hindsight this should have been a HUGE warning!).  They had to scoop out all the water before they could get in.

As they were getting in, they somehow convinced KK and me to join them in the back of the paddle boat (re-read the first true statement).  So we climbed in the back of the paddle boat and put T Bear up in front between the boys.  The boys started pedaling the boat away from the dock.  Immediately KK and I became concerned because the waves were splashing water into the paddle boat.  The boys laughed and said it was fine.  T Bear was steering us in circles, and the boys kept pedaling.  I started yelling because more and more water was coming into the back of the boat.  The boys said they would shift their weight forward.  I told them no and that they needed to take us back to the dock immediately because the paddle boat was sinking.

Seriously, the paddle boat was sinking!  I started throwing a bigger fit and people on the dock started paying attention.  I heard them starting to say "Look at that paddle boat!"  Finally, Big D and B-town paddled us back to shore.  I jumped onto the dock so fast.  My dress and legs were soaking wet.  KK hopped out from her seat that was filled with water as well.  The boys were laughing, but I was not amused.

We sat on the dock watching the boys give T Bear another ride and commiserated about our boating mishaps.  We ended up laughing because it is ridiculous that we have such terrible luck on non-motorized boats.  And why do we let boys talk us into doing stupid things?  I have a feeling we are not alone with that one.