Daddy Daughter Date Weekend

So a couple of weeks ago, Joanie was travelling with her girlfriends to France. I pounced on the opportunity to spend the weekend at the lake with my dad 1:1. It was fabulous!

I arrived around 9pm on Friday and headed down to the lake with a glass of wine. It was dark. The sky was clear. I sat on the beach and looked at the stars.

I wish my camera could have captured the reflection of the big dipper in the lake for you. AMAZING.

I turned in early, knowing I had a few appointments in the morning and some errants to run. Most importantly, my dad and I were going to spend the day together :).

What is greater than waking up to your phone buzzing at 6:30am with a text from your dad “Hey, you up yet?”.

YEP! I bounced out of bed, poured some coffee and started my day – – it was chilly and beautiful.

After running into town to do some errands, I stopped by dad’s to help HIM with some projects (oh how the tables have turned!). I mowed the grass and helped un-cover some skylights, then we headed out for a few errands.

It just so happened we were by the HONEY BEAR right around lunchtime! While I have mentioned it before – it bears repeating…their bloodies are an amazing compilation of salad AND bloody!

After more than I could manage – we worked our way back to town – I dropped dad at home for an afternoon nap and headed back to my place after agreeing to come back later that afternoon for a “booze cruise” (aka – cocktails on the boat).

This is honestly the best part…when I came back to his house and met him down at the boathouse – I walked in…this is what I saw (I can’t make this up):

He keeps a SINGLE chair in his boathouse, to sit with his boats on rainy days. (note: nobody else is invited – he loves his boats, like nothing else)

The sad thing is, I think he is in deep mourning over his ’56 Chris Craft he got a couple of years ago. After spending a small fortune on having it restored, the engine blew a few weeks ago :(. He may just sit in there and contemplate the other two boats and tell them how lucky they are to have the opportunity to have a place of honor…while his woody is getting fixed.

We didn’t ride in the Chris that night – we took the fishing boat over to my friend Heidi’s house to visit with some friends:

It was a beautiful night and we had a great time!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay long because we didn’t have lights on the boat and it was getting a little chilly, so we headed home in hopes that we might come back by car for some home made soup (Heidi is an AMAZING cook!) and good visiting. But dad and I sat down in the lake room with a glass of wine, and never ran out of things to talk about!

This summer in particular, dad has been sharing a lot of family stories and memories. That is honestly one of my favorite things to do – listen to him tell stories about life. Every time  he does, I learn just a little bit more about everything. He is hands down an AMAZING Storyteller.

Often times the stories are about the war (WWII) when his dad was at sea in the pacific. This time it came with props! Who needs a story book with pictures when you have the real deal!

My grandfathers Navy Issued pocket watch

And his revolver from the war, they kept them at all times tucked in their waist band.

We made plans to shoot some cans the next day, but it never panned out, I had to clean the Tiny Cottage for the following weekend when my “trophy wife” friends were coming up for the weekend! Then I hit the road because I think my family forgot my name I’ve been spending so much time at the lake!

More to come…..