There may be hope

Anyone who knows anything about Steve and I, knows that we are active people. We encourage our children to be active as well, hoping that one day, they will also enjoy some of our hobbies. (Believe it or not, we have never owned anything like a Game Boy or Nintendo and only have rabbit ears for our TV.)

My passion, of course, is (almost) anything on the water. Unfortunately, the "tube" has poisoned our youth. They would much rather bounce mindlessly behind the boat than learn the skillful art of carving through the water on a ski ---or better yet, your feet.

Sarah learned to ski a few years ago. It was kind of like toilet training - she did it when she was ready, even though I know she was capable for a long time. For a short time, we thought we had created a monster. She would typically ski around our little lake 10 - 15 times without stopping. The next year, she wanted to ski in April when the water was still in the 60s. BRRRRRRR!!!!! She then proceded to ski around all of Big Tippy and has only skied a handful of times since.

So, I've been patiently waiting for Rachel to show some interest in something other than tubing. Finally, last year on the last day of summer vacation, Rachel finally decided that she would try to water ski. It only took a few tries and she was making us dizzy with laps around the lake too.

She was a little timid about trying it again this year, but popped right up like a pro. So how about the wakeboard, Rae? SURE!!! Two tries later she was jammin'. So how about footin' with us in the morning, Rae? (Obviously, I just couldn't resist.)

Sure enough, my girl Rae popped out of bed at 5 am the next day and the rest is history!!

Here's Rachel barefooting off the boom.

It didn't take long before she was strutting her stuff like a pro . . .

Look at me now!

OK, so maybe I got a little carried away, but I bet I fooled you for a second.

The style credit goes to Kyle Downey, who was also there to cheer Rachel (and Mommy) on.