Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Poor Tony was up very early this Saturday and off to the marina to make some last minute repairs to his boat engine so that we could all go out for a cruise on Lake Washington and Union Lake. Much later I got up and did some blogging since I had access to Tony’s WiFi signal and also squeezed in a couple of other important things like recharging batteries for the camera (I know, I know, I am such a hard worker) and, with a little help from Chantal, some laundry (ok, she did it all) while we had some breakfast with Tracy, Erika and Carter. We then got prepared for the boat trip. We got the food and drinks packed into the coolers. Got the towels and swim clothes packed. Then we threw all this, as well as a tube for pulling behind the boat, into the back of Tony’s pick-up and we were off to the Marina which just happened to be less than a mile from their house. Sweet. Once there we got everything unloaded from the vehicle and transported down to the boat. We unhooked the boat from the dock and navigated out of the slip. Then we got underway on, yes, you guessed it, another stellarly, if I may use that term, beautiful sunny day. Everything looked good for the first 10 minutes, which was enough time for me to suck back my first drink, when Tony noticed the battery levels starting to drop. This looked like the same problem was occurring once again. To avoid being stranded in the middle of the lake, we pulled a quick u-turn and made a b-line back to the marina before we lost power from the engines. We get the boat successfully docked but there was no hiding the frustration that Tracy and Tony were feeling. Tracy has been dying to get out and enjoy their boat as this was only their second time on the lake this summer as they have just been so busy doing tons of other things. I think she was on the verge of offering to swim and pull the boat herself just to enjoy a day on the lake. And you can just imagine how Tony was feeling after spending the whole morning fixing the problem only to have it happen again as soon as we pulled away. Determining the provenance of this problem was going to be more challenging than first expected. The kids seemed to be the least affected and they overwhelmingly voted to go swimming at the local pool. It seemed like a reasonable plan B especially since we were all set and even had a picnic lunch packed. We spent the rest of the afternoon having some lunch and doing some laps and playing with the kids in the pool all afternoon. I even made an attempt at using the diving board after seeing all the teenagers doing it. My prowess on the diving board can best be described by the fact that I had Tracy doubled over with laughter on viewing my less than graceful jump. Then we headed out for a walking tour of Kirland which took us along the shore of Lake Washington and then we continued on to a very nice Mexican restaurant that is a favorite of Tracy and Tony’s. We all had a great meal which was complemented by a visit to Ben and Jerry’s afterward. And those of you who are faithful followers of the blog know how much we love our Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Then we finished the evening chatting until late while watching the lights around Lake Washington glittering through the picture windows in their living room. Another great day in Seattle.

Today’s word:

provenance \PROV-uh-nuhn(t)s\, noun:
Origin; source.