Paddleboats

There were many fun moments while we were camping. Paddleboating was not one of them. Even though we started out early, rented a paddleboat right when the camp store opened, it was the hottest, longest paddleboat of our lives. The lake, that at first looked so small, turned out to be vast in a very slow moving paddleboat. The boat ride that at first seemed novel for Hogan quickly turned into tears and whining as the sun beat down on his little face and the bulky lifejacket trapped in all the heat. Troy and I were grimacing from the burning pain shooting in our legs and back while trying to keep a happy face for Hogan and the sweat was just dripping down our faces.

Finally, divine intervention, and I promise you it was. About the middle of the ride (we were just making the turn to go back to the dock, but had a very far way to go), Hogan asked me to put on Troy's hat and be Sir Toppenhat. For those of you who don't know, Sir Toppenhat is the train manager or owner or something important for Thomas the tank engine and all of his friends. I gave my very best Sir Toppenhat impersonation- it was the best of my life so far. Sir Toppenhat encouraged Hogan to stay strong and help his mommy and daddy who were very tired and hot. Sir Toppenhat also pointed out places where Thomas and his friends liked to swim and helped Hogan to see the dock where all the paddleboats were lined up. Don't ask me to explain toddler logic, but somehow this got Hogan through the most hellish paddleboat ride ever and calmed him down more than Troy or I could.

When it was over we all had a good laugh and several times during the week we asked Hogan if we wanted to go on a paddleboat ride (in jest of course) and his answer was always an emphatic "No!"