boys and boats

Didja know that you can get sunburnt in mid January whilst at sea level?  I felt prickly but honestly didn’t think I could really get burnt.  It’s the middle of winter; the sun is low in the sky even at midday (but then again, low in the sky in the SF Bay area does not necessarily equate equally low in the sky some 1200 miles closer to the equator…).  Little things YOU probably knew but of which I was blissfully unaware.  Until now.  Now I need to practice vigilance with hats and sunscreen (both the kids and us) just like summer.  Some people can complain about anything… 

For the past year, Jesse has been lusting after a boat.  We frequented thrift shops looking for something inflatable that would work, but simply never found what we wanted at the price we wanted.  Here in San Felipe, from summer stock, he found his boat.  He and Pike spent a good part of the early afternoon riding the waves and rowing with and against the current.  No, they aren’t wearing life jackets and yes, I am a very bad mama.  Just one of those parental decisions we make; sometimes to regret.  Jesse is a very strong oarsman; I’d never have predicted it from his slight frame.  I think it is a matter of strength and strategy. 

Pike sits at the bow and watches the water; Jesse rows and commands the boat and when the reach the edge of the cove (or we’ve asked him to come back in (I’m SO loving the 2-way radios I got them for Xmas at the 2nd hand toy shop)) Jesse tows the boat back to the top of the cove and gives the girls a ride.

So…it is 2pm, we don’t give a damn about the pamn dackage anymore or going to Ensenada; we’re baking in the sun, playing in the tiny surf, completely mesmerized by watching the kids play and gathering shells.