We took Ashley on her first boat ride/fishing trip this morning!  Van has been dying to take her on the boat for a long time, and while reluctant, I finally caved in.  I was just so worried about Ashley falling in the water (bass boats are very low to the water).  But as a friend said, the worst that could happen would be she fell in and the life jacket would keep her floating until I dove in to get her.  I just always imagined Ashley would be 3 or 4 years old before we took her out on a boat.  But here she is, 20 months old, and we she did it!

We did a test run with her life jacket yesterday.  Thought we’d let her wear it around the house to get used to it.  Yeah, not so much.  She absolutely hated it.  She pitched a complete hissy fit, running around the house, crying, screaming at me to take it off.  So we were very anxious at how today’s events would turn out.  No life jacket = no boat ride.  I pictured us standing on the dock, trying to get her life jacket on while she’s throwing a fit and all the other boat goers are staring at us.  Luckily, that didn’t happened.  We were prepared…with Oreos!  So when it was time to put her life jacket on and get in the boat, Van diverted her attention by giving her an Oreo (her favorite treat).  She didn’t mind one bit that I was putting on her life jacket and off we went!  Granted, I didn’t zip it up because I think that was part of the problem yesterday.  When zipped, it’s really snug on her belly (even though the jacket is actually a little large for her.  It’s supposed to be for 30-50 lb. children).  So I only snapped it.  You will see in the pictures how big it is and how it rode up on her head.  Poor kid.  She’s not one for tight fitting clothing, so I didn’t want to push my luck.  I figured it was on her and would serve it’s purpose, even if it did look big.

The first time waves came by and rocked the boat, she cried.  So that took a little getting used to.  But after that, she took it like a champ!  She also didn’t want to stand up and walk on the boat.  She preferred to either be sitting in a lap, or on a seat.  Van fished a little and took us into a shaded cove, which was nice.  I forgot to bring Ashley’s hat and she wouldn’t keep on her sunglasses, so shade was good.  We ate some snacks.  Van showed her how to drive the boat which she absolutely loved!  In fact, once she got her hands on the wheel, there was no getting them off.  She wanted to be the one driving and didn’t want Van’s hands anywhere on the wheel, which posed a bit of a problem when we were heading to shore!  She also found the horn button and continued to push it while we were out there.  Quite funny.  Not sure if you’ve ever heard the horn on a boat, but it’s pretty darn loud!  She loved steering the boat and pressing the horn, and would laugh at all the Beeps! she was creating.  She also kept wanting Van to go faster whenever he slowed down.  She loved the wind in her hair!  At one point while she was driving, she pressed the Stop button.  We were just riding along laughing, and ker plunk, the boat stopped out of nowhere!  Luckily, we weren’t going any faster than we were or it really could have messed up the engine.  Apparently, the Stop button and Horn button are both red, which is probably how she got confused.  Whoops!

Anyway, we had a great time and were pleasantly surprised at how well Ashley did.  It was fun seeing how happy it made Van to take his daughter out on the boat.  We only stayed out there for about an hour.  But it was well worth it!  I can’t wait to go again.  We will probably stay out even longer the next time.  We just didn’t want to push our luck for her maiden voyage