GWL – Great Wolfe Lodge, Max’s 4th birthday
Williamsburg, Va
First, The Surf Rider.
Max says his old standby phrase that shows he’s a little worried if this thing is genius or the worst idea ever. Someone has to go first anyway, right? Max: “First you go dad, then I’ll go.” Who is he willing to sacrifice to prove this thing is survivable. 99% of the time, it’s dad. So far he’s had me go 2nd (after dad of course!), third (right before him) and 4th (one time he must’ve thought the fun factor over ruled the risk factor.
So there was my amazing husband once again, the sacrificial lamb. Excited to pave the way for the boys, teaching them the best way to do this or that, like he always pictured when he pictured having a child. Teaching him. Instilling self-confidence, encouraging them not to be afraid to make a fool of yourself, but go after what you really want. And guess what? He was awesome! Brian was super impressive on the body board, he almost got into a headstand – crazy. He’s also as hilarious now as he was the day I met him 10 years ago. I will regret for the rest of my life that I didn’t get to witness the wipe out as described by Mr. Duncan himself:
“Ah well, you see what happened is I tried to do a trick and I fell off immediately, the strong water jets blew my shorts down and shot me up to the top of the surf where I got stuck bare-ass up, and the cute little 21 year old lifeguard had to help me up, with my hairy ass out & all!”
I’ll tell ya, that’s old dude who’s always gonna rock, and honey, you do have an impressive core. Man. I’m so happy I get to share these years and this family, with you, thank you.
Max was a beast – they had to shut the water off once one him because he was doing so well they had to end his turn – he got an ovation from the crowd afterward! Happy Birthday memories Max! So awesome!
Sam took the challenge head on; a no-nonsense, completely focused, “in-the-zone” approach to the body board. Then, equally as intense as his look of concentration, was a look of sheer, unbridled joy & excitement, pride, confidence. A smile. If you can even call it that. More like brilliant sunbeams shining through him. A smile. It makes everything so worth it. I am renewed.
After that, we went on the Tornado, or the “hyper-tunnel” as we’ve renamed it. Max snuck in, even though he was a couple inches under. Speaking of, Max measured in at 42″ and Sam at 48″ with their pool shoes on. Where did my babies go!?! Well, somehow I ended up going backwards down the hyper-tunnel, the entire way. Backwards. A real, involuntary scream escaped my mouth, shocking even myself. Both boys seemed to have concerned looks on their faces during the steep climbs up the walls of the twisting vortex as we descended, but at the end Sam exclaimed “that
was so awesome!”
The boys did the multi-level climbing/maze with water tipping buckets & soaking areas, and happily did the orange & green body slides. They would then immediately scurry back up the net climb for more; trying at all times to stay one step ahead of Brian who was always looming nearby. While standing there waiting at the bottom of the slides I realized I was now a member of a club I never even knew existed. A group of women gathered in one spot (as we often do), all with the same mission – to make sure their most precious loves comes safely out of the water unscathed. As always, standing vigil for our family.