Note: Despite the curly-brackets around the title, which usually denotes a post by Heidi, this is Sean writing today. I kept those brackets to keep the McQuay Family Reunion series of posts consistent.
After the (much needed) down-day that was Wednesday, Thursday was another big day - and the one I'd personally been looking forward to the most - for the jet skis. Way back when in 2005 my Grandma and Grandpa Binns had a big family reunion at Lake McCall in Idaho and one of my favorite memories from that trip was jet skiing. So basically I'd been waiting for this day for 10 years.
From 2005
Is it not obvious that I was having the time of my life? (And seeing the skin cancer that would pop up 6 months later?)
It ended up being a little weird but I'll get to that. Dad, Mom, Caitlan and I went to get our two jet skis from one place while the rest of the troops headed directly to the beach that would serve as our home base for the day, a couple miles away.
Mom and I hopped on one boat, Dad and Caitlan rode the other. Caitlan and I dropped mom and Dad off and went for a thrilling ride together in the perfectly blue water, each of us on our own jet ski.
That's Caitlan in the distance
Then we returned and Brenden and Natalie took one jet ski, and Heidi and Evette joined mine, with Heidi driving. Evette kind of liked it, as long as we stayed below a couple miles per hour... (We actually made it up to 52 mph with her, but she preferred 20 mph or less....)So that didn't last long. Heidi, Evette and I went back while Brenden and Natalie hung near the dock waiting for the next boat.
That boat was Megan. But somehow by the time she cleared the boats moored around the dock, she couldn't find Brenden and Natalie, so she went off in search of them.
Brenden and Natalie came back after a while and we were surprised they never saw Megan on the water (to this point we didn't know Megan was out on her own without a buddy boat). Caitlan took their jet ski and went looking for her sister.
We were concerned about Megan at this point but not too nervous. 30 minutes later (by which time no one had seen Megan for about an hour) we were nervous - Dad enlisted the help of one of the managers on the dock who began calling nearby docks asking after Megan while Dad took up a perch on a Rum Runner boat that was gearing up for a tour and borrowed the boats binoculars. About 30 minutes later (1.5 hours total), Megan appeared just beyond the moored boats, looking bewildered. We flagged her down and she came in in a daze. She stepped off the jet ski, clearly shaken. She'd lost her bearings and had struggled for over an hour to find the right dock to return to.
Poor Megan returning
You'll recall that we'd sent Caitlan out to find Megan. Caitlan had now been gone for about an hour - when Dad had clearly told her to return after 30 minutes, with or without Megan. Caitlan hadn't left with a communication device and also apparently lost her bearings.... I, with my cell phone in a water proof bag, took Megan's jet ski and went out in search of Caitlan. I swept the entire southern shore of Lake Tahoe twice with no luck, but thankfully when I returned Caitlan had just returned herself, finally finding her way back.
The rest of the time on the jet skis went by quickly. Brenden and Natalie took another spin together with Dad, and then Heidi and I spent a few minutes on the water together.
Brenden and I and Dad and Mom drove the jet skis back to the rental site (enjoying catching great air on the way) and we called it an (exhausting) day.
I spent a lot of time on the water, which was a goal of mine, but most of that time was spent frantically searching for my sister, so I'm not convinced that I got my fix. Plus, I was really hoping to get Heidi hooked and after only about 25 minutes on the jet ski (10 of which were going as slow as a snail with Evette), I'm not sure I accomplished that goal. So... we'll have to go back. I spent a good chunk of the drive home scheming ways to get us back to Tahoe -- fingers crossed it doesn't take me 10 years.
But let's be honest: I loved every minute on that jet ski.
A "butt-dial" photo my phone took on its own while I was jet skiing
Pictures from the "home base on the beach"
From Heidi - The babies were completely oblivious to all the drama that was going on, and they just had a grand time on the beach, as did everyone else when we weren't worried. We had a few umbrellas set up, we packed lunches, had all the sand toys out... It was a fun day on the beach. Evette particularly had a ball and could've stayed there all day long!
That was a pain to deflate
From Heidi - she worked so hard to gather those rocks and to spell her name in the sand! She was inspired by Brenden and Maggie's project of writing #2015mcquayfambamreunion in the sand under the water. Don't know where that picture is in our files...but it was awesome.
