The Labor Day looooong weekend

So ya'll know my in-laws have a houseboat on Rough River & that B-rad & I bum a room stay on their boat when we go to the lake, right?  A few years ago the whole family used to stay on a much smaller boat - 6 adults & 3 kids - & I don't handle that very well.  I'm just being honest here... (& trust me they all know this.  AND I know I'M no gem to be around 100% of the time either!) Brian & Lora got their own houseboat a few years ago so that took the human count to 4 adults on my in-laws boat.  Those numbers I like.

WELL-remember how I told you B-rad helped work on Brian's boat all weekend the first time we went to the lake this year?  They realized it needed far more extensive work than originally thought & had to be hauled home... So that meant whenever they went to the lake this summer they would be staying on the in-laws boat.  Granted the numbers have changed slightly, but the total is still the same- 2 adults, 2 of their own kids & 1 girlfriend which brings us back to our original total on the smaller boat.  

SO-B-rad & I have not gone to the lake much this summer.  We went a total of 3 times.  Once when it was the in-laws, us, Brian, Cole, Brady & his girlfriend staying on the boat, once when it was just us w/ the in-laws (that's when the other McAfee's came & hung out) & this past weekend.  I tried to get out of going but B-rad was having none of it.  He wanted to go ('it's the LAST weekend we'll be able to go!') & since sometimes I have to do things I don't wanna do I went too...

Ann's brother & sister in law from Indy always come down & they bring his wife's brother & another couple friend of theirs.  No, they don't sleep on the boat, but it's still a LOT of people in a smallish area.

What you need to understand is that my mother in law basically HOSTS this group of people. (And she loves it.)   She cooks for them (of course Lora & I help), serves them & then Lora & I clean up.  YES they are our guests I suppose, but it does become a bit daunting because you're talking about feeding 12 people...on a boat... It's not like cooking at home...

Saturday night Lora & I grilled chicken on the top deck in the rain.   You know I never curse the rain, so it wasn't THAT big of a deal to me.  Inconvenient, yes - but not earth shattering.  Stanley pulled the grills under the canopy on the top to keep us as dry as possible, but the canopy is fabric.  Once it gets saturated - it starts to drip....

Picture it - me at one grill, Lora at another grilling chicken & shrieking as cold water drops fell from the canopy & hit us in random areas of our bodies...

We eat on top of the boat 100% of the time.  There is a large bar where we sit all the food & 2 tables with chairs.  Guess where the 12 people were supposed to eat the feast prepared for them that night?  YES - UP TOP.  The more the canopy gets saturated, the more it leaks - so the bar gets wet, the floor gets wet, the table gets wet, the chairs get wet...

Stanley got the bright idea to put a tarp under the canopy to catch some of the water.  When Brian had hold of this tarp I said, not loudly I thought "OHHHH I'm finally gonna be able to kill Brian, wrap him in the tarp & throw him overboard!"  Since apparently I don't do 'not loudly' - his uncle had heard me (ooopps...) because then he responded, "Oh-is that why Cole was collecting rocks earlier?"  Hilarious, people...

This is why I love this family - their ingenuity knows NO bounds.

They took string & tied the tarp under the canopy to the braces.

I would've never thought of that in a million years.

This weekend was not the best one for B-rad & I to be cooped up together.  We weren't 'fighting' per se (not until Sunday morning anyway..) but we just didn't speak much.  I don't know if he was 'mad' at me but I wasn't mad at him yet but I was just blah.  I'm 'pms'ing so that never helps, but we bickered a bit before we left the house Friday evening & driving to the lake that night.  He was texting & driving which I don't like & it puts me on edge.  After we got our assigned groceries from the list his mom sent me, we went through the drive thru to grab some dinner on our way to the lake.  At one point his two hands were occupied w/ three items:  a phone, a steering wheel & a sandwich.  I said to him, "Can you PLEASE not do all THREE of those things at once?  Can you just pick TWO?"  (And when I told this story over the weekend he said, "So I quit driving."  Isn't he hilarious?)  Sunday afternoon we took the houseboat out onto the lake.  B-rad & I had to come back to pick up Brady & his girlfriend & turns out that B-rad can also drive a boat & text.  Talent.

Ok-so I know you're dying to know what we fought about Sunday.   And if you dangled a carrot like that in front of me & didn't tell me I'd be mad - so here we go:

One of my biggest pet peeves w/ B-rad is the fact that he has so many hobbies but NO time to do them.  He has a lot of interests, but he doesn't have sufficient time to devote to them because of his time commitment to the farm.  Now that's not to say that if he had one hobby it might be a different story but he doesn't so that point is null.   He has a turbo charged Mustang in the garage that needs work done to it, he has the Mustang that Brady wrecked to put back together, he likes to go to the lake, he likes to snow ski in the winter & he is doing competitive archery now.   On the way to the lake Friday night I told him how I want to start saving money to do some things to the house (re-model the kitchen & master bath, etc) & how I know he's busy, but he's gonna have to make the time to do them in the winter & summer when he's not so busy with everything else the farm.... (B-rad can do ANYTHING so unfortunately for him I depend on him to do those kinds of things instead of hiring someone to do it.)

SO-imagine my irritation when sitting inside the houseboat Sunday morning while it poured rain outside & I couldn't escape he tells me he bought another bow to HUNT with.  

UHM....

I said, "HUNT?  When will you hunt?"  (Yes, he hunted years ago...) I said, "OK - I'm gonna BLAST your ass out of bed at 5 AM every morning of hunting season for you to hunt." He tried to explain to me it was only a couple weeks out of the year but I walked away.  

Then he asked me why I was mad - I said, "You know why I'm mad." & then he asked again so it was game on... (his brother, sister in law & nephew were locked in the boat w/ us - I was trying not to make it awkward but that didn't work out so well.)

Jaime: "Really?  You bought a bow to HUNT with?  When do you have time for THAT?  When are you gonna fix the turbo car?  When are you gonna fix the Mustang?"

B-rad: "I can also use it for IBO shoots." (right now he goes to ASA shoots that are out of town when he's able to during the farming 'slow' time.)
Jaime: "OH - & when are THOSE?"

B-rad: "Spring & Summer"

Jaime:  "OH- the same time I wanted you to work on the house like we talked about Friday!"

He waited a moment & then said, "Yea-but you said you had to save money because 'we never have any money' (in his best me impersonation)

Jaime:  "Yes because I'M the only one who is able to save money!"

And then the silence began...

And at some point during the silence he decided to sell the Turbo Mustang.  He didn't say anything to me about it - he just put it on Facebook.  I didn't even know it was for sale until it was sold & him & the dude were making arrangements for him to pick it up...

ANYWAY-our nephews, Derik & Brady, both have birthdays pretty close together in August so Ann had Brady's girlfriend (who works at Dairy Queen) make them both custom ice cream cakes. 

Unfortunately Derik wasn't at the lake with us, but we needed to use his cake as a sacrifice to feed the army of people...

Brady turned 18 last week.

After he & Sarah got there Sunday evening, his dog, Abby, was so excited to see him.  Brady went up the back stairs on the boat & Abby took off after him.  These stairs are difficult for a person w/ 2 legs to navigate - let alone 4.

THIS is where the meal magic happens, people.

And even tho it was a holiday -that doesn't mean the McAfee's get any rest.  B-rad got the job of fixing the party lights under the canopy.  Notice it was dark behind them?  Stanley held up his phone flashlight for B-rad to be able to see.

 And this is further proof why I want him to do things at the house - he can fix anything! (I didn't marry him for nothing!)  He worked on them until he got them working.  Brian had to hold the connection together until B-rad got the fitting thingies to hold it permanently.  

When it was time to take the houseboat back to the dock it was dark outside.  After dusk, you are required to run a green & red light on the front of your boat (for port & starboard sides) & a white light in the rear.  Our white light in the back had not been working, but started working for B-rad - then it went out again.  He messed w/ it for a while & couldn't get it going.  It was getting late & they didn't want to mess w/ it anymore on the water so he & his brother taped a head flashlight to the top of the ski rack thingie.  Sometimes we're ghetto like that... 

Then our white light came on in the back & worked the whole way to the dock...jealousy perhaps?

 So we I barely survived the 3 day weekend.  The un-official end of summer.  The official start of me being a farm widow... 

(Alicia - notice B-rad's shirt?  He didn't wear the other one I was bitching about when you were there allll weekend!  This one says, 'tell your woman to stop texting me'.  I love it!  HA!)