Overboard

Well it is now the time of year to be outside!!!! Sweden is amazingly lovely right now, and unusually warm, and has been for several weeks now. The leaves are coming out and the flowers are blooming.

This means it is time to put the row boat in our favorite lake Tinsjon (tin lake). This lake has no homes on it and you are not allowed to have motors on your boat. So it is quite, beautiful, and unspoiled. There is a small island where loons lay their eggs, and you can hear animal calls for miles. Samuel was especially excited about putting the boat in the lake. He has taken a liking to going out on the water. Of course, he has no fear (fun for him, not for mom). So we set out one evening to have a picnic and row around part of the lake (it is rather big). All was going farely well for a while. The dog didn't particularly like getting on the boat, but did fine during the ride. Samuel was thrilled. I ended up on the opposite end of the boat from Samuel. So of course I was constantly saying, "Samuel sit down, Samuel get your hands back in the boat, Samuel stay seated!". Andreas laughed at my over-protectiveness and told me to leave him alone! I tried, which meant I had to close my eyes. I was not enjoying myself so much.

We landed and had a great picnic and explored the area that was there. Samuel is a great explorer and has fun with the smallest things. He loves sticks, they become umbrellas, he holds them out in front of him to lead songs, they become objects to tease the dog with, etc. But after a while of exploring Samuel was ready to get back in the boat (don't worry he always wears a life vest).

So out we went to row on. Again, I was having the same tete-a-tete with Samuel and Andreas was laughing at me, when Samuel bent over the side and went in head first! Andreas didn't see him fall in, but he definitely heard the splash. You should have seen the look at Samuel's face when he started to go in. Samuel did a summersault in the water and came up very surprised. He clung to the boat and looked at Andreas with pleading eyes. His little voice said very clearly, "HELP ME!". Of course it was a matter of seconds before he was in the boat. When Andreas got him in, he started to cry with fear. I was not so happy! Andreas calmed him, handed him to me and we rowed to the closest shore (the water is a balmy 50 degrees, so he was a little cold). I undressed him, wrapped him in two coats and we set off for home. Only to find that an ant had taken an interest in Samuel. Samuel did a squirmy dance until I could find the ant and kill it (not before it had taken several bites, poor guy).

We reached the shore and I wisked Samuel away to a warm car! He thought it was great fun, me, not so much. We talked over and over about why he fell in and that he had to listen to mommy next time. He agreed and now repeats the story with gusto!

The next night we went boating again, this time I sat with Samuel and he listened very well. So even though I wasn't happy about the swim Samuel took, it taught him a good lesson. He still loves the boat and the water, but prefers to stay in the boat and just play with a stick in the water. This makes mommy a much calmer person.

The pictures below are before the swim, wasn't much in the mood to document the actual event. Enjoy, feel free to laugh at me, I know I am over-protective.

Blessings,
Laurie

He says, "when I big, like pappa, I will row the boat."

Just hanging out on the edge.
Amazingly gorgeous. Samuel thinks this is great (which we are glad about).
"Get out of the boat Samuel, we are not ready to go yet."
This is the moose that we saw after getting in the car. It is actually quite big, it was a yearling male. He was just starting to grow horns and didn't seem to care about us, just his grass. I wish we could have gotten a better picture, but this will have to do.