7/2/07 Tony's fun-filled Saturday

Since Tony is such a good husband and all to me, and he's done such a good job of keeping the house running while I've been finishing up this semester (No more class until August! Whoo hoo!), and he's just so sweet and everything, I decided that I would plan a wonderful fun-filled day for us to enjoy each other's company and make Kodak memories that will last a lifetime. Because I'm just a good wife like that...and I'm all about planning fun-filled days.

Tony's idea of fun is laying on the couch by himself, watching a Cubs game, but I'm convinced that he only thinks that is fun because he hasn't experienced a super-duper REAL fun-filled day yet. So I did some research, found some fun, and planned our Saturday. First, we would meet Mom and Dad out on the lake for some kayaking! Kayaking fun would be done for three hours, at which point we would return the kayaks, have a delightfully fun lunch, and then get showered and changed for a fun cookout/bonfire at the farm of one of my hiking buddies! A whole day of fun! I told Tony all about our fun-filled plans on Friday night, and he was less than enthused.

Tony: "Three hours is way too long to kayak. We'll be exhausted!"
Me: "Nonsense! I went for an hour a few weekends ago and I wasn't even sore afterwards!"
Tony: "And we hate parties!"
Me: "Nonsense! We'll meet new people, eat really good food, make smores over the bonfire...it'll be fun!"
Tony: "I won't know anybody"
Me: "Well, this is how you meet people. Strangers come to a party, you get introduced, then you know them".
Tony: "This doesn't sound like fun..."
Me: "You'll go and you'll like it and we'll make fun Kodak memories darnit!"

So we went. Saturday rolled around, and the sky was overcast and hazy, and we were late leaving the house because I couldn't find the shorts that I wanted to wear, and I thought I remembered how to get to Concord lake, but it turns out that I didn't, so there was a little bit of searching before we could find the place that rents the kayaks (RiverSports at the Cove, for you local yokels who are interested). But I was not deterred, because this is a fun-filled day. Mom and Dad had already rented our kayaks (thanks Mom and Dad!) and had them down by the water by the time we arrived, so the only thing left was just to jump in and head off for a three hour tour (backup singers: a three hour tour). It really was a lot of fun, and I'm not saying that just because I had the fastest kayak and totally smoked everybody else in the race to the green sign. The sun finally came out about an hour into the trip, and the four of us paddled along the lake shore, talking to the cows that were cooling off in the water on one side, and ogling the McMansions that were on the other bank. (Those poor people, forced to live in those multi-million dollar homes like that). It's been quite a few years since Tony kayaked, but it's like riding a bike, really, so I knew he'd get the hang of it. I always lean back and use my stomach muscles to row row row my boat, so that my arms don't get tired. I tried to explain this to Tony, but apparently he had the longest, heaviest kayak, AND he was only relying on arm muscles, which understandably got exhausted after paddling for an hour and a half. Unfortunately, we traveled out away from the marina for the first half of the trip, so he still had to paddle back, and his hands were blistered and his arms were too tired to lift. (Shoulda used his tummy muscles!) He did make it back to shore, but you could tell he wasn't having a fun-filled good time.

On top of all that, he also didn't realize that he had neglected to put on sunscreen until after he already burned. He is lobster red today. Bright. Throbbing. Glow in the dark red. Very painful. He looks like a candy cane, only instead of red and white stripes, he has red and white blocks. (Sock area: white, legs: red, Shorts area: white, arms: oh so red. shirt area: white, neck area: crispy critter red). Not a happy camper at all.

So the kayaking wasn't as fun-filled as expected. That's okay. We'll go home, get showers and change, douse Tony in Solarcane, and head off to the cookout. Cookouts are guaranteed fun! (I'm a born optimist, and this is a fun-filled day). I'm really playing up the awesomeness of the food that will be there. Tony is food motivated. He's not as motivated about going to a party where he doesn't know anyone (Tony doesn't like parties where he does know everyone) but I am convinced that he'll find someone to talk baseball with once he gets there and have a grand old time.

When we get there, all the guys are playing volleyball. They invite Tony to play, but this appears to be full contact volleyball, and Tony's sunburn is just not happy about that, so we sit and watch a very entertaining game, full of trash talk and male testosterone. I did get him to play a little Bocce ball, and he seemed to enjoy that, even though we lost. The party food of choice turned out to be a lowcountry boil so it had shrimp in it, which Tony doesn't eat. (He had chicken tenders, which they had supplied for non-shrimp eaters, so he didn't starve). But oh my goodness the shrimp was good! And crab legs on the side! It was heaven! (Except for Tony). They also had really delicious watermelon, which Tony also doesn't eat, but I had some, and it was good too. We stayed from 4:30 to 9:30, which was an all time record for him, but way shorter than anyone else stayed. Oh well. Baby steps. By the way, thanks to Andrea for inviting us! I had a lovely time, and Tony tolerated it, which is good for him.

So I had a wonderful fun-filled day, and Tony...well, he mostly survived it. I guess he just doesn't do "forced fun" very well. I have decided, however, to make it up to him with an even bigger, more fun-filled day! One so jam-packed full of fun activities that he'll just be beside himself! It'll be so much fun, he won't even know what hit him!

We're going to lay on the couch and watch the Cubs.