Aye aye, Captain

J and I are working on achieving a financial goal right now (I feel like such a grown-up when I say that) which will, once achieved  greatly reduce our mortgage payment, which I am so excited about because a reduced mortgage payment opens up several new options for us. We have cut out a lot of extras since April so that we could put that money towards achieving our goal instead, and one of those "extras" was a summer vacation. As it turned out, our summer went nothing like we planned anyway, but still, once September rolled around I realized I hadn't been out of Tucson since March. MARCH! I was so ready for a weekend escape to Lake Havasu to celebrate my mom's birthday. 

We had a wonderful weekend with my mom, but, hands down, my favorite part of our trip was when we rented a boat and got out on the water. Especially because we have our own personal boat captain, Captain GG.

BB was initially anxious, but after a few minutes on the boat he became more comfortable, and by the end he kept requesting to go faster.

Safe on Daddy's lap, when BB was still apprehensive about the boat

My boys

The view

SS's first time in a life vest

Moments after the above photo - SS had mixed feelings about the life vest.

Or maybe he was just ready for a nap, because shortly after bouncing along on the water he was lulled to sleep in my arms.

When we were getting ready to go out on the boat, BB asked if he could be the captain, and we told him he'd have to take it up with his GG. Luckily, GG was happy to oblige.

Our Captains

BB spent most of the boat trip happily driving the boat with GG

I jumped off the back of the boat for a quick swim, and this was SS's reaction:

My boys

After we got off the boat we headed to Mudshark, where I worked for two years in high school, for lunch with my friend from high school.

I was able to hang out with Jess and talk for a couple of hours while the boys napped at the hotel - fun to catch up with an old friend.

And that night my mom organized a bowling night for us and my step-brothers and their families to all spend some time together. My step-dad treated us all to pizza, I got to meet my step-brothers kiddos, and BB got to bowl for the very first time - he loved it.  

And we even got a family photo.

This one's blurry, but I still like it.

Thanks Captain GG for a memorable getaway - we hope your birthday was a little extra happy!!