We have teens.
Teens goof around.
Teens especially goof around when they are on vacation.
They especially goof around when they are on vacation and
when they are doing an adventurous activity.
So when Tim said that he was going to book us for SCUBA diving,
I was immediately concerned with the precise definition of "us."
Quickly I volunteered to stay back with 6 year old Lily
and drink diet cokes by the pool.
My biggest fear?
...besides going 40 feet down in the big wide ocean with a mask plastered over my claustrophobic face?.....
...well...that I'd be a "kill-joy" because they'd all be goofing around and giving me panic attacks.
And I don't like water much...outside of showers and bubble baths.
I drink it sometimes too...
although I prefer it in its coffee type form.
Anyway...
KATIE is already PADI certified.
Which means, in Lindquist terms, she's an expert!
She's dived Minnesota lakes...
dove Minnesota lakes?
I think they say dived....even though it's grammatically questionable.
So...
the non-certified members of the family had to take a short class.
I purposely hung back with the girls because I didn't want to watch the boys inattentively poke
and prod and tease each other while the instructor
was telling them how to survive in the ocean.
And here we are walking up to the them:
But I got a BIG surprise!
They weren't doing the usual "joke and tease" approach at all!
Their dad must have had a "You could die so you better pay attention" talk with them. It's ineffectual coming from me because I say it pretty much every time they get in their car...but it's rare from the father figure and apparently worked!
Check out their faces!
They were completely engaged!
Nobody took their eyes off the instructor.
It was a proud and comforting moment for me.
Meanwhile, the family expert, sat in a corner doing something very strange...
she sat and tore up a loaf of bread which she had stolen from the breakfast buffet and stuffed the pieces into a large empty water bottle.
Then she filled it with water and capped it.
What you do is take it to the ocean floor (40 ft. down or so) and gently squeeze it, and the bread attracts fish.....LOTS of fish.
She's so smart.
Meanwhile the lessons continued.
Nobody poked.
Nobody joked.
It was a career moment for me as a mother.
This is Zach's "game face."
You don't see it often outside of a gymnasium or football field...
but here it is.
Timmy is practicing hand signals.
He was gonna need them!
(I'm guessing it was his: "This is what I do if I have to sneeze while at the bottom of the ocean in SCUBA gear signal...)
"Alright! Go Team Lindquist!"
"Let's do this thing!"
"Wait"...."maybe you guys should practice in the pool first?....."
Meanwhile.....finding the whole "preparing to cheat death in the big blue" thing getting kind of old, Lily began posing for pictures.
Mom was holding a camera after all...
"Mom! Take my picture...."
And over at the pool....training.
Since I wouldn't be going anywhere near the boat area...these were the last shots of the SCUBA divers we got.
"Mom! Take one like this!"
"I think I'm ready!"
"Mom! This is a good picture!"
"Piece of cake Mom! NO worries!"
"Here's my toe pop Mom!"
"Are we really going to do this in the ocean?"
"Are you ok with this mom?"
"How about one without the hat Mom?"
I was so busy taking pictures of these scenes that I MISSED getting a shot of Katie in her SCUBA gear as she quietly suited up and headed to the boat.
I was very sad about that.
So off they all went.
I couldn't see them off....I was just too nervous.
Lily and I headed to the water park at the resort where she had the "best morning EVER" playing with some kids who didn't speak English but who shared her love for water slides.
Water parks really are the international language.
This was the day we also discovered the chocolate milk drinks.
It changed our vacation forever.
When the SCUBA divers got back,
all-- with the exception of Katie-- a little traumatized,
the boys went back to the room to "rest" (March Madness type resting)
and Katie, Lily and Timmy regained their equilibrium by ordering everything on the bar menu that the bartenders would make without alcohol.
There were many choices...
.....but in the end, chocolate milk was the favorite!
Look...a child-sized bar right by the water park.....
How nice....
Actually it was pretty funny to see Katie sitting there...she looked like a giantess.
By 4:00 we were all wiped out!
Tim took a day or so to recover from the intensity of the SCUBA diving experience.
"One and done" was the verdict....except of course for...
KATIE...she went back and did it again later in the week, and Tim went with her ...an act of valor and true love.
After running up and down water slides all afternoon, little Lily was pretty tired.
It didn't help any that our dinner reservation was at 10:30!
Tim and I felt pretty chipper....
We're such night owls anyway......
It was the Japanese steakhouse, round 1.....
Going....going....
Gone!
"Lily! The food's here! You have to move your head!"
She never really opened her eyes, but she sleep-ate her food like a hungry farmhand...
It was amazing.
She ate everything that was there...(an adult sized portion), had them take away her plate and promptly laid her head back down.
Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...to sleep.
She had no memory of the meal....
The biggest memory we all have was when Andrew dared Zach to eat a wad of wasabi!
I think I'll make that a post of it's own, though..since this one is getting unbearably long.
It was a long, intense day of adventure, and one which will not be forgotten since the SCUBA stories keep getting told around our dinner table even now.
But, alas....
All good things must come to an end.....
...and in case you are wondering when my Dominican Republic posts (not necessarily good)
are EVER
going to come to an end....
well...bear with me...I've got a couple more....Wasabi King coming right up!
