When You Are Eight

When you are 8 years old, and you are on your first boat ride of the year, you giggle and you sing and you point at all of the Loons in the water and say, "Daddy, lets get closer to them". And, then, when the sun finally breaks through the clouds, you grab the guard rail and you lean back as far as you can and you say hello to the sun.

When you are 51 years old, and you are on your first boat ride of the year and you see your daughter in front of you doing what 8 year olds do on their first boat ride of the year, you pick up your camera and press the shutter and, then, you lean back and tell the heavens..."Thank you for her bliss".

We took the pontoon boat today to see our favorite nesting Bald Eagles and they had a new baby in their crib. Then, we headed through the rivers and travelled about 15 miles up the Mississippi tributary system. The water is quite high this year making the rivers easy to navigate and we only saw two other boats the entire time we were in the rivers. It is hard to believe that a few clouds can keep people away from Mother Nature.

For us, it was a delightful day and the scenery was only outdone by the smiles and the laughs and the voices of excitement.

The girls went to town to see a movie late in the day and I used the opportunity to fire up the outdoor pit and slow roast a rosemary infused chicken over hickory wood. No, I am not in the doghouse again, I just love to cook when I have the time.

I hope your day was bright and wonderful and that you have a great Sunday. We have TWO MORE DAYS of weekend here.....yahoo!