The Life Jacket Trials

And a good thing…

My Dad bought Natasha a present: a baby life jacket. These are relatively new, because nothing has been approved by the Canadian Coast Guard for babies. I’m not too sure that this one is, but it’s different from the regular jackets, because it’s supposed to keep babies up, even if they land on their front.

Well, I tossed my daughter into the pool a couple of times – she wasn’t very impressed with me that’s for sure! But I felt she was safer having done some basic trials on my own.

Robynn’s making sure everything is okay with her baby sister too!

I feel very confident with Robynn in the water when she’s wearing her vest. She has some fun too, because she get’s to go out a little further away from Mommy’s reach.

The next day, we went out on the boat. We were hit by a storm that roared through (on it’s way east, it also struck at a Jamboree, where there were many injuries and one death). This was a big storm. We were moored in a little bay at the north end of Glennifer lake enjoying a snack after our swim when the storm hit us. We watched the storm come towards us, thinking we were safe and that it wasn’t too big. We were wrong. Heather and I took the girls down below in and secured them in their jackets. Dad manned the tiller and motor – he was trying to keep us stable and away from shore. While Rick (a good sailing buddy of my parents) was at the ready to help out where needed. We were tied to Rick’s boat, but had to let it go for fear it would drag us or that the boats would knock together too harshly. Poor Rick watched his boat sail away across the lake – okay the wall of rain only let him watch it for so long.

All in all, it wasn’t very long that we were in the storm, maybe 30 – 40 minutes. Dad asked me, later, how I was, and I told him, honestly, that I felt good about the situation. Heather and I had the girls, and Rick and he had the boat. Those men have a lot of sailing experience under their belts, and I felt who better then to weather a storm with than these two. Another reason I was assured was because Dad had purchased this life jacket for Natasha, and we had tested it out just the day before.

Finally, I was praying for all I was worth while I was down below with my girls – praying for my father to have the strength to continue what he was doing; praying for Rick to be the best support person he could be; thankful that Heather was entertaining Robynn (Robynn was never really aware of the danger we were in –for which I am ever grateful); thankful that I was able to attend to Natasha – and thankful for my father purchasing the jacket she was wearing; praying for the safety of the other boaters on the lake that day; and praying that God would see us safely through this storm. He did. He answered all of those prayers.

When the storm blew over, we retrieved Rick’s boat, and, thankfully, there was only a little cosmetic damage to the rudder. Then we made our way back to the trailer. We even made it out on the lake again later that week. We wanted there to be a very positive trip for Robynn (I think my Dad was more worried about me having a positive experience actually). I love my Dad, and I trust him and his sailing abilities. Was I scared, sure, but not really. Would I go out with my Dad again. You betcha! I’d even bring my girls on board.

My regret: not getting any pictures of the awesomeness of that storm. It was truly something powerful to watch.