Thelma and Louise, Not

I ran up to the Lake to spend a quick day with Heather and my niece Amber.

We spent most of the day on the boat where Heather gave me some driving lessons. After getting three kids through their learning permits, I loved how the tables were turned. She was constantly worried that I was hugging the side of the road (the shore) and not paying attention to the road signs (the buoys). Every time I let go of the wheel (which I did quite often for some reason), she yelled out “Circle of death!”

At one point we were discussing how to read the compass in relation to the buoys (spars, actually) when Amber chimed in that we needed to stay north or west of the blues ones. Okay, it’s north or east of black, and south or west of red. And there are no blue buoys.

When we came in for lunch, they said they had bought some steak tips to throw on the grill. I became suspicious when they said it had been a lot less expensive compared to the other steaks at the grocery store. It turned out to be cubed chuck roast.

While I worked with leftovers from the previous night, they made a salad. They also made the salad for dinner. Both times, they bickered with each other over how to go about making salad.

While out on the Lake, they had quite a bit of fun with Amber’s new GoPro.

And I had quite a bit of fun watching them.

Have you ever seen such beautiful smiles?

Over the course of the day, they mentioned that they were planning a month long road trip to the west coast and back before the start of any jobs. I thought this was a great idea until I started hearing further details. Primarily concerning overnight accommodations. They had four nights planned; one in Wisconsin with my brother Dave, one in LA with Matt and Megan, one in Charlotte with Sue and Jo, and one in D.C. with Meagan. Since they don’t want to pay for motels, the other nights would be spent sleeping in a car (Heather’s vote) or in a tent (Amber’s vote). Amber is suggesting they use jugs of water for washing up. And remember they couldn’t make salad without bickering.

In discussing the trip, they started referring to themselves as Thelma and Louise after Phil and my mother told them about the movie. The four of them even watched the movie that night.

But, no. There are only two nicknames for these two.

Mugsie and Beanie