The Boat Post

Shaver Lake is our regular summer vacation spot. I grew up going there, and when Dave married me he committed himself to summer vacations at Shaver Lake. He wasn't really a lake guy, as in he didn't really enjoy the whole lay-on-the-beach-and-do-nothing aspect of vacationing there (which is kinda funny, cause when we go on vacations other places that's all he wants to do it lay there and relax while I want to go out and do stuff and see everything, but at the lake he wants to do stuff and I want to sit and relax), but he said that he could easily become a lake guy if he had a boat or a jet-ski or some toy that he could bring to the lake and play with. I always told him that I didn't think we needed anything like that just yet... I felt like those were things we had to work up to... I mean, I trust his financial decisions implicitly and I knew that we could afford it- my only hesitation was wondering whether or not we should afford it. So when asked about buying a boat I always responded with "You can buy a boat if you want, but I don't think we need a boat." And so we never bought a boat.

But, long story totally made short for the sake of, well, a lot of things, after everything that's happened over the past year and a half I suddenly realized that Dave totally deserved to get his boat, and the next time he asked me I told him to go for it, and that I thought it was a great idea. It only took a little bit of convincing for him to realize that I was totally serious! So he started researching, set his budget, and started looking at boats!

It was discouraging at first... as we'd never owned a boat before we knew that we wanted to buy used, but we also wanted to get a reliable boat that would last us for a quite a while. We kind of had a deadline as well, as we had already scheduled our Shaver Lake vacation for the last week in July! Dave's research led us to a few boats that we considered, but we never felt absolutely right about any certain boat. Finally, after making a trip all the way out to Perris, a trip which we were certain that we were going to come home with a boat, and coming home empty handed, we were pretty sure that we weren't going to have a boat at the lake this year and I was so disappointed for Dave.

The next day, though, Dave called and said that he had decided to look one last time and he sent me to an ad on Boat Trader. He had called the guy and set up a time for us to come meet with him the next day to check out his boat. After all the disappointments we'd had so far, Dave and I agreed that if this boat is exactly what the ad said it was and as nicely kept as the pictures made it look, we weren't going to try to barter and would offer what they were asking. We weren't very optimistic going in... the ad looked too good to be true and you know what they say about that, right?

The boat totally was as nice as the ad made it seem. It was a 2002 Four Winns Horizon 200 with a wakeboard tower and a 3 foot swim step and way more than I was expecting! The couple that was selling the boat were so incredibly nice- the husband took Dave up on the boat and showed him around it while I stayed down to watch the boys and chat with the wife- a short but great conversation. As Dave looked over the boat, I could see Dave's thoughts in his body language and the way he quietly sidled over to me and whispered "What do you think?" out of the corner of his mouth. I knew he was sold and that was the biggest thing for me. I took my turn to check it out while he watched the boys and chatted with the owners for a bit, and that solidified my opinion on the subject! I hopped back down and grabbed Sam from Dave so that he could go talk with the husband (who totally reminded me of my cousin, Matt, by the way!) and the couple's kids came out to chat, too. Their family made a great impression on me, and I loved the idea that a boat that had served this great family so well could soon be serving my family, loved the thought that buying this boat from them meant that our boat already had so many great memories made on it- memories that we could add to!

Dave came back from talking with the husband and said to me that he told the guy that he had to ask me, but that he was really sure that I would tell him that we could buy the boat and that we'd give him what he asked. I told him that he was right and that I thought this was definitely the boat for us, and that we could definitely meet his asking price! Yay!

Two days later we met up with the couple at the Credit Union so that we could settle the finances and transfer ownership. The couple was so nice, they even offered to bring the boat with them so that we didn't have to drive all that way to pick it up! Jack was so funny... I had told him that we were going to pick up our boat and when we pulled into the parking lot at the credit union he looked around and asked "Um, mom? Where is the lake?" I probably should have clarified that a bit!

Dave was really nervous driving that boat home, but we made it safely. I was so thrilled that he finally got his boat, and the whole way home we talked about names for the boat. Jack's first contribution? "I think we should name the boat Mom!" Awwww, he loves me! Other names that were tossed out there, Duckie (after Jack's beloved sleeping companion, a duck lovey), Locomotive (apparently it's not okay to name a boat after a train such as Thomas or Percy, but you can name it after the engine itself), Loco-boat-ive (get it?), and Amazing Grace. I don't think the boat will ever have an actual name, as we probably will never decide on one if we haven't done so by now. But that doesn't really matter, as we have a boat!

And yes, we've heard all the jokes... Boat=Break Out Another Thousand... The best days of a boat owner's life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it... blah blah blah. We're excited, okay? And we already have our first trip under our belt (post coming soon eventually), and we had a great time, so we are not regretting our purchase!

Here are some photos of us showing off the boat to my parents after we got it home!

And one more of Sammy, just for good measure and because I can (besides, he's ridiculously cute so you know you want to see it ;) )