Sailing Club and Shameful Bear

Maisie tossed aside Kayak Club this year for the more sophisticated Sailing Club.  It was only a matter of time I guess because the sea is in her blood (I've got nothing but desert sand in mine so she didn't get her love of water from me - thanks Grandpa H).    Yesterday was her first day on the water and it was a beautiful day on Lac Leman (Geneva).

Maisie was paired with a more experienced partner who showed her the ropes:

 Setting sail:

Hauling in the boat:

Maisie the Sailor:

Below is a photo of one of our "Summer List" projects.  I couldn't find any terry cloth so we bought a towel and made this: 

We named him Shameful Bear at first because he looked so awful.  The fabric pulled apart as I tried to sew it (I'm no Auntie Kristen) and he was full of little holes but we got out a needle and thread and closed him up.  Maisie did the face and accessories (fancy bow tie) herself and we think he turned out to be pretty cute after all.  

We are now fully into the school routine.  As much as we enjoyed our summer, the fall weather is so beautiful that we can't be anything but grateful for it.  We can't wait for my sister and my mom to get here so we can share it with them!

Dragon Boat Races

This past weekend I participated in my first Dragon Boat Race on the beautiful Lac du Joux in L'Abbaye Switzerland.  It was a breast cancer research benefit and I joined a team that was made up of Moms from the International School of Lausanne and most of them are also my hiking buddies.

Here is the excellent team I was lucky to be able to paddle with:  

We had a knowledgeable, experienced Captain and a super motivated drummer which seemed to make all the difference in our strategy.  Here we are kicking the butts of our competition in the first race 

(we're boat number 6):

And here we are coming back to the dock after our first victory (that's me, last paddler on the right):

We ranked 2nd overall out of 12 all female teams and lost the final by 7/10ths of a second.  I'd say "We'll get 'em next year" but who knows where we'll be next Fall?!  I'm going to miss this stuff for sure!