Think you are in shape? Try water skiing.

I grew up spending my summers at Joe's Pond water skiing, tubing, sailing, swimming, etc. Dad used to take all of the kids one day a week during the summer and the entire day would be devoted to water sports and spending time outside. One year we called it "Ski Camp Monday" and another year we called it "Daycare Tuesday" I think. I used to have birthday parties at Joe's Pond as well, and to this day many of my friends comment on how fun they were and how they have great memories of my apparently famous parties. More recently I have tried to have a weekend gathering with my best Cornell friends at the pond to enjoy water sports, boating, and good food. I certainly have tons of great memories from summers at Joe's Pond from throughout my life.

View of Grammy Jane's camp (left) from the water - my dad's camp is the smaller one on the right

 Water view from Grammy Jane's camp

I am very happy to say that David enjoys being at Joe's Pond as much as I do! He had water skied a few times in his life when we started dating, but it had never become a serious sport for him. In the past eight years he has been extremely motivated to improve his water skiing abilities and he has really come so far - he is probably a better skier than I am now! His efforts have not come without their fare share aches and pains from the strain on less commonly used muscles and an occasional headache / congested nose from swallowing half the lake in a bad fall. The one good thing about David is that he isn't afraid to fall, which allows him to really push himself to improve.

Last weekend we spent the weekend at Joe's Pond because we had some wedding logistics to take care of on Sunday. I have to admit that I was too lazy / wussy to water ski. I blame my post-defense coma - rather than exert myself I felt pretty content to wear comfortable clothing and just relax. David managed to ski three times though! Here are some pictures of him skiing and looking great.

Some good ones:

And we're going down!

Here's one from David just last fall to give you an idea for how much he has improved:

My dad and Alex are amazing skiers as well, with Alex really being the star of the family. She skis
competitively and is looking to ski in college as well.

My dad looking awesome (I hope he knows how cool I always think it is to have a Dad who is great at water skiing and at teaching others to ski):





Alex showing us how it's done:

Next time I'll try to get my bum into the water so we can include pictures of me skiing as well! If any friends or family want to learn to ski or enjoy a weekend or day relaxing at a Vermont lake.... let us know!