Are you ready for this?

That's only half of the water that was in the kayak which made it next to impossible to pull up.
So......where do I start?
Let's start with the pipe that burst in our driveway and caused a little river that went all the way down to the road, which then mixed with our freezing weather, turned into ICE and made driving conditions unsafe for our fellow islanders. Yeah....that sounds about right.
Shane had to miss work today to dig a 3+ foot hole in the freezing cold to find the exposed leak.
Once found.....we figured out that the people that originally did the pipes didn't put the correct valve. Weyll...they also didn't answer their phones today SO...another pipe person (plumber?) will be arriving tomorrow morning to get the job done.
Moving on.......you are probably waiting for the "kayak" story. Weyll......(ps- WEYLL sounds like "well", but with a southern twang. Mom used to say it a lot).
When the kids got home, we decided to finally go pick up that crab pot that Nathan left out there on Saturday. The water was choppy, but Nathan was determined to get out there. I was completely sick to my tummy. The tide was all the way in and the buoy was pretty far out there.
But....you don't know how much I love crab......so out he went. I mean....I DO have 5 children afterall. What's 1 loss? :) Anyhow.....he's out there and I am mid panic as I look through the binoculars at him. The kayak seems lower in the back as he tries to pick up the pot. I am thinking "how in the world is he going to get it up and back if it is full of crab"?? In my over active imagination, I think he's goin down. I tell Shane to get suited up and ready to go rescue him. Yes.....I tell my rather large husband who has NEVER been in a kayak to go into the choppy ocean in freezing weather conditions to rescue my son who shouldn't even be out there in the first place!! All for CRAB! I am so going to hell I think. Anyhow.....Shane gets in the kayak.....well he attempts to get into the kayak. I hold on to the back and he's rocking (tide was in and he is on the steps trying to get into the kayak). He says don't let go, but I think......PUSH! I push him off and well.....he wobbles a bit and over he goes. Straight into the ccccold water. Oh man.....here is Nathan that I think is going in, and now Shane?? Shane climbs up the steps and what do you know......he forgot to hold on to the kayak so off it goes into the ocean. He looks at me, and I say to him "you'd better go get it"! Already wet, he goes after the kayak and gets it. Meanwhile.....the neighbor is giving me a piece of her elderly mind about how irresponsible we are. Blah blah blah. Finally......we see that Nathan is coming in, and looks just fine. Phew. Then Steven, grandmas elderly blind and deaf dog gets out and we are running after him.
Shane tries to get the kayak back up the steps but it is full of water. Nathans coming in......NO CRAB! What?! Just one huge starfish who probably ate all the crab we had in there. Darn him!
Nathan had abandoned the pot half way home because of the choppy water.

With dad safely inside, clothes in the dryer and Nathan back too.....we went to sit outside and speculate on what we could do better next time. Wouldn't you know it......a guy motors right up to our pot and picks it up. How nice, we think! They must have seen you out there struggling and went to get it and bring it to us to save us a trip. Right on! I even took a photo, I was so impressed by the kindness. That was until I noticed that the guy took it and kept going. We screamed, jumped and whistled and he just waved and took off and STOLE our pot!! K....that didn't sound good. Our CRAB pot.

Nathan was pretty bummed. Even though the kid doesn't even like seafood! He does love his mom and anything that involves a risk.

We had all been planning on a huge crab feast. We thought that FOR SURE we would get some crab since the pot had been there since Sat. So....we had to head to Central Market . We just HAD too. I bought the kids snow crab legs and saved the dungeness crab for myself.

I really dislike cracking crab for other people, even my kids. All that work with no reward?

Not fun! Kind of like sunflower seeds and artichoke. Also my favorites.

Alright.....that's enough excitement for tonight. Goodnight!