Out on Lake Chabot

Lake Chabot was the fourth and final of the East Bay Regional Parks we visited on this trip.  If I haven't yet convinced you of how great the East Bay Regional Parks are, I don't think I ever will ;).  We went to take advantage of the boats they have available for rent.  You see, Jake had a long-standing promise to Joshua and Daniel that he would take them out on a rowboat and he really wanted to make good on his word within a year (it's kind of a long story involving bribery, but you can ask Jake about it sometime if you'd like).  Also, Jake's grandmother lives nearby and we were hoping to visit her after the lake, but she wasn't feeling well and we missed out on seeing her.

The boys had seen the paddle boats at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park from the day before and changed their minds that they wanted to ride in a paddle boat instead of a rowboat.  Jake (being the kind of dad he is) was willing to oblige but unfortunately it really ended up biting him.  He said that the paddle boat was basically a floating brick and was incredibly difficult to maneuver and work with.  On top of that, once they were out on the water Lucas wanted to peer over the edge and spazzed when Jake tried to restrain him to prevent him from falling in.  So he was having to paddle the thing while grappling with Lucas and in the meantime Daniel had decided that he didn't like it very much.  Poor Jake!

After they got back with the paddle boat Joshua and I took out a two-person kayak and had an absolutely fabulous time. I felt guilty for having such a great time after Jake had such a terrible one, but really, we had a blast.  I used to kayak a lot when I was younger, it was one of my favorite things to do.  All that came rushing back and I had just as much fun as ever, if not more since I got to do it with Joshua!  He learned how to paddle and even steer a bit while we were out there so he was actually able to help.  We made a great team!

 One last little side note about Lake Chabot is that Jake took me out on a rowboat (not a paddle boat!) there the summer after our freshman year at BYU, just before he left on his mission.  I was hoping he would kiss me out on the lake but no such luck.  We still had a nice time and now I find it kind of amusing that the next time we found ourselves together at Lake Chabot we had our four kids to bring along with us!  Memorable times for us Sorensens all around at Lake Chabot.  And an awesome time for Joshua and I, at least.  Sorry Jake :(  You get major Dad points for keeping your promise to the boys and we'll go rent kayaks up at Hagg Lake sometime soon!