Hello Lake Como

It's 4:45am on Sunday morning...what am I doing? Not sleeping! I'm up getting ready to go out on a speed boat with my friends and attempt water skiing for the first time!!! I wake up Julie, using the chipper sound of my voice, who is sleeping on the couch in my living room. Out of the house by 5:30am, we drive out to Palatine to meet up with Steve and Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) and then head out to Crystal Lake to pick up Jason. As we approach Jason's house, we decide to give him a call to let him know we were in his driveway. To his surprise, he wasn't expecting us to be so punctual. I don't think anyone on the trip expected me to be so "caffeinated" without the intake of caffeine. As we travelled, Steve managed to blow off one stop sign. He politely acknowledged its presence only slowing down slightly and then accelerating to epic proportions once he couldn't hear another vehicle within earshot. We traveled past a farm that had scary cut-outs with artistic renders of various vegetables. As we rolled into Lake Geneva, we stopped at a Starbucks to pick up some coffee. When I went to order my grande iced white mocha, the cashier asked if I wanted an extra shot of espresso. I told her that the people I was driving with would hang me if I had any more boosts of anything, especially espresso! From Lake Geneva we traveled just a little bit more before we reached our destination of “La Casa De Verano De Holvay” which is in Lake Como, WI. We unloaded our gear from the SUV and brought in onto the SS Holvay, which was parked ever so valiantly next to the pier. I didn’t know what to expect other than to have a lot of fun with a bunch of great people the Lord has blessed me with:) We were out on the water from about 8am-10am cruising around at about 20-30mph. No one was out on the lake! Que perfecto! Both Steve and Jason had no problems getting out on the wakeboard. Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) made some pretty daring attempts but didn't make it out of the water completely. We decided to head back to shore a little bit after 10am as we needed to refuel the boat and refuel our stomachs. I had to pee and everyone told me that was what the lake was for. I still managed to use the bathroom facilities several times before returning to the boat. Steve, Mark, Julie and I headed into town to get lunch and gas leaving Jason behind to watch the house. Mark tried to go into Subway with no shirt on and they totally kicked him out. We returned back to the casa, ate, and hopped back into the SS Holvay at about 11:30am. Then Julie attempted to both wakeboard and ski. Good attempts, no success. Then it was my turn. First off, I tried to suffocate myself by making the ladies large life jacket as skin tight as possible. I did not want to fall out of that thing! Then I tried to gracefully exit the boat. Wasn't prepared for that. I think I forgot to hold my breath and swallowed about a 1/2 gallon of water once I got in the lake. For there it took me about 10 minutes to get my skiis on. Finally, I floated out to the end of the rope and very casually cued Jason and company to "hit it." And we're off, and the rope is yanked out of my hands, arms are still attached to the body and skiis are seen floating next to me, not on my feet anymore. A second attempt was made and this time, no skiis came off, but I still never made it out of the water. After the 3rd time and the skiis coming off again, I called it a day and decided I need to fast and pray before I attempt to ski again:) Since skiing was not a natural talent of mine, I tried to entertain the ship with by serenading them with several renditions of classic rock tunes like Bohemiam Rhapsody, Come Sail Away, Sweet Child O' Mine...etc. Mark again attempted the skiis and wakeboard and this time came so close to being up on the water for about 3 seconds. He also took a nice face plant and was drag in the water for about 3 seconds probably swallowing about 3 gallons of water. Both Jason and Steve got another turn and showed off their professional skills jumping wakes and holding onto the cord with one hand putting all of us spectators to shame. I'm jealous and hope that someday I can be as cool as them:) We headed back to shore around 2pm, cleaned up boat and house, took some pics, fed some ducks, and headed back towards home. On the way home, I pretended to be a DJ and played some Indian, Polish, and Latino music off of the iPod. I think we've got some new fans of world music! We dropped off Jason first who I'm sure was ready to collaspe and take a nice nap. Steve and Julie headed off to a softball game and Mark headed home. My day had only just begun as I was off to a surprise going away party for my good friend Young Tak. More about that in the next blog. So here's to Lake Como, Jason and his hospitality, Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) and his massive video camera and sunblock, Steve and his stellar wakeboard, and to Julie and her multiple attempts. I am determined that next time I will succeed!