This T-shirt was bought in preparation for our family's vacation in the summer of 1988 to the Lake of the Ozarks. We loved going to this place that was about 4 hours from our home. We would stay on the lake and go boating, swimming, and hit the town for go-cart racing and miniature golf. One of the best parts of boating as a kid was to go on the ski-bob or ski-horse. This was a torpedo-like inner tube that two riders would sit on and be pulled from the back of the boat. Us kids always thought we had different techniques for holding on for the longest amount of time possible,etc. Eventually we would spill though and it would be someone else's turn. We would often meet up with other families and this meant more kids and more fun.
Well, mainly this T-shirt was fun because my dad and I had them made as a surprise to go along with a "ski-horse championship contest" we were planning. I am sure there were not many rules. We just called it a championship and said everyone had to try to have the longest time riding the ski-horse. All five of us kids that year got a different shirt each in a different color. Somewhere there is a video of us being announced in our shirts with our recorded time. It was a big to-do and just a twist to make the day even more fun.
The other part to this story which is comical now is that our grand plan for the whole thing almost turned out to be a dud. What happens when a 10-year-old girl and her dad plan on taking surprise T-shirts on vacation? Well, they forget to pack them of course! We got all the way there and I realized I left them hiding in my bedroom closet (which in that day was immaculate because I was a neat freak). Anyways, being a typical 10-year-old, I was devastated. Dad told mom what was up (if she didn't already secretly know) to explain why I was devastated and so we could call Grandma to ship them to us. Grandma saved the day and we got our shirts. I was slightly bratty and crying that dad told mom our surprise (it's okay dad, I get it now being a parent myself). Dad felt bad that I felt bad. But you know what? It all made for an interesting story later. We got the shirts, we had a blast, and I smile whenever I see that I still have this little old T-shirt.
I loved going on vacations as a kid, and we are planning our first official one here soon with our daughter Blake. Of course she may not remember the first one we put on the books, but us adults will. Finding this shirt was just a nice little reminder of how fun they can be... even when it doesn't go as perfectly as planned. And for the record, Brian and I won that year and it had nothing to do with the fact we were the oldest. We had real skill and we were the 1988 Ski-Horse Champs!;)
No comments:
Post a Comment