August 6, 2008

"Baycation"

Ronnie and I grew up enjoying different things. Being raised by a single mom, who worked two jobs to provide for me and my brother, we learned to enjoy the simple things in life. While I enjoyed what I had, and rarely complained (we may have to ask my mom about that one), I always knew I wanted so much more for my kids.
Ronnie had a more fortunate childhood. One of the things he talked of often was boating. He grew up having family boats and enjoying the vacations they would take to the lakes. He always said he wanted to buy a boat when we were better established. We are thankful that time came sooner then we thought. And after looking at dozens of boats and figuring out what options we liked best, we purchased a boat at the end of last year. I know it seems like bad timing with the gas prices so high, but honestly, it’s been one of the best decisions we’ve made. The value of the time we spend together and the memories we are making together far outweighs the value of the money we spend in gas. If you actually think about how much it would cost to take a family of four on a week vacation (airfare, rental car, hotel, food, souvenirs, etc), it’s about the same as taking our family to a local lake almost every weekend this summer.
Since the day we bought the boat we’ve talked about what we should “name” it. I have often caught myself reading the names of the boats at the dealerships and storage facilities close to my office, some of my favorites: Romper Room, Aquaholics, Home Away from Home, Reel Fun, etc. I vowed to not name our boat until we could be that clever. Hopefully we’ve accomplished that.
Over the past few months I’ve heard at least a couple dozen times the word “staycation”, which is basically a stay-at-home vacation. With gas prices being so high and the economy being on the decline, many people have opted for staycations instead of the traditional vacation. It hit me, somehow we needed a name that told people this boat and the trips we take on it, are our vacations, hence “Baycation”.

1 comment:

Shy Little Violets said...

Jesse's still trying to talk me into a boat but I'm not there yet. If my kids were your kids age I would totally do it. Fun memories for your family