Boating on Okoboji

From the day we moved to Iowa we have heard recommendations for Lake Okoboji- the best lake in Iowa for renting a boat and spending the day on the water.  So we finally decided to check it out!  The day we originally planned on being on the lake was rainy and cold, but thankfully we were able to switch our boat reservations and cross our fingers that the sun would come out on the warm but cloudy day we planned on spending on the water.  

But no such luck.  

The sun really does shine in Iowa, but man we have had a lot of cloudy adventures lately.   

That didn't damper the excitement for some of us though... Noah and Laney weren't so sure what to think of this adventure.  That actually worked out nicely because Noah was distracted from his fear of the boat tipping over by his job of taking care of the pup.  

And the rest of us took turns getting pulled behind the boat on a massive tube. 

 Which felt a whole lot faster when you were in the tube than when you were in the boat.  There was a lot of laughing happening back there!

 

 Emma was our fearless figurehead!

And despite Noah's annoyance with the outing, we all agreed that it was a great day to be a Morales!

 

 Because Moraleses do fun things!!

 

 Everyone took turns snuggling the pup and comforting the Noah, who was pretty unhappy about the entire situation (why did I not think that would be the case??).  He spent most of the time on the boat asking if it was time to take it back yet. 

 I wasn't really interested in driving the boat, and I wasn't very good at it either!  

But the only way we were going to get Noah onto the tube was if Daddy was with him.  Even then he wasn't all that thrilled about it.  But he gave it a try!

 They went around for a few minutes and then Noah officially declared that he wasn't interested in the tubing.  Bring on the cookies and the pup, please!

 Those skies look miserable, but there wasn't any rain, the temperature was perfect, and it was actually quite nice not having the hot sun beating down on us.  

 The lake was fairly empty too.  There weren't nearly as many boats on the water as we had seen the day before.

 Let's see... after I drove a little too fast the girls needed some extra time out of the water.  Poor Leah was the only one that fell into the lake, and it was only because she took a misstep between the tube and the deck.  The motor was off and she popped right back up, but she wasn't very happy about her encounter with the fish!!!

 Laney was quite interested in all that was happening inside and outside the boat.

Adam was all smiles all day.  Next time we'll try water skiing! 

 Still mostly smiling, and a few patches of blue skies came out just as we crossed over from West Lake Okoboji to East Lake Okoboji. Surprisingly the east lake water was much browner than the west, where we spent most of our day, even though the two bodies of water are connected.  We didn't stay in that water for very long.

 

 It was awfully windy when we got going fast!  

 Hold on to your pup!!

Eventually Noah made his way up to the front of the boat!  Then declared that he didn't like it up there and went back to the back.   

But we were so proud of all of the kids for being willing to try something new!  Something unknown that felt a little scary and turned out to be a whole lot of fun.

 And finally, once everyone had all the turns on the tube and cookies and pup snuggles and laughter about the fun that they wanted, it was time to turn in the boat, grab some Culvers, and head back home, exhausted and with another camping adventure in the books! 

 We haven't found a place that we love so much that we are willing to go back every year, and this trip was no exception.  Lake Okoboji was a great experience, but next year we'll be trying something new!