Last weekend we headed to the hot side of the state for Boat Race Weekend in the Tri-Cities. One of my favorite summer traditions! I love hanging at the river all day watching the boats & air show with people I love!

We go on Friday and skip the actual races Sat and Sun. Friday is free (on the Pasco side anyway), way less people (I don’t care to do the overcrowded drunk people thing), you still see a few races, qualifications, practice air show, and you can bring all your own food and drinks! We actually eat dinner after everything is done for the day, around 5 pm, because we’ve been in the sun all day, drinking on and off, and don’t want to worry about dinner after getting home from a long, hot day in the sun. It seems like less work (and more fun) to eat there before loading up and heading home.

This year the patrol boat was very lax. The fact that there was only one is odd, but also odd that they didn’t say a word to us about floating in the river while the boats were running. Usually they don’t even want us standing in the water. We tied our inner-tubes down with rocks and a 5 gallon bucket full of water pretty close to the bank, just deep enough that our butts didn’t hit the bottom, so maybe that’s why they didn’t care that we were out there. Seriously it was so nice though…being able to float in the river all day in the blazing sun…so refreshing. The only down side….when I went to bed that night the bed was floating…took forever for it to stop so I could fall asleep.

Art and craft time with Daddy. I packed plenty of fun stuff for Sky to do since she needs sun breaks here and there.

The rest of the weekend was full of yummy food, lot’s of wine, and great family/friend time! I always feel pretty lazy the next day. Even though floating on the river all day sounds easy, being in the sun all day takes it out of me. I just want to lounge in the shade with cold wine and water!

My take away from the weekend…so many mosquito bites! We sat out until late Saturday night talking and watching shooting stars. Maybe it was the wine, but I had no idea I was being eaten alive. Yikes!! Three days later and my legs are still itching pretty bad and I take my bug bite stick with me everywhere I go. Lesson learned…bug spray next time!

I recommend having a summer “thing” that you do every summer. We know we will be in E WA the last full week in July for boat races. It sort of anchors our summer and actually makes it easier to plan other summer fun around that weekend. The only down side…It’s now Aug and time to get the back to school stuff going. Boo!