I’m interrupting mom’s year of self-discovery to talk about the most important thing in her life – me. Yep, Jake from Moon Lake is back and hijacking mom’s blog for a quick update on the year I was 6.
A year ago, I rang in my birthday with a football themed party at the Community Center. I sported a new Tiger’s jersey proclaiming my love for roughhousing and mom’s dream of me someday becoming QB1. Life was simpler than.
I kicked off first grade by learning how to read… really good. It turns out I’m also really good at math. I love counting and for whatever reason, it was easy for me to add things up in my head. Some days I even surprised Mrs. Graff with my quick draw addition. Art on the other hand… well we all have our weaknesses. Coloring just isn’t my jazz, you know?
Speaking of Jazz, I love a good jingle. Mom gave me her Alexa this past year and I’ve been using it to play some of my favorites – Old Town Road, Blah blah blah, Pizza Man and Feed Jake. What can I say – I’m a country boy at heart who loves his Sponge Bob.
Which reminds me, mom got chickens again. I’ll be honest… I’m just not into them. Other than the occasional chase, I’ve found I’m much more into domesticated pets like my best pal Joey. I did like playing cowboy for Halloween, though. For a brief moment, I even considered a profession in bull riding. Turns out, cow butts stink, so for now, I’m tabling that one.
As fall turned into winter, I tuned up my wrestling skills. Dad laid the smack down this year and said if I wanted to do tournaments, I had to go to practice. It turns out if you practice, you actually get better at wrestling. I was doing really well, even managed to place in a few tournaments, and then our world turned upside down.
It was time for spring break. We were about to jump on-board to head to South Carolina for a week-long get away on the ocean. I was gearing up to catch my first big salt-water fish and maybe try a handline. And then… everything changed. COVID-19 hit hard in March. School shutdown. Our vacation was cancelled. My friends could no longer come over to play. Baseball season was a no-go. I’ll admit, COVID-19 really cramped my style.
It turns out we had it pretty lucky, though. Mom and dad kept their job. They worked out an arrangement so I could do schooling in the morning virtually and then have my besties mom watch me in the afternoon. It is working out pretty well. I finished the school year strong and got to play with my buddy Nolan. Meantime, mom and dad got to keep working which meant they could take time off this summer for some family adventures.
Can we say cabin time? As soon as temperatures warmed up, we headed to the green cabin. I’ve had quite a few weekend adventures there including mastering tubing and knee boarding. I even tried water skiing (unsuccessfully) in July. This makes me the YOUNGEST Probst to ever try. And who knows, I may even get up this summer still. I’ve abandoned fishing for now but that’s partially because I am a fish now. Yep, early on in COVID-19, I mastered swimming at Moon Lake. I can now swim, float, do somersaults off the dock, cannonball off our pontoon and stay under water long enough that mom thinks I’m drowning.
I took advantage of COVID-19 to master my bike skills. The training wheels came off, I outgrew my kiddie bike and am now hoping for a new BMX bike. A new Dollar General went up in town and for over a month I used their newly paved (but abandoned) parking lot to master my technique. I even hit up a new bike park in Cable.
Our other summer adventures included mini golfing, meeting Paul Bunyan, go karting and exploring area lakes thanks to a new pontoon trailer paid for with stimulus money. Things got so crazy I actually went swimming in Lake Superior and Moon Lake… in April!
Dad gave me my first pocket knife and mom lets me light candles when she’s watching. Dad also keeps bringing me to the workshop where I get to play with sharp tools and learn about woodworking.
The two neighbor gals got gas powered four wheelers but after much debate, I’m gunning for a Chrome book and hacker mask instead. It isn’t the same but mom and dad are trying to teach me to be responsible about money. I also really love my screen time… when I’m not doing karate with dad or beating mom up.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to hear my school is opening up. I miss hanging out with my friends on a daily basis, eating uncrustable PB&Js, and winning a mean game of dodgeball in gym. It’ll be different wearing a mask everywhere I go but different is alright I guess. If nothing else, it keeps life on Moon Lake interesting.
And that my friends is the latest from Jake at Moon Lake. Until I’m back to report on how Lucky 7 went, enjoy your day!