We have been working on getting 100% legal for water fun in the yard – It started with $60.00 for a boat registration for 2 years on to cover our AVON Inflatable boat. We found out this covered the $7.00 invasive species fee and the 10 foot or longer paddle fee. . . . .
This morning we decided it was time to hunker down and take the Boater Education Test on line. We found out that you can take the test on line for free at www.boatus.org . The whole family sat down to take the test, look up the questions we didn’t know for sure and discuss the answers. Each one of us took the controls of taking the test.
Darren and I were in the Coast Guard, I was raised in a Coast Guard family – He has done commercial fishing – so that gave us a head start to teach the boys about boating safety. We all passed the tests in a manner of 2 hours, 75 questions each. 🙂
Because it is raining, and the thought of an outdoor walk seems out of my comfort zone for the day, we sketched boats instead. Learning about Port and Starboard, Aft, and Stern, colors, buoys, and water way rules. The boys learned that PORT and LEFT have the same amount of letters, and PORT is a Red Wine, so PORT/LEFT/RED is easy to remember. I was wishing I had some Port to go along with our study . . but it was before noon. . . That left Starboard/Right/Green to just remember. We learned that the white light goes on the front of the boat, and that we need to obtain a bright white light if we are fishing at dusk, as when the visibility is reduced when we are anchored, we need to have a white light on. One more thing to purchase for our safety bucket. 🙂
So – this means that now, we can haul out our like new 25 HP Yamaha Engine out of the boat house and put it on the Avon. 🙂 We have been enjoying the battery trolling motor, but the boys really want to fly across the lake. 🙂
It encourages me, that there was a need to know item, and that within the course of the morning, the entire family could rally together to learn what we needed to do, get prepared, take the tests, and move on. 🙂 Homeschooling Rocks. 🙂
The boys fishing in the boat at sunset. . . .
http://pebblekeeper.blogspot.com is our Lake Blog of fun happenings!
+Angie Wright
Pebblekeeper 
We stayed at Loon Lake Lodge & RV Resort (http://www.loonlakerv.com), an inland Oregon coast RV park that offers camping, boating and fishing near the coast. It’s an excellent Oregon campground for deer and elk hunting! The lodge also offers cabin and yurt rentals.
The Loon Lake Lodge and RV Resort is located about 45 minutes from Reedsport. It offers year-round resort Oregon coast lodging in cabins, yurts and motel rooms, or waterfront camping in scenic tent or RV park sites with full-hookups, satellite TV and Wi-Fi – all on one mile of lake frontage on the scenic Loon Lake. The marina offers jet ski rentals, boat rentals and pontoon boats.