“Time to get up,”my dad said excitedly. “Let’s hit the lake!”

“Why are you waking me up so early?” I asked.

“Quit whining, all the family is going to be at Schumacher's soon.” My dad seems to be slightly annoyed.

“Give me 10 minutes,” I groaned.

Twenty minutes later, my dad came in and threw me off my bed. “Bet you’re up now,” he said while trying to resist laughing.

Basically everything was ready when I arrived upstairs. The food was packed and the coolers were filled. Ryan and I carried all the heavy stuff down to the boat, eager to hit the water. If this was us last year, we would have been arguing who carried what. This wasn't an issue this time. We have a 21 foot Regal stern drive boat. It puts out 270 horsepower, which is enough to have some serious fun with. I put our wakeboard into the boat knowing we would use it later.

We were almost the first ones to hit the water. I looked over to my grandparent’s house only two houses to the west, and noticed that the redneck pontoon was gone. My Uncle Butch’s vessel. When he first bought it, there were only the two floats and the deck. The top was all replaced with new seats and tables. Butch and his wife, Tammy, like the lake more than anyone I know.

I cranked the boat down and the family piled in. We were headed to Schumacher’s house. This is normally where everyone goes since they have a massive dock and pristine lake shore. We got there and sure enough, the redneck pontoon was there. Only a few of the other family members were there since it was still pretty early.  The perfect opportunity to go wakeboarding!

The lake wasn't scattered with boats yet, and there wasn't any wind. The water looked like glass just waiting to be disturbed. Perfect to wakeboard. I slid into the water which felt cold and inviting at the same time. My brother started up the boat. I went until I was too tired to do another run. I struggled to climb into the boat as the fatigue seemed to be pulling me back. Seeing Ryan sitting there, I thought to myself, last year this never would’ve happened. We wouldn't be having fun together because we would be to busy fighting over some random topic.

“Ryan, you want me to drive for you?” I asked.

“No, I'm not gonna go.” He replied.

This year he seemed to be a completely different person. He never seemed to be happy with just driving for me until now. I felt unlucky to have a brother like him, funny how things change.

When we got back, the dock was full. The rest of my family showed up. Although I was excited to see my distant cousins, I was thinking more about Ryan having to leave later in the week. Him going to Colorado for college has been hard. He only gets to come back about six weeks throughout the year, three of which are in the summer. Before he left, I never expected to miss him very much. That, however, changed quickly. Ryan and I developed a friendship and mutual respect that is second to none. Looking back, I wish we were as close earlier, but I can only be happy we are now.

After talking with the family a bit, Ryan and I decided to go out on the jet ski. He isn't into going crazy like I am, yet he still let me drive. I find this funny, because he still wanted me to drive. He should have learned by now, I thought. We drove away from the shore line, and I instantly started doing donuts at high speed. After a couple decent ones, I tried to step up my game. I ended up flipping the jet ski! To my surprise, Ryan was laughing like he actually had fun! I let him drive after that, and he was a maniac. Again, I realized how much we are alike.

Then, I noticed that the family was moving over toward the volleyball net. We zeroed in on the beach to join everyone.  We love playing water volleyball. Our family is pretty competitive, so it is always fun to see how hard everyone will try to win. The teams were split into six a piece. I was against Ryan so I wanted to win that much more. As his younger brother, anytime I'm against him, I try to impress him. My team ended up winning and yet he was just happy to be home with his family.

The lake day was winding down. I could hear boats in the distance slowly diminishing, and knew they were thinking the same. Everyone was ready for supper so we called it. We headed up the mega stairs to Schumacher's house. Uncle John started cooking on his big green egg grill. We were going to have burgers, brats, corn, chips, and baked beans. The charcoal was burning and the smell was being carried by the wind to the other side of the deck.

After the meal, my grandma pulled out her homemade pies. It was a swarm to try to get to the pies first. She brought chocolate cream and apple pies. The best part about the pies was that you could taste that it was homemade. There was no way anything store bought would come close.

My parents always told Ryan and me that we would be great friends as we grew older. Neither of us thought that this was possible. However, we were wrong. I now find myself eagerly waiting for his return home. Although he cannot come home often, I'm glad for the time that we do have together. It's days like this one on the lake that we will cherish and look back on for the rest of our lives.