"The hardest part of skiing is actually getting out of the water."

The boys listened excitedly as the driver of the ski boat – a man who introduced himself as Ernie – started explaining to them how to ski. They were all standing on the dock the ski boat was docked beside, wearing swimming trunks and glancing occasionally at the boat, or the skis inside it as Ernie continued his quick lesson.

"The hardest part about getting out of the water when you're new at skiing is keeping your skis together."

River nodded his agreement. The Californian was wearing a pair of bright green shorts with orange flowers splotched liberally around them and a smile on his face. He was looking forward to watching the boys try their hands at skiing.

"So…" Ernie continued, stepping into the boat and reaching for a special pair of water skis; these were short enough for the boys to use, but more importantly, the two skis had a couple of ropes attached to them, holding them about a foot apart. "To keep you from spreading your skis – and consequently wiping out and giving yourselves some serious wedgies…" he paused as the boys laughed. "We have these skis, which should make things a lot easier for you – although it's still not easy."

The boys nodded, and Ernie smiled at their enthusiasm.

"Who wants to go first?"

Every hand shot up.

"You." Ernie pointed at Brian. "The rest of you can come along, since there aren't too many of you, and one of you can hold the flag." He held up a small plastic orange flag on a short stick. "Whenever we have someone in the water, we need to have the flag up. That tells other boaters that they need to watch out for someone bobbing around in the water so they don't run them over."

"But the other boaters are in the lagoon," Bruce said.

"They are here," Ernie agreed, "But if we were at a popular lake or a wide river, we'd have more people to contend with, and if you're going to learn, you might as well learn the right way right off the bat, right?"

"Right."

Ernie smiled, and gestured for them to get lifejackets on.

"Let's go, guys."

Chatting excitedly, the boys jumped in the boat and put on their jackets. This was going to be great!

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was as great as they'd thought it would be. Not all of them managed to get up – Ernie was right, it was harder than it looked – but to make up for the disappointment of not getting up, no matter how hard they tried, he allowed Chad and Bruce to actually drive the boat – which was even cooler. And all of them had a chance to be pulled behind the boat in inner tubes while Ernie did everything he could to make waves with the boat and knock them out.

Not surprisingly, River proved once more that there was one more thing on the water he was expert at. Once the boys had all had a chance to try skiing, Ernie had looked at River, and asked him if he wanted a go round. River had nodded, of course, and had reached for a ski.

"Don't you need two?" Chance asked.

River only grinned and shook his head.

"Not if you're good."

Ernie had smiled as well, and handed the flag to Wilson to hold while River jumped over the side of the boat and put his ski on.

"Now… Ernie won't be able to watch me," he told his boys. "So if you see me put my thumb up, that means I want him to go faster… if I put it down I want to go slower. You have to tell him for me, okay?"

The boys nodded, and Ernie maneuvered the boat so River's towrope was taut. A moment later he yelled for Ernie to go, and they took off with a roar.

Even the campers who were lounging on the other docks, or swimming under the watchful eyes of the lifeguards stopped to watch as River skied. He was definitely impressive – which didn't surprise anyone, really. The Californian had mentioned growing up on the water, and his easy manner with all things water pretty much proved it. When he skied, he went back and forth from side to side behind the boat, cutting so sharply that water would fly to impossible heights – at least it seemed that way to the boys. He also would end up almost parallel to the water, able to reach down in the middle of a turn and run his hand through the water, much to the delight of the boys watching.

All in all, by the time they were finished with their skiing and were docking the boat, the kids were talking excitedly and wearing grins that River was pretty sure would cut their faces right in half any minute.

As they were taking off their lifejackets and thanking Ernie for teaching them, Jack O'Neill came out onto the docking, soaking wet and carrying Jake in his arm. He smiled at the boys.

"How'd it go?"

"Great!" Chance said, cheerfully. He'd been the first of the boys to get up on skis, and was proud of that accomplishment.

"They did good," River confirmed. He grinned at the baby in Jack's arm, and Jack handed him over without comment. Jake would let them know if he didn't want to be held by the Californian.

"Did you decide to go swimming?" Brian asked.

"Where's Shawn?" Wilson asked at the same moment. After all, they all knew that Jack and Shawn had decided to go sailing instead of ski.

"He's with Doctor Fraiser," Jack said. "He got his cast wet, so she has to put a new one on."

River looked up from cooing Jake – who was loving it – and frowned.

"How did he do that?"

"Sam capsized our sailboat."

"What?"

"Hey, don't listen to him." A new voice said from the end of the dock. They all turned and saw Sam coming towards them, wearing a lovely green swimming suit that showed off her newly acquired summer tan nicely. "He capsized it all by himself."

"No, I didn't," Jack protested, much to the delight of the boys watching. "We were racing, and she was going to lose, so she sabotaged us."

"What does that mean?" Wilson asked.

"She made it so we lost," Jack explained. "By ramming our boat, knocking Shawn overboard, and then tipping me when I was trying to help him back in."

Sam laughed.

"You guys don't believe that, do you?"

They all shook their heads, and she gave Jack a triumphant smile.

"Well, she did."

"He's just mad, because he and Shawn have to sing a song at campfire because they lost."

"No we don't."

"Yes, you do. You lost."

"You cheated."

Sam smiled and looked at the boys again.

"You guys don't believe I cheated, do you?"

Again they shook their heads.

"And you want to hear Shawn and Jack sing a song at campfire tonight, don't you?"

They all nodded.

Jack scowled, but it only made the boys giggle. They hadn't known him or Sam long, but they already had them both figured out.