What a week! We had a superb time out at the lake this week. There was a lot going on, and plenty to do. We went hiking one day, and that hike had just about everything we could ask for. Nature, bridges, animals, everything! It was tiring, but still a lot of fun.
Here are all the kids together having dinner. I believe this was the first night... but that would be Saturday night and should have been last week... oh well!
Being at the lake means, well, that we were at a lake, so of course we spent a bunch of time playing in the water. The girls got new life jackets for the trip since we were going to head out on a boat.
The house we rented had two kayaks out on the dock. All the kids had a really great time going out on them.
There were a few fishing rods that were never actually used (i.e. no hooks), which is good because there were a lot of people swimming around the dock to catch. We did see fish in the water though. There were lots of little inch long fish, and I saw one other big one once too.
The dock bounced up and down in the waves of the lake, which did not mix well with Monica's motion sickness. Fortunately, the whole weeks activities were not on the dock. The kids were even willing to cross the bridge to play some Phase 10 with her!
The lake is all made by a dam, and we drove over to see the dam one afternoon. Funnily enough, a bunch of trees grew in the way of most of the actual view of the dam. Also, Grayson was having none of it. He walked out there, and immediately turned around, so we missed out on the picture.
I know why Grayson was in a hurry though, he knew we were getting ice cream after!
It was a pretty good ice cream place, and I think everyone had a great time.
Also, Grayson came out of eating an ice cream cone without spilling anything on himself! Great job! Then he asked for a drink of water, and... well... at least it's just water! :)
On Wednesday we got a boat for the day, so Monica took Dramamine so she could come out. This also meant she got to go on the kayaks!
Monica went out on the first boat tour with Brooke and Winry and rode on the tube with them. The girls absolutely loved boating and had the best time riding the tube. I even got a chance to go with both of them.
We brought our s'more maker and made s'mores throughout the day
Here's Monice riding with Brooke on the tube.
As mentioned at the start, we headed out for a hike. There were old castle ruins with a trail around them. It turns out that the ruins weren't actually on the trail loop, so we really just ended up on a hike.
However, the hike was really pretty. I'm not really sure what to call this, it was in a stream, but was almost lake-like.
And better than the view would be the fact that there was a bridge all the way along it for us to walk. Grayson's dream!
We had watermelon with dinner one night, and the girls love to scrape the red off with their teeth. They call them "scrapey teetheys". It's a sight to behold.
There were a few nights where rather large thunderstorms rolled in. During the day the weather was always nice... by which I really mean sunny, but there were a few nights with some pretty incredible storms.
On Friday we went over to one of Ron's friends homes. Turns out he knew someone in high school who now lives on about 90 acres of land right by the lake. While we were driving the road to their house we stopped to help a turtle cross the street and get to safety. I also kept hearing a hawk in the distance while I was holding him, so I'm glad we helped out. He even said hi to the kids.
The main attraction for the general crowd was their own lake with a rope swing and zip line. However, Grayson just wanted to hike to the bridges. We got lucky, and when we asked, they offered to drive us around to a few, so into their side by side we got. Grayson was a bit scared to get in at first, but once I had him and and we started going he was loving it.
They had a really cool bridge they made out of a log that fell over the creek. That one was really fun, though I had to be careful and make sure Grayson was safe crossing it. Grayson was in bridge heaven.
That night we set up karaoke for everyone, which was a very big hit.
Grayson jumped in to try to help figure out who let the dogs out?
The girls prepared a dance for everyone as well. They worked on it here and there throughout the week and did a really great job.
And the sunsets. There were people out every night to watch the sunset across the lake. Monica and I were even able to make it out for a few as well.
I spent the week sweet talking Layla, and it all worked out! She LOVES me! Well... technically she'd let anyone hold her, but that included me! Also, she smiled at me a bunch, so I'm clearly the favorite.
The girls had a spa afternoon on Friday. They painted nails, did face masks, and had a fun time.
Some of the kids had gotten cookie decorating kits from Wells Fargo for their birthdays, and they brought them along. everyone had a cookie decorating party, and there were actually a lot of cookies in there. Brooke and Winry each made one for me, and I ate them straightway.
Saturday found us on the drive back home. It was a little over an 11 hour drive. We chose to stop again at Buc-ees on the way. The Buc-ees was also right next to my sister's house, so we planned to stop here in case we also just needed to stop for the night. While we were there we ran into Buc-ee himself! Grayson was a little nervous because he was so big, but when I asked if he wanted to, he ran straight up and gave him a hug!
I ran out and got the rest of the family, because it's not every day you see Buc-ee at Buc-ees. The girls were super excited to get to meet him, and we got a family picture as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment