The Lake (round 1)

There's nothing that says SUMMER more than a nice, long, 2-week trip to the lake! We love our home away from home and are thankful to have a nice enough Uncle and Aunt that allow us to invade their home for half a month! Our trip was somewhat of a three part vacation - the first half was just with TiTi, Grandpa, and Grandma....second was when TiTi left and Tyler came down....third was when family left and our friends joined us for a few days.

Part one was quite fun. The kids had a blast enjoying the lovely weather and time on the water. Grandpa and Grandma just bought a boat, which meant more fun at the lake. We took lots of rides, went out to lunch, had a picnic on the boat, tubed, and even got to water ski! We also enjoyed a few days in which our friends, Jack and Grace, came to hang out. Aunt Nancy enrolled Caleb in golf lessons, which he had a lot of fun doing for the first few mornings of our trip. Aunt Nancy also spoiled the kids with tons of Legos and craft projects that quickly became a highlight of the trip. She is definitely teaching the kids that there is no better place to be than at the lake!

Part two was more of the same, but with the excitement of having Daddy around. The kids took advantage of having someone else willing to take them fishing - by willing, I mean okay with touching a fish to get it off the hook (someday I'll be a big girl and do that, but just not yet)! Caleb, Leah, and Joel all did great with reeling in their own fish and each time they caught one was just as exciting as the first. Leah took awhile to work up the courage to reel in her own fish. For the first few days, she'd hand off her pole to Caleb, scream "I caught one, I caught one", and run around the dock in fear/excitement! Another highlight of part two was the chance to go out and celebrate our 9th anniversary kid-free! We got to enjoy a yummy dinner outside overlooking the lake and cherished the few hours of adult conversation!

Part three involved a visit from our friends, the Siebert family. Our kids loved the excitement of having friends from home at the lake. We spent a lot of time at the dock and got to sneak in a few boat rides when the water was calm (which isn't very often over 4th of July weekend). There was also plenty of relaxing done (as you can see by the picture of two VERY tired dads after lunch one day).

We certainly had a blast enjoying two whole weeks at our favorite vacation spot. It went by a little too fast, but thankfully we have another trip there soon!