5 Days at the Lake

For the third year in a row, Derek and I carved out a week of our summer to spend at the lake. It's his favorite week of the year. This summer's seemed busier than most, so I honestly thought of this trip as "one more thing" to cram into our life. But Derek enjoys this time away so much--so we went.

We arrived at the cabin with a week's worth of food. It had to be at least 100 degrees outside, and I was anxious to put our food in the fridge. What a bummer to discover the fridge had failed, meaning I had no place to put my cold (getting warmer by the minute) food. Derek plugged in a dinosaur fridge in the basement, and I wondered how long that would take to cool down. Figuring I could at least grill the chicken for supper, I plucked it from my cooler and told the kids to wash up for supper. But the grill wouldn't light. No fridge, no grill, the a/c wasn't cooling the cabin down fast enough--I was hot and sweaty and exhausted and wanted to go home. Derek left to go buy ice while I oven-broiled the chicken (along with myself, I think.) We ate sweet corn while waiting for the chicken, and I thanked God for my kids' patience. Derek ended up fixing the grill later that evening, the old fridge in the basement did cool down by bedtime, and I hoped for a better day tomorrow.

By morning the cabin was nice and chilly. :)

We put the boat in the water our first morning there, and it felt good to jump in and swim. I think that's some of our kids' favorite times--just bobbing in the water and swimming around the boat. Derek finally gave up his driving duties and played on the water skis. :)

Later that day, Kaleb's friend joined us for an overnight visit. While Braylen's had friends come to the lake before, this was Kaleb's first time. He loved it! They did lots of tubing and swimming. Jordan had never been boating, so Kaleb really liked showing him how it's done. :) They slept in the camper and never heard the thunderstorm roll through--we must have worn them out with all that time on the lake. The next day we met up with Jordan's mom, and Kaleb and I had an ice cream treat before returning to the cabin.

The guys mowed the yard and planted some trees from home. I found time to sit down with a book--one of my favorite things to do.

Back on the boat, Derek fished with Aaron and Braylen. Kaleb didn't want to fish, so he drove the boat. I read some more of my book and took a nap or two. :)

Aaron lost a tooth during our week at the lake. The tooth fairy left him a golden dollar in the camper! That tooth fairy sure had to be tricky to find him there. I heard Braylen helped her. :)

Just in case you think I sat around and read a book all week...I didn't. I love the water too much for that! Kaleb wanted to ride on Big Mable with just me. I will never turn that request down!

I also water skied and drove the boat for Derek.

This is one of my favorite silly pictures of the week. Braylen loves to jump into the water in all sorts of crazy ways.

And guess who learned to water ski this week?!!! In the past he's been able to get up for a few seconds, but this year he really water skied. Derek and I are passing the baton! (or should I say ski rope?)

More of our week at the lake next time...