Life at the lake

We love the lake!  Some of my favorite childhood memories are of the times my family spent at my grandparents house at the lake.  I remember

• waking up early to get out on the boat so that the water skiiers in our family could take advantage of the smooth water
• getting to drink fanta orange and crush grape drinks on the boat ... ahhh
• looking for bathing suits that didn't have any white on them, because white would be a lovely shade of orange by the end of summer
• not wanting to come inside until dinner time
• pink cheeks and shoulders
• jumping off of the boat house and the rope swing
• our first jet ski - it topped out at 32mph if you laid real low across the handlebars and had the smoothest of water
• swimming inside the boathouse when the rain came
• snakes :o/
• time with my cousins and sitting at the kids table
• finally being old enough to sit and talk with my and aunts and not get sent to the kids table :o)
• wonderful family meals
• watching fire flies and fireworks
• playing Careers or Monopoly on rainy days
• waking up to find that our parents were still playing Canasta at 7:00 the next morning

Really, I could go on and on ... so many wonderful memories.  I remember the first time I got to bring John with us on a lake weekend (a pretty big deal if you know my Dad! :o)  I wondered if he'd love it as much as I do - turns out he does.  Now we're getting to make so many of these same memories with our kids.  A few pics (or maybe a lot!) from our days at the lake this summer ...

This is the first summer Kate would jump in :o)

And the first summer we let Will swim without a lifejacket ... he thought it was very freeing!

This little one is a lake baby FOR SURE ... he L-O-V-E-D the water!

Pops & Mimi are happiest when these 3 are around!

W - almost 8, K - 3 1/2, E - 1

These two had quite a shell/rock collection by the end of the week

Headed back to the water

Kate put a "hurtin" on Pop's boiled peanuts this summer!

Everybody loves riding the "Jeffrey"

And Eli loves waving to everyone on a "Jeffrey"

 ***In case you're still with me, just wanted to give a warning about these next pictures.  Your nephew might be cute, but mine is the cutest!!! See evidence below - 

I told you!  Cutest. Ever.

Watching the skiiers

Mattheo

Johnny B

Pops

Will took full advantage of Pops and Mimi's open fridge policy on Cokes :o)

Boat rides are so relaxing

Like REALLY relaxing!!!

We spend a "little" time indoors too

Back to the boat!

One more trip to the pool

Will loves his Mimi!

Kate was not too sure about the "green slide"

But she forgave Pops real quick!

Well, if you're still reading, you are a true friend!  I'll leave you with one last picture of how we all feel when it's time to leave the lake ...

Road Trippin'

This is the fourth summer in a row that we've made the drive from midwest to southeast.  While there are definitely moments that I can't wait to get out of the car, we kinda have our groove down for these long road trips.  Here is a much shorter version of our 33 hour 2,104 mile drive ...

First of all, I recommend taking someone you like (a LOT) along with you :o)

Kate's "Georgia" was never far from her side

Technology can be the sweetest blessing after you've already answered the question "Are we there yet?" 267 times ...

Ditto

Read a little

Sleep a little ... and I do mean A LITTLE!!!

Sing a LOT!

Crossing the M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Spend a lot of time watching the world go by

What would a road trip be without visiting Ronald?

I'll bet you didn't know that one of John's super powers is finding the best radio stations even in the middle of nowhere Mississippi

Back to the land of the trees ... aahhh!!!

Just for comparison ... Oklahoma = not too many trees

No big deal, right!?!

No matter what, just keep smiling!

Give a little shout out when you reach your destination!

Or a loud shout out! :o)

You should definitely take your mama home with you!

Kanakuk

Sometimes I get so far behind on things I really want to document here, that it's hard to know if I should go back to where I left off or just jump right in where life is happening now.  The past 4 weeks have been filled with blog worthy events (and more importantly, PHOTOS!!!), so I'm going to do my best to give a good recap ...


Since we moved to Kansas, I've been hearing people talk about Kanakuk.  I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it was definitely something I should know about!  When we found out that Kanakuk was coming to our church, I was thrilled and could not wait for Will to experience it. **If you haven't heard of it, google it and check it out!**  Right away I volunteered to host some of the counselors.  My parents used to always host kids that were coming through town on choir tour or mission projects and I loved it!  John wasn't so sure.  In fact, I think he thought he'd just give it a few weeks and I'd forget about it.  Well, camp week arrived, and I didn't forget!  Our guys arrived on a Sunday night and spent the week with us.  After working with kids all day, they would come home and invest in our kids - it was amazing and such a blessing.  And John stayed up with them every night laughing and talking - he totally loved it!  Will had a blast from sun up to sun down and couldn't wait to go back every day.  He's already making plans for next summer ... and guess what!?!  We hope to host again (yes, even Johnny!)  Here are a few pics from the week:

I had to catch a few pics of Will's high flying fun!

Will was excited to master the back flip

More high flying fun

Will had the biggest grin on his face through the whole ride!

Will didn't want to leave and he's already trying to convince us to send him "off" to camp next year

Our boys for the week - Mark from Liberty University, John, Will from UT Chattanooga (sp?), Hunter from Oklahoma State, and our Will up front

Will's counselors for the week - Brian from Auburn and Justin from a school in FL that I can't remember!

Will and his "kamp" mates

I know this is blurry, but it's the best I got - Will helping to lead worship for the final time of the week

All of the counselors poured themselves into the lives of the kids around them - they were the hands and feet of Jesus, and they had lots of fun.  We feel so blessed to have been able to experience Kanakuk Kampout!

***I've tried to share this post for 3 days and every time I put my pics up, it puts the un-edited version up - ugh!  So, I'm just sending it the way it is.  As always, you can click on the pics to make them larger! :o)