Day 3 - Rain

Day 3 was full of rain, rain, rain. These pictures are not from day 3 :) Jessica just emailed me her album from the trip and I missed this funny incident from the day before. As you see in the above picture the kids were swimming from the raft so I took the paddle boat out to swim with them, too. Jessica was on the dock and wanted to meet us out there so she swam and I paddled and we met in the middle of the lake. Then came the challenge of Jessica getting on the paddle boat from the lake, with a life vest on.

There's Jessica trying to get herself into the paddle boat. After the first attempt I knew it was no use trying, we were both laughing too hard for it to work on her own.

I'll bet you can see where this is going! I decided to hoist her in, and of course I ended up overboard, with Jessica. Then just Elizabeth was left on the paddle boat. (my mom was taking these pictures with Jessica's really long lens from the boat that was docked). I left out the last picture of the 2 of us, butts up, laying flat on the paddle boat, after we finally made it back on. It was so funny, but we finally made it back on the boat.

Day 3 was fun, but because of the rain it was a little uneventful. Evan, Emma, and my Aunt Amy drove over from the cities.

Evan was having a great time playing,

and Emma loves to read anything and everything.

We hung out with the kids in the basement. Jackson learned to pull up while we were on vacation!
The kids had a great time playing ring around the rosie. We played it again, and again, and again!

The kids have all seen Toy Story lately so here is Cooper being Buzz Lightyear. The kids would leap off the step yelling "to infinity and beyond" and race around the room.

After our cousins left the kids made dirt pie with grandma, so they first searched for wild flowers out in the field.

Yummy!

The cabin was filled with yummy treats - we all got very spoiled on our trip.

We had fun on our 3rd day at the cabin.

Day 2 at the Cabin

I was wrong! I forgot that the next morning Stephanie and Will came back over and we were able to get a picture of all of us with our kids. We filled up the couch with all of us!

We had a fun, busy second day at the cabin. My pictures are in reverse order, but I realized no one would care, so I'm not spending the time to change them! After our long day in the lake we decided the kids needed a bath. We have gotten a picture of our kids in the bathtub together every year that we have all been together (which is only one other year).

Here are the kids 2 years ago,

and here is Ben the first year at the cabin - he's so little and cute!!
There's my serious boy after his bath.

Elizabeth and Tom cuddling after her bath.

On our second day at the cabin the kids and Tom brought the big tube down to the lake to take a ride. We ended up swimming off the tube the whole week.

We hooked the tube to the back of the boat and took turns having rides. You can see Ben is really excited about his ride on the tube!

He got used to it and took turns standing up on it with Cooper! They got very brave on their ride!

Then it was Elizabeth's turn for a ride. They took off for a normal ride, then Elizabeth quickly got very brave and daring, and then talked her dad into doing the same thing! It was only a matter of time!

They were quickly back up on the raft and ready for more.

Next, Tom took the kids on a raft ride out in the lake. They quickly got out into the middle of the lake,

so my dad and I decided to take the paddle boat out to "rescue" them.

We were out pretty far!

Elizabeth loved the lake this year. She kept telling us she wanted to swim the entire lake - and I think she would have if we had let her! She was in the water almost the entire time - she is definitely a lake girl! Ben is another story. He would go in the lake, but he really didn't enjoy it. He had a lot more fun throwing rocks into the water. Whenever we were in the lake he kept asking "Are you sure the fish don't like feet?" And he would kick his little legs as fast as he could the entire time we were in the water to keep the fish away. I'm a little like Ben. I would have to try hard to not think about what was swimming underneath me!

The other thing we did day 2 was check out the kid's trees. My parents planted a tree for each of the children a couple of years ago. They've grown a little bit.

Here's Elizabeth's tree.

Something the boys really love is fishing with grandpa. He caught this fish and the boys wanted to touch it. This is how Ben is holding the fish - by touching it as little as possible.

The boys are each taking a turn fishing,

and driving the boat.

We had a relaxing time fishing and boating.

The two buddies - hanging on the boat.

The last exciting thing for the day was finding this turtle on the side of the road. Grandpa was brave enough to pick it up for the kids.

Elizabeth was even brave enough to hold the turtle! I was very proud of them!

Day 2 was at an end.

Another busy day tomorrow!

First Day at the Cabin

The boys are zooming around, getting their energy out.

When we arrived at the cabin on our first day it was kind of gloomy and cloudy - even a pretty heavy rain partway into the day. The guys all went golfing before the rain and we hung out with the kids at the cabin with our friend Stephanie, her son Will, and her mother Kathy. My mom and dad have known Kathy since high school. They also own a cabin on this lake (which is how my parents heard about the lake) so they get together quite a bit during the summer. Kathy's daughter, Stephanie, is our friend who now lives in England with her husband. I hadn't seen Stephanie in 6 years, since her wedding. In that time we have had 5 kids between us all so it was funny getting together and our lives being so different since we last saw each other.

I hardly had my camera out this first day so I didn't get any pictures of us moms together. Here we are 6 years ago on Stephanie's wedding day.

Here are all of our children - Cooper, Jackson, Ben, Elizabeth, and Will. Will is about 14 or 15 months old.

I think all the different pictures in our photo shoots are so funny - it shows their personality so well! Will thought our kids were a little crazy. And they were!

All our boys wanted were the balls!

The bunk beds at the cabin are the favorite! Elizabeth slept on top, the boys slept on the bottom. Maybe next year we'll trust them on the top (but probably not!)

We just played with the kids and talked all day. In the evening Stephanie and her husband, Rich, were able to come over to hang out with us, while my parents went to visit with Stephanie's parents. It was nice to be able to just sit and talk without any children! :)

And so ends our first day at the cabin!