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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Post Denver Fun: Off to the lake

For 4th of July, one of William's friends (who has kids similar in age to Rebekah and Peter) invited us down to his cabin by the lake.  Because William ONLY got 4th of July off, we were planning to drive up the night before and leave the next evening.  But first - I had to get home.

The drive home looked a lot like the drive out to Denver...only...ya know...in reverse.  First we had the gouge-your-eyes-out flatness.






And then some windmills - which seemed like almost home for me for some reason.






I made it home about an hour later than I intended (shooting for 5, arrived around 6).  We packed like crazy and then headed out the door around 6:30 or so.  Not bad!

Ruth by the way, was perfectly fine.  She wasn't running a fever at all.  I was prepared to stay home with her if she continued.  I think the heat from being out in the triple digit heat combined with being overtired just plain got to her.  Throw in a little teething - and honestly there are a lot of reasons for toddlers to be running fevers. :)

So this trip to the lake was SO. MUCH. FUN.  It was with a bunch of family (Williaim's friend's extended family) and no one was afraid to tell the kids what to do.  It was WONDERFUL.

The kids were spoiled - but not overly.  They were allowed to BE kids - but safely.  It was the perfect mix really and I loved every single bit of it.  It was probably the first situation I was in where I felt it was ok to relax as a parent a little bit.  I know I tend to be anal, but usually there is a root reason.  Those reasons vary from sense of responsibility, protection or fundamental philosophy differences.  But HERE...here I could see that clearly not only were most folks reasonable, but I had a duty and responsibility too.  It was MY job to throw in 2 cents on the kids when I was around.

(I'm frequently the only one with kids...thus the 'responsibility' bit.)

I enjoyed every moment of it and hope I was a good guest and get invited back! :)

So on this trip, the kids experienced their first lake trip and beach.

The kids spent a little bit on the beach before they ventured out into the water.  Once they finally did venture out - that was it.  I don't think they hung out on the beach proper again.




A view.  Ahhhhh.



Rebekah with the little girl that was her age.  They have met before and instantly hit it off then.  So this was completely heaven for them.


Awwww...can we say "Awwww"???  :-)  I love Daddy-daughter...or...Daddy-son...I guess Daddy-Kid pictures! :)  They always make my heart melt!


Peter got a hold of this squirt gun and fell in love.  I think it was glued to his arm the entire day.


My view...beautiful scenery (above) and kids having a ton of fun (below).



So - the kids swam and swam.  I had to call them in to eat some lunch and convince them to take a bit of a break to get a bite to eat.  Then they were right back in the water swimming around again.  In fact, at  one point they swam out too far.  Luckily and adult was out there and brought them back in.  Whew.  This by the way, is the EXACT thing I'm talking about.

I spent much of the afternoon on the boat with Ruth.  She was pretty tired but there was simply too much going on for her to fall asleep.

I don't wanna nap!
 So I hung out with a fussy baby.  (William kept me company. :-) )  I'd get in the water with her, but she'd be cranky.  So I'd get back on the boat and she would be less cranky...but still not sleeping.  If I could have even gotten a 30 min rest in her, I think she would have felt so much better.

The beach
 We returned after awhile and hung around for fireworks and other evening activities.  The kids had a blast and quite frankly - it was really refreshing.  I can't say enough good things about the time I had.  (I tried to convey this to the hosts too...because often when I'm around a lot of new people, I tend to be very quiet.  When you are quiet, misconceptions occur!)

We drove home that night and arrived home around midnight or so.  I tried to stay up to help William stay awake - but I really just lost it.  (The drive was only about an hour too!)  The next day I didn't have to work so I let the kids sleep in as late as they wanted - with the intention of getting them to the daycare by lunch.  This would give me time to do laundry and pack for our last trip.

The kids didn't get out of bed (and I must confess...I didn't either!) until around 10:30.  We arrived just in time for lunch!  AND I was told the kids napped like champs that day too! I told William we clearly need a LAKE in our backyard!

So in our trip to the lake - I told the kids that their grandparents (William's parents) actually live minutes away from a lake.  They were completely shocked and didn't believe me.  (I wish I were kidding.)  As luck...errr...planning?...would have it, we were headed there on Friday.  This wrapped up our week of fun.

ILs had to work Sat so we hung out at the house.  The kids learned a few things on this trip.

First, William taught them how to unsuccessfully hunt for crawdads.  Well first - they learned what a crawdad was.  Then William told them he knew how to catch them...but his fishing endeavors were failures on this day.  They all had fun anyway.


Bacon on the end of a string...

Tried another hole after a failure with the first
William did take the kids to drive across the lake on the large bridge.  (Dunno the name of it.)  They simply were in shock that such a place existed to closely.  I couldn't help but giggle.

The kids also did a little bit of gardening!  They enjoyed picking Papa's veggies!


It was a completely awesome week.  I wouldn't have taken it if I wasn't forced (company shutdown).  And while I do wish I could have used that time off for other things - I am glad I made the best of the situation and created these memories with the kids.  Rebekah STILL talks about our girl trip and Peter STILL talks about the awesome time he had at the beach.  :)

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