Week At the Lake--The Recap

Every year I return home from our week at the lake with the same sentiments: that this year was our best year ever at the lake. I don't know how it can keep getting better but it does.

Last year I came up with the brilliant idea to bring a babysitter with us to the lake. With the rapid growth of our family over the past three years there suddenly isn't enough room on the boat for all of us plus our guests. Having the babysitter allows us to invite lots of friends both for us and the kids making the week a whirlwind of fun.

Here's a brief recap of the week:

Monday: Some of our good friends were on a cruise last week and left their kids with an older couple as babysitters. We took pity on them and invited the two boys who are Eli and Jonah's age to spend the first three days at the lake with us. They love to wakeboard and ski and had such a great time. They were so fun to have that I was sad to see them go on Wednesday. We also had Kariann's kids and Chad joined us in the afternoon. My mom came out after work and decided she was in the mood for a ski. One of the skis was missing a fin so she had to ski on two different skis. She popped right up and had a great time.

Tuesday: We had the Zorich family and the Taylor family come on Tuesday afternoon. We took the kids tubing and then left them with the babysitters while we headed to the river for an adult only ski trip. Carolyn and Rebecca both tried skiing on one. Both of them were up and we needed another day to have them skiing all over the place.

Wednesday: Emma became an expert skiier. All of the sudden she got it. She can get her skis on and in the water, handling the rope all by herself. In the late afternoon and evening we had all the YM/YW in our ward come. We had 20 youth, lots of adults and even more little kids. They all had such a great time. We got lots of great feedback at church today from their parents who commented on how it was such a highlight for their kids. That night Emma became so sick, sicker than I've ever seen my kids. She never emerged from the bedroom for the rest of the week. She had the Rotavirus. She didn't eat anything from Wednesday night until this morning. I felt so bad for her, but this morning she woke up healed.

Thursday: Our friends the Hughes and the Lundbergs arrived. Tony brought his boat and it had some problems that he had to repair before he could come to the cabin. Kelly and the kids headed over and we just relaxed in the water, swimming and playing. Betsy arrived later that afternoon with her kids. We go on vacation about three times a year with these two families and the kids are all like cousins. We've been going to the lake together for at least 8 or 9 years. We've lost count but it was so great to have them. We all love the lake and being on the water. The boys all bunk together in one room and they had a great time being together, joking around and watching movies all night long.

Friday: Tony took all the kids tubing while Jason took Betsy, Kelly and I to the river to ski and wake-skate. We had the most perfect morning, great water and lots of fun and laughing. The wake-skate was hilarious as were all our memories we have made over the years. Everytime we are together I can't believe we are so blessed to have such great friends. We stayed away from the cabin as long as possible. It was too perfect to stop. Friday night we went to the Coeur D'Alene to the resort and got dessert. Check out Jason's.

Saturday: Our last day. We headed down the river again without the kids but it was already crowded. Saturday is always the cleanup day and annoying to have to work so much after a week of such fun. We came home feeling grateful for all our amazing friends and a week of safety.