Kittens From The Dark Side: Family Week At The Lake

I love the water!

And I love these people!

I bought a funny little kids' printer camera to print out photos at the cabin and it was a hit! It also saves photos on a memory card so I can pull them off or reprint them if desired. Esme especially was diligent in taking fun photos of people (the rule was that we only printed photos of PEOPLE).

Due to Canadian wildfires, this summer was AGAIN very smokey and uncomfortable as far as air quality.

It makes it harder for me to breathe and I only have mild airway difficulties, not "real" asthma or obstructive problems.

Grandpa and Grandma sent a photo when they were on their way!

My Dad had a medical issue the night before they were planning to leave and spent a bunch of time in Urgent Care, so they left a little bit later than they indented and my Dad wasn't feeling great the first few days of our trip, but he got better!

Esme helped me shop for the plant foods for our week!

She sneaked in some ice cream products - oops!

A big scary storm earlier in the summer flipped the pontoon at the cabin and destroyed it (the storm also messed up the siding and roof of the cabin AND the shed!)

My brother found another pontoon on Marketplace and was able to purchase it without much out-of-pocket cost because of insurance.

We had to figure out a way to get the old pontoon out of the water (non-functional motor!) and get the new one in.

Mark and Greg decided the best plan was to put the new one in, drive it over to our dock, tie the old one to it, and pull the old one back to the launch to put it on the trailer.

The new one is in the water!

Mark and Greg carefully tied the old pontoon to the new one.

They made sure neither boat would hit the dock.

She came right along!

They made it look easy!

My Dad was on the other end with the trailer to take the old pontoon away.

Markie was happy with his new boat!

Greg even drove for a bit!

We played Ransom Notes later in the evening.

The girls wrapped one of Greg's Faux Day presents with this wonderful artwork!

They were very eager for him to ride on the tube with them!

He's not a water person, but he said HYPOTHETICALLY that he might possibly consider it.

Here are some more things we do at the lake:

open Faux Day presents

have a camp fire

see the waterfall

ride on the pontoon

ride on the tube! (the red thing)

Fireworks!

Later, we decided we'd better go to WalMart again (there's always something we need!)

The next day was sunny and warm.

We started out slowly with snacks, smoothies, and games.

I picked raspberries!

Cora used them with mangos in her smoothie!

The girls are ready to test the new pontoon some more.

Mark found a very cool floating dock that we played on almost every day.

What fun!

Mark could pull it behind the slowly-moving pontoon, too!

Greg helped find some of the functions of the new boat.

The girls hid under the dock on the way home!

Cute toes!

I was happy.

The girls created an animal play for us!

(It was much longer than I expected, but the quiz at the end was HILARIOUS!)

There was much appreciation for the new pontoon!

Next day, another water adventure - tubing!

Cora suggested I try goggles, but I don't like them.

Esme continued to practice with the little printer camera:

It doesn't have a screen, so it's hard to tell who's in the photo!

Esme and I bought some flowers for Grandma and Grandpa because it was their anniversary during this week!

There were pretty lily pads right off our dock.

This one had a neat curly root going down into the water!

The time arrived that Greg was convinced to go on Big Mabel the tube!

I got on the Jet Ski in order to document this momentous event!

Esme is excited, Cora is organizing things, and Greg is pretending to be scared. :)

The ball prevents extra splashing and waves right in the face.

We even got a few sprinkles of rain.

There were a few breaks to rinse goggles and let Mark's gripping hand rest!

The girls made sure to check with Greg throughout his experience to make sure he was having a good time - and he was!

Jillian and the girls made the frosting to ice our Faux Day cake (that my Mom made earlier).

Cora happened to get some frosting on her face while enjoying some!

This photo (from the little printing camera) didn't turn out so well, but I think Greg might be the cause of that - I suspect he may have poked the cameraperson in tie ribs!)

We got to play quite a bit of Dutch Blitz, too - my favorite game! I'm not as good at it as Mark's family is, but I enjoy the raucous nature of it and I enjoyed the time together!

We saw this deer while we were outside!

Greg and Mark hung up a new fan in Mark's and Jillian's bedroom.

And then it was Faux Day!

Esme brought a celebration hat from home!

We all tried it on!

Some of the packages got decorated:

The lake was beautiful!

It was a chilly day, but Cora wanted to try some "tricks" on the flat tube. She said she wanted to be a bit "dangerous"! Of course we wanted to watch!

Mark is a very good driver!

We also went swimming near the beach and playground even though it was a chillier day.

We swam in to the beach so Esme could climb the pole and attempt to ring the bell at the top!

Esme got tired and hungry and a bit grumpy, so she pretended to be asleep (good strategy!)

I didn't mind a little bit of snuggling.

Cora was excited to try a snack she ate at camp this summer called clouds.

Here is a stack of wood from trees pushed down in the storm.

Esme got a kick out of wiggling during the photo so she looks like a ghost!

And I might have tickled her!

My parents had gone back to the Cities for a follow-up appointment for my Dad, so they weren't there for this photo. We missed them, but had fun anyway!

The next day was also chilly, so it was thrifting and garage sale day!

We stopped at the Lion's Club sale right next to Fairy Lake!

My Grandma and Grandpa got engaged right here!

The clouds were pretty as we drove to the next sale, at a farm!

We saw bison!

One afternoon, after tubing with Cora on the flat tube (it's one where the riding is done on our stomachs, which is not a great position for me; it's always made me nauseated and headachy), I got so sick to my stomach that I had to lie down after that until dinner.

Mark and Jillian took the girls over to the beach and found some playgrounds.

A park was discovered.