It Stopped Raining Every Once in a While

This past weekend, the boys and I packed up and headed down to the lake for some R & R (we certainly didn't head down there for the sun and warm weather). The boys LOVE going to the lake and hanging out with Mimi and PaPa, so they had a blast, despite all the rain. Here are some pictures from our Memorial Day weekend:

The boys feeding the ducks. These ducks are so trained. They showed up at the house at breakfast time, lunch time, and dinner time. I mean, do ducks not fish for their own food anymore???I LOVE these boys!!!My three favorite boys riding the Sea Doo. I don't which of the three likes it best. It's safe to say, it's a family favorite.Here are the boys having lunch on Mimi and PaPa's new covered deck. Until this year, the deck has been uncovered, but the covering is this year's new addition. Needless to say, it's a hit with the family! This family of boys, including PaPa, loves to eat outside. They don't mind the mosquitos as much as I do.Gotta love corn on the cob!My boys do!And finally, Tristan's new favorite pasttime...golf! PaPa took him to the driving range at the club this weekend, and it's official...he LOVES it! He now has his own clubs and is planning to take some lessons this summer. I know I'm his mom, but he was hitting it pretty well, especially for a kid who has never played. The next Tiger Woods? Probably not, considering he's starting at five and Tiger was already prospering at three, but who knows? It will be fun for him to learn and something he can do with his daddy and PaPa. Golf is a sport you can play all your life. Gotta love that, right?Isn't he the cutest? Of course, he was breaking the "collar rule". We made sure to send him in a collared shirt the next day. Golf is a gentleman's game, and he didn't look much like a gentleman the first day.Well, those are just a few of our snapshots. I hope you had a great Memorial weekend!

Lake + Friends = Fun!

Last weekend, my three boys and I headed down to the lake for a much-needed getaway. We haven't been able to go much this year because we've had such a busy summer. The fact that we haven't been down in more than a month and that we had good friends who were able to join us made this weekend even sweeter.
For Tristan, there is no greater place to go than the lake. He counted down all week last week. Friday couldn't get here soon enough.

Here are my two of my three boys and me right after we got there:

Jon and Karen, two of our family's favorite people, joined us Friday night. They don't have any kids yet, but they sure do love on ours. Our boys adore them! We are so blessed to have such awesome friends!!! Here they are on Saturday morning, right before we went down for some relaxing on the lake:
My sweet Tristan floating in the lake. Sheer joy!Karen and Tristan on one of our boat rides:Asher is a GREAT driver!
Daddy's first mate!
Tristan and Jon on the sea doo. Jon was amazed at how fast Tristan likes to drive. He said Tristan always has the throttle completely down. That's my boy!
Here are a couple of random pics of my sweet boys. The first one is a great "noodle" shot (that's what I call it when my boys don't have any clothes on). I just love noodle babies!And finally, my sweet grinning Tristan!We had a great weekend. We didn't get much rest because Asher didn't sleep well...at all. Aside from that, it was the perfect getaway. We enjoyed it so much, we think we'll go back this weekend and spend some time with Mimi and PaPa.

Our First Weekend of the Summer at the Lake

Last weekend was our first weekend of the summer at the lake, and we had a BLAST!!! Channing's parents (aka MiMi and PaPa) have been dying for us to get down there, and we finally had a free weekend. Yea! They have had lots of construction going on over the past several months as they've had renovations and additions done to their lake house. Friday night was our first night seeing the finished product...

It looks GRRRRRRRREAT!!! Tristan had already seen it and was thrilled to be able to show Channing and me his new room at the lake. As soon as we got there, he had to take us back. It is ADORABLE! The room is for the grand kids and has two twin beds and a bathroom. In true MiMi style, it is decked out in PBK (the new fish bedding...I think it's called Conor?). It is SO SO cute and perfect for little ones! The bathroom is super cute too with two pedestal sinks with white stools in front. The mirrors are from PBK and look fabulous.
They also had additions made in their living room, dining room, and deck. It looks so great and is a perfect weekend getaway.

As you can see in the picture above, Tristan, PaPa, and MRK had LOTS of fun on the Sea Doo (or jet ski as Tristan and PaPa call it). Tristan LOVES to ride it, and, according to PaPa, only knows one speed...FAST! Most times, he wants to drive. Channing said when he drives, the throttle is completely down.

Another favorite at the lake is boat riding. Here are MRK and Tristan ready for us all to get going. They were on a mission to find some ducks. We even had the bags of bread to prove it!
This was Asher's first boat ride (because I'm OCD about life jackets. He was too little for one last year). He wasn't too crazy about the life jacket, so it kind of affected his trip. I think he could do without boat rides if it means wearing that straight jacket...oh, I mean life jacket. It's a super safe jacket, though, and that's why I insist he wear it.Here is Tristan driving us all around. He's showing me all the property he's going to buy me when he becomes a super hero.Another of Tristan's favorite things to do at the lake is to water PaPa's flowers. He and MRK make sure the flowers have plenty of water to make it through the weekend.This was Asher's first pool experience of the summer. Of course, he had to show off. He has started standing up on his own and putting his hands up in the air to show his big accomplishment. He is SO proud!!!
Here is Asher's first time in the lake! Ok, so he didn't get all the way in, but he did put his feet and tiny hiney in. He like it, but the water was kind of cool.
On Sunday, the kids went fishing. I wish you could have seen Channing's dad and brother trying to get the poles ready...hilarious! Let's just say, in their family fishing isn't a big hobby.
It was SO cute watching the kiddos fish, though!After fishing, we went up to the pool at the club, and Asher got the chance to show off some more. See how proud he was?! On Monday, he actually took his first steps. He was beside himself with excitement!!!That afternoon, we made some homemade ice cream. Here is Tristan waiting patiently for it to finish.YUMMMMMMMMM!!!Ash looking down at the lake from the deck. He loved that he could cruise along the rails and look down at the water. He is my precious precious boy!!!Just a sweet shot of my sweet Tristan. I LOVE this little man!
Here are Tristan and MRK (in their matching jammies) playing what seemed like their hundredth game of the weekend. This time, they were playing Dinosaur (thanks, Josiah!!!). They had so much fun!
On our last night there, Monday night, we went to Sinclairs (formerly Kowaligia). It was a great way to end a great weekend.
I didn't get much rest at the lake (since Asher doesn't like to sleep away from home), but I had a wonderful time anyway. It was nice to get away from the stresses of everyday life and to enjoy so me of God's beauty down at the lake.
Tristan LOVES it there and has informed us that he would like to move there. With gas prices, I don't know if that would be much cheaper than our mortgage! In the meantime, I think we'll just visit often. :)