Wagons, Ho!

Our weekend at the lake was the kind of weekend that every family needs to have at least once or twice a summer, and, for us, it was badly needed; being able to relax with friends, to be in no hurry to get anywhere, and to completely unplug from the stress of our everyday lives was just what the doctor ordered and, while sore and sunburned and tired, we are all more relaxed than we have been in a while. And, I think I speak for Chris and Jana as well.

Saturday morning, we managed to leave the house by 7:00, which, is actually a record for us. We met Chris and Jana in Pixler, where we grabbed a few bags of ice and some gas before caravanning to the state park a little over an hour away.

We weren't in a hurry, so we made a stop at a convenience store at the midway point of the trip, which, is sort of a tradition for us when we go to this particular park. The convenience store is conveniently located near a taco shop that sells the best breakfast burritos (next to my mom's, hers are the absolute best, of course), and we stocked up on them to eat for breakfast once we got to our campsite.

When we got to the park, we launched the boats, sending the kids off to cruise around the lake while we got the RVs parked and leveled. It was the first time that the Man-Cub was solely responsible for captaining the boat and he did a great job. Darren was his first mate and watching those two motor off squeezed my heart like a fist. In a good way, of course.

Once we got the campsite set up, we all jumped on the boats for a really full day of tubing, wakeboarding, knee boarding, sunbathing, picnicking, rock jumping, and hiking the dam spillway for our annual spillway photo shoot. The kids were good sports about the pictures, as usual, and I got some really great shots. Chris wants me to do a side-by-side display of the photos through the years so we can see how much the kids have grown, so I'll need to get on that.

At the end of the day, we went back to camp for a cookout. I had marinated chicken breasts in a tequila lime sauce overnight, along with some chicken legs, marinated in BBQ sauce, and the guys threw that all on the grill. Jana made salad and baked potatoes and I provided a pasta salad and the supplies for s'mores and we were more than stuffed by bedtime.

 

The plan had been to set our alarms for 2:30 to get up for the meteor shower, but, Mother Nature threw some showers of a different sort at us and our visibility was ruined. We did get an awesome lightning show, however, so I won't complain.

Sunday morning, we rolled out of bed for coffee, mimosas, pancakes, bacon, and the fresh air that can only be found on a summer morning at the lake. It was beautiful.

After breakfast, we broke camp. Jana and I joined the kids back on the boats while Chris and Hugh dealt with the RVs. We picked them up at the dock and spent a few more hours on the lake before pulling out and heading home.

Since we were still in relaxation mode, we stopped at a park on the way home and finished up the last of the BBQ chicken and other food. The park was an old-school throwback, featuring a merry-go-round, swings, and a metal slide the likes of which you usually can't find, anymore and the adults enjoyed reminiscing about the death-defying acts that we engaged in back in the days of free range childhood. Poor kids these days, they have no idea how much fun it was to take your life in your hands on the teeter-totter.

After the picnic, we made our way home and I spent the evening catching up at the store and cleaning out the RV, so, it was safe to say that we had re-entered reality.

At least we have the memories of all that relaxation.