Lake Life

As much as we love the beach, I don’t know if we love it more than the lake.  It began as the place Nathan and I would meet up for “date weekends” when he was a med student in Blacksburg and I was a workin’ woman in Charleston.  Then, it was the place we got engaged.  Later, it became the home-away-from-home when I was 36 weeks pregnant and bed-ridden.  Now, it’s our getaway from daily life. 

There’s something about waking up to this view everyday that just gets your mind right.

As much as we love our big cities, the both of us were born-and-bred foothill North Carolinians so it’s nice to see those mountains in the distance.

A day on the lake goes something like this… Cup of coffee with a view.  Breakfast eventually.  Suits on.  Saunter to water.  Load up boat.  Swim a bit.  Rest on floats.  Get on boat.  Cruise.  Snack.  Cruise.  Snack.  Anchor and swim.  Cruise.  Snack.  Cruise.  Snack.  Anchor and swim.  Discuss homes/land/vegetation/other boats/jet skiiers/potential alligator habitats.  Cruise.  Snack.  Eventually dock boat.  Swim more.  Float more.  Grill out.  Eat too much.  Rock for a spell.  Eat more.  Bed.

Evidence, in no particular order:

PS, Caroline’s Tinker Bell obsession runs deep.

Side note:  You will see lots of evidence of toddlers gone wild.  They get it from their daddy.

That right there?  Pure joy. 

I should do a “then & now” of this picture.  It seems like yesterday that they were in this exact same spot on the boat and couldn’t even walk.  *tear*

Another day, more of the same:

Tyler, one day you will just love that I put these kinds of pictures on the internet… but your Thomas obsession runs just as deep as Sissy & her Tink.

Daddy did it, so they have to, too.  Naturally.

You can tell that Courtney and Kaye aren’t as accustomed to their “physicality” as the rest of us… no telling what lake bugs flew into those wide open mouths!

Caroline loves to float on her back, if you couldn’t tell.  (Tyler is too busy being busy to fully extend.)

My girl was finally worn out and had to take a little siesta.

Tyler pushed through nap-free (as always), but by the end of the day, you could see the exhaustion all over his face.

After a little shut-eye, ‘Dusa felt pretty good, though.  (I once called her Medusa when she woke up with crazy hair and it stuck.  The first thing out of her mouth every single day is “make a pony like Tinker Bell!  NO ‘dusa!!”  On occasion when her pony tail comes out and the wild hair resurfaces, she’ll say quite pitifully “I look like ‘duuuuuussssssssssaaaaaaaaa, mommy, FIX IT!”).

To wrap it up, sunset grilling to celebrate Mimi’s birthday.

Group pic!

No seriously.

Be back soon, we promise. :)

Carb-loading the Turtles of Columbia

There’s a “secret” park near our house that no one seems to know about, well, other than the Southeast Columbia Tennis League.  Aside from them, we can head over any time we have past-prime-bread and feed the hoards of turtles and three really friendly Canadian geese in what feels like a private backyard oasis.

Tyler and Caroline love this activity, and I do too since it’s safe, outside, and FREE.

These guys are everywhere, and it’s pretty cool to watch all their little heads coming toward you once they realize there’s a bread-storm at the bridge:

See them?

This guy didn’t want to be left out either...  I liked his landing.

While I wasn’t looking, Caroline got into my pocketbook and decided she needed a reapplication of lipstick.  She wasn’t aware of the fact lipstick melts… and I couldn’t help but tell her it looked just beautiful!  Hehehe!

Tyler… my sweet-hearted boy…

All together now!

Once all the bread was eaten, it was time to look for special rocks and sticks.

These black and white pics were just me playing with my camera, but I love the first two of T & C!  I might have to do canvas wraps of them.  :)

After we’d exhausted all our park options we headed out to Chick fil A for lunch, which is their absolute favorite place on earth.  All in all, a good day.