Labour Day on the Lake

 

I large portion of my summer memories are built on days spent at the lake with my family. G-pa would race us around on the lake foe hours on the back of the tube and we would still be begging him for more at the end of the day. I had asked some friends about the possibility of renting a boat together and they said, "Well I don't know about renting, but I have some friends I could call."

As our final goodbye to summer we went out the the lake with the Dyches family and spent the day on the boat with some of their friends. It made my so nostalgic. It had been awhile since I felt that at "home." The outdoors are my happy place.

They had all the fun toy and the kids had a blast! 

Roo was THE CUTEST in the itty bitty life jacket!

The kids were pretty excited to go on the tube albeit, rather nervous. 

 

Sprout couldn't wait to have his turn! The others were pretty content to just sit and watch. 

Sean & Paula (she stayed home with Callie) are the most generous and genuine people you will ever meet. We've had a lot of fun getting to know them better with year! 

 

I'm obsessed!

 Personally, Sprout and I could have stayed on the boat forever, but the vote was to come back to the dock and swim which was awesome too! 

This boy loves the water like his Mama.

E did a great job paddle boarding.... until she got stuck. Being the great parents we are, we chuckled to ourselves and tried to take her down from the dock. Another friend of ours just jumped into the water without a second thought and swam to her rescue. She was very grateful. 

 

Joe being the cool dad making everyone laugh in the water!

 

Duke, Casen, Zach, Josh, Sprout & E. It was the perfect farewell to summer and I was riding a lake time high all afternoon! This is my happy place.

Lake of the Ozarks - Day 3

We didn't rent a boat on Thursday which worked out really nice. We had a slow day full of hair chalk, family pictures, playing game and visiting. It was amazing!

Cousin picture only missing the smallest two (Millie and Ingrid).

 

Look at those stunning girls!

And those tough boys!

I think pouting Landon is my favorite part of this picture! :) :)

Or Kyle's constant "I hate this face."

Jakob the giant. This picture makes me laugh every time! 

Sisters in all the ways that matter!

I adore them!

Then we taught Charlie and Violet how to play Agricola while Sprout napped. 

"The Fun Aunt" Janet brought out hair chalk and it was a huge hit! Pa was looking very fancy. 

Gramma's was a bit more subtle. Jeff had to run an errand and Pa was going with him and Jeff said he wasn't taking him unless he washed his hair out. That made us all chuckle pretty hard. 

Hair paint turned into face paint pretty quickly. 

Sprout "napping" so he doesn't have to go inside. 

Uncle Chad brought a swing which was a big hit!

 Dad rocked some dutch oven!

I stayed back home while the boys took the kids to the lake to swim. You could hear their screams from the cabin. Turns out they found a snake in the water. No thank you very much.

Jakob pretending to be small. 

Another beautiful sunset on a perfect day!

Lake of the Ozarks - Day 4

Our final day was spent out on the lake and it couldn't have been more perfect! 

Surfing USA

Being preggers at the lake wasn't the most flattering next to all of these hot Mama's :)

Nap time for Sprouty, so he and I headed back to the shore. 

Captain Kyle at the helm.

We still had another night to stay, but everyone seemed pretty keen to hit the road, so we packed up and drove our three hours home. It was SUCH an amazing trip. I loved that everyone had their own cabins, that we could escape and put our children down for naps but still sit and visit. I loved that the cousins got to play. and play and play. I loved the Ozarks, the lake the outdoors. It was SUCH an amazing week and my heart is so gosh darn full!!