At the Lake

The girls and I spent a few days at High Rock Lake with my friend Casey and her kids this past week. It was so nice to just get away and relax a little. The weather was beautiful. The kids all were excited to see each other and had a great time playing together. 

We would play all day on the deck, in the yard, but mostly in the water. The kids were so tired by the end of the day inevitably at least one them fell asleep before we could get dinner done.

Casey and I stayed up most nights, not too late, but just a little later than the kids, enough time to straighten up some and to chit chat. It was really nice.

And while Casey and I try not to go too long between getting together with and without the kids, it was definitely a treat to hang out for a few days. My girls really warmed up, gave up the shyness, and were really themselves around Casey (in both good ways & bad!! Ha!). And I felt like her cuties were more comfortable around me too. It brought smiles to both of us I think to see their little personalities and to also see them all play and get along so well.

 Casey's husband arrived Friday night and Ed came for just the day on Saturday. The picture above and below are sweet little Bridgette on the jet ski for the first time with her daddy. She just turned one in May. I could not believe how relaxed and chilled she was about being on the noisy jet ski out in the water.

 The Daddy's did some fishing off the pier with the kids. Gus was super excited. Anna seemed just okay with it - not nervous but not overly excited either. My girls were a whole different story. After Gus caught his first fish and my girls saw it flippin' and flappin' all around, they completely freaked out. Samantha would not come near the pier. Gabrielle barely held onto the rod once. She caught a fish but as soon as Ed held it up to her for her to see, she completely lost it again!!

 And this is little Bridgette again, making a complete mess of her lunch. In the picture above she is turned around laughing at the older kids. She was such a little copy cat and always got such a kick out of the older kids. So cute!

On Sunday morning we went to church service at the lake. The Methodist churches formed the High Rock Lake Ministry. Every summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day, they hold church service under a shelter on the lake. An intern from Duke Divinity comes each summer. There is nothing like attending church early Sunday morning, sitting outside where you can see, hear and feel all of the beauty God created. I absolutely love it!

After such a nice weekend, I will admit it is difficult to get back to reality - laundry, dirty dishes, cooking, errands, work - all of the day to day normal stuff and responsibilities. But I'll just have to manage through it and keep in my mind looking forward to our next little summer get away.