Precious Moments in Life, Love, and Motherhood: Lake LBJ Vacation Adventures

We had our annual summer vacation to Lake LBJ with my family this past week. We had a blast!! We have been changing rent houses each year looking for the perfect set up. We found pretty close to perfect this year! We were in Granite Sholes this year, which is way up the lake from where we used to stay, but much closer to Marble Falls, which was nice for grocery shopping and random trips to Wal Mart. The house had 3 bedrooms; one for mom and dad, one for Brad and Caye, and one for me and Jim. Then, it had a bunk room with 2 bunk beds for the oldest 4 kiddos. The bunkroom was set off of a playroom, which kept the kids occupied when they weren’t swimming or sleeping! Dakota who is 2 ½ slept on the floor in her daddy’s room. Wesleigh slept in the laundry room, and Ethan slept in our room. HOWEVER, I use the term “slept” loosely. They didn’t sleep well at all!! It was rough at night. Ethan slept more in his swing than his bed. They were both so glad to come home that they both slept ALL night long!!! It was wonderful!

Last year we started teaching the kids how to water-ski. I actually picked up a pair of tied together youth skis in the middle of HWY 90 after Labor Day weekend 2 years ago!! Best highway find ever!! So last year we started teaching them. They did awesome. This year they did even better. After our lake vacation last summer, Guy and Jaedyn’s mom took them to some “ski ranch” in San Antonio, where they simulate skiing and other water sports in an attempt to “outdo” our family vacation! Whatever crazy lady, maybe someday she will realize that a FAMILY VACATION is more and the FAMILY than the great and wonderful adventures!! Anyhoo, Guy “learned” to knee board there. I use the word “learned” loosely, as learning to knee board behind a simulated boat is completely different. See, when you learn to knee board, you start out on your tummy, and then after the boat gets going, you pull yourself up onto your knees, then eventually strap yourself in and go from there… Well, at the ski ranch that they went to, they put him on his knees, strapped him on the board, and then lowered a platform out from under him and he “knee boarded”. Well, he in his 8 year old “know it all” attitude wouldn’t hear of doing it any other way. So, Jim strapped him on the kneeboard on his knees like he insisted, and as soon as they let him go, he tipped over and couldn’t get unstrapped and was stuck. It scared him really bad. However, we feel that sometimes kids have to learn lessons the hard way. We knew what would happened, and he was within arms reach of Jim the whole time, but the kid wouldn’t listen to reason, so he had to learn the hard way. He was afraid of the knee board until the last day of vacation. The little terd finally got on the knee board right, on his tummy, and within the first 30 seconds of his first try he was up on his knees!! He did really good and can’t wait until next year to try again!! He did well with skiing too. He got to where he could stay up for a long time. Jaedyn is a good little skier too. She pops right out of the water every time. She doesn’t say up very long, but she does a good job when she is up. Wesleigh had his first water adventure this summer. My parents bought a two seater tube, but we piled more than 2 people in it! He rode with his daddy, Guy, and Jaedyn. He fell asleep!! Jim finally had us stop the boat and get Wesleigh out because it was too hard to hang on to his limp, sleeping body!! He liked going for boat rides, and he loved swimming. He learned to say “1, 2, 3…JUMP” and jump off the dock to mommy! It was adorable and we did it 3,000 times. No sooner did his head pop above water and he was saying “gin” for again! Over and over and over!! Ethan didn’t get in the water at all. He still gets pretty cold pretty easily. So, he stayed nice and dry on shore. He spent time in his jumperoo on the dock, hanging out with nana and sleeping!! Thank goodness for baby monitors and nanas!! My mom spent lots of time fishing on the dock, so she was able to listen for Ethan through the monitor while we were playing! It was nice! Thanks Nana! Also, because he didn’t play in the water, I don’t have any pictures of him from this vacation!! All my pictures were taken from the boat! Sorry sweet Ethan, mommy will make it up to you!! I PROMISE!

I think the bigger kids had the most fun on the double tube. We would put all 4 in it at once. They had a ball. There was always one of them falling out! Then, they would pull each other back in by the life jacket. It was HILARIOUS!! It was so much fun watching them have so much fun!! Nana and Grandpa, I think it was money well spent!!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. Just the right amount of days, the right amount of space, and TONS of fun. There was water out the front door, and water out the back door, so we had to stay on our toes with Wesleigh and Dakota. Dakota is 13 months older than Wesleigh and Wesleigh is 13 months older than Ethan. So, I can’t imagine what next year will be like when we have a 3 ½ year old, a 2 ½ year old, and a 1 ½ year old!! Talk about a nervous wreck the whole time!!! The 0-30 pound life jackets all have the handle that is attached to the top flap…TOTAL lifesaver!! It was great to hold onto when he was near the edge of the dog, and it was great to dunk him over the side of the boat for a quick dip in the water, then just pull him back up!! LOVE THE STRAP!! It could definitely be something I got used to…Too bad I don’t believe in putting kids on leashes, because it would come in handy sometimes!

So, enjoy the many many pictures that follow!! Hopefully we will have another wonderful vacation later this summer!! But we are sure to have many fun times in between now and then.
I took tons of pictures, but it is SUPER hard to take good pictures when you and your subject are moving!!

I didn’t realize it until I uploaded all these pictures, but I didn’t get any of all four of the kids riding together. Everytime they all rode together, I was holding Wesleigh. So, bouncing in the boat with a bouncing toddler leaves no room for my $500 camera!!