A perfect day at the lake

Mom came up to the lake and spent the day today.  This was the first time in a long time that we've been able to spend this much time together, just the two of us.  We didn't do anything "special", but it was a special day.  I gave her the tour of Danny and Linda's house, and then we had lunch on the porch.  At that time, it wasn't too hot to sit out there as long as the fan was going.  After lunch, we just sat and talked and enjoyed the view.  Finally about 3:00 we came inside because it was beginning to heat up.  She crocheted and we continued to talk.  She stayed until almost 6.  I told her she should have brought her stuff and spent the night, but she doesn't like being away from her "babies" that long though (and I understand completely.) 

John is taking next week off and we'll be up for vacation.  Maybe we can get Mom and Dad to come up one day.  Mom and I will get together and plan it.  :)

I'll be heading home tomorrow.  I would stay longer, but bunco is tomorrow night.  Since I haven't gotten to go the last two months, I don't want to miss again.  Jess and Lance have a couples' shower Saturday that we're going to, but we'll come up on Sunday and stay until the next Sunday.  I'll probably go home Sunday, but I may come back the middle that week and stay another week or so.  I won't have many weeks left to come stay since I'll have to start back to work August 3rd.  Yuck!

I think I'm about to go sit on the porch and watch the sun set. 

Always remember, KEEP DREAMING!

Hotter'n three acres of hades

Whew!!!  It was  SCORCHER at the lake this weekend!  But because we had great company and great food, the heat was hardly even noticable bearable.  It really wasn't even the heat as much as it was the humidty.  It was almost impossible to sit out on the porch unless you were directly in front of the fan.

John and I got up there 7ish or so.  We went by Arrowhead first and got the boat out so we could cruise on Saturday.  It was nice to get there before dark, even if it wasn't much before dark.  By the time he got the boat tied up and came up to the trailer, I had the truck unloaded and was enjoying a Bud.  :)

We were up early Saturday, and it was already steamy.  About 11, I walked down to Danny and Linda's dock for some sun therapy.  We don't have a ladder on our dock yet, so getting out of the water would be a chore.  Climbing the rip rap isn't something I'd want to do.  It was so humid, I knew I'd be taking a dip. 

Susan and Tim came up about 1:00, and we went over to see where their new place is.  By boat, it's about a 40 minute ride, so that isn't too bad.  I thought it would have taken a little longer.  I told them I think I was as excited for them as I was when we closed on our place.  LOL  Now, the test will be to see if I will feel comfortable enough to take the boat out and head that way by myself.  Before that ever happens, I'll have to do a few trips with John as my co-captain.  Danny and Linda have said we can use their pontoon this summer, so I might feel a little more comfortable taking it instead of taking our runabout.  We'll see!  By land, it should take only about 25 minutes, so if Susan and I want to hang out and the guys aren't around and I'm too chicken to take the boat, one of us could make the drive.

After we got back, Susan and I jumped in the lake and cooled off while the guys headed up to start the grill.  John worked his magic on some rib eyes.  Oh my!  That was exactly what I've been wanting!  John is good at everything he does, but as a cook/grill master...he is hard to beat!

Yesterday we got up about 6, loaded up, and headed home because Jessi's future sister-in-law was giving her a shower, and I wanted to be there.  Otherwise, I might still be at the lake.  It's like I told John, though, you make sacrifices for the ones you love.  LOL 

I was planning on going back on Thursday after I got my hair "did" and staying until Tuesday.  Cindy, a friend from high school, and her husband Sam have invited a bunch of us from high school to their lake house to cook out on Saturday, but Jessi has a fitting for her dress at 10 Saturday, and she asked me to go.  Naturally, I said I would LOVE to.  ("Sacrificing" seeing friends I haven't seen in about 20 years, but I love my Jessi!)  I may leave from the fitting and head up to the lake and stay until Tuesday. John could go on up Friday if he wanted to.  He's been going so hard lately, he may choose to just stay home for the weekend.  We'll see.  But I'm thinking I'm definitely going.  And depending on what time Cindy and Sam were planning on having everybody over, I might manage to pop by for a bit close to the end of the shin-dig.  :)

Now, I need to get up and get busy.  Got to run to Auburn for a quick errand or two. 

Just remember...KEEP DREAMING!

Memorial Day fun

The summer has started! I had graduation Friday night, so the pups and I didn't head to the lake until Saturday morning. John had taken Friday off, though, so he came up then. Jessi and Lance came Friday night after they got off work, and Katy, Phillip, and Sam came up Saturday around noonish.

The weather wasn't as great as I would have liked, but on Saturday it cleared enough for us to take Sam on a boat ride. His first summer to visit the lake he was only about four months old, so he slept the entire time we were on the boat. Last summer, he was MISERABLE because he had to have on his life jacket, and it was H.O.T. and H.U.M.I.D. It was miserable for all of us, but especially Sam because of the life jacket. This time, he LOVED the boat, as you can see from the pictures below. From the time we started until we got back to the dock, he didn't stop smiling and laughing. He loved the "bumps" when we hit the wakes of other boats.

For his birthday, he got a Puddle Jumper, and boy, was it a huge improvement over the life jacket, and they are Coast Guard approved.

LOVING the boat ride!

He did not stop smiling the whole time!

Sitting up high
The lake felt GOOD!

No fear...he sat right on the edge of the dock and scootched down far enough to get his feet wet.

Testing the waters...

After slipping in, he still was right at the edge.

Sam doesn't seem to be afraid of ANYTHING. I think this will be a great summer for him to take swimming lessons because he loved the water. After we had all gotten out and were sitting on the dock, he was right on the edge. He would scootch out far enough to get his feet wet and then he'd ease back. We all knew that he would eventually scootch too far and slip in, and he did. (Don't worry...six VERY cautious adults were there with all eyes on him.) When he slipped in, he did go under...the Puddle Jumper didn't prevent that. I was sitting the closest to the edge, so I saw his face when he came back up. His eyes were HUGE, but we all clapped and called out "YEA, SAM!" Anything to keep him from being scared. Apparently, he wasn't too scared because he was right back at the edge just minutes later. I think he'll be jumping off before the end of the summer.

Katy, Phillip, and Sam left yesterday, and Jessi and Lance left just a little while ago, so now, it's quiet here. I have a feeling that we'll have many fun-filled and family-filled weekends, though. Jessi and Lance won't have as many chances to come up with the wedding, but once they are an old married couple and the parties and showers are over, they'll get to come up more. :)

It looks like the sun is trying to peep through the clouds, so I think I'll suit up and head to the dock.

As always, KEEP DREAMING!

A beautiful, but cool, weekend

It was a gorgeous weekend at the lake, but it was very breezy! If you weren't in the sun, you needed sleeves. So I sat in the sun as much as possible. :)

Danny, Linda, and Billie came out and stayed most of the afternoon. It was good for Billie to get out. I was surprised she came because she doesn't leave her house that much. She says she wants to go places, but when anybody tries to get to her actually go, she has reasons why she can't. About 3, she started worrying about getting back home though.

John and I fished for a while late yesterday afternoon. We each caught about six bream. Most of them were of the "catch and release" size, but a couple were "catch and grease" size. We released them though. We flung a few crickets this morning, too, but they weren't biting. John got two really small ones.

We waited until just after noon before we packed up and headed back to Dadeville. John may have to work Friday night, but I'm really hoping he won't. I could go back without him, but I'd rather not. :)

Gotta go and get ready for a new week. Only three more until summer vacation!

Keep dreaming!

Home, Sweet Home

We got "home" about 8:30 last night, and boy, was it nice! We would have gotten here sooner, but we needed to make a grocery run. My plan was to buy what we'd need so we didn't have to stop, but that just didn't happen this week.

We got up about 6:30. At "real" home, getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday when I didn't have to would irritate me beyond belief. It's so different here, though. Most of the time, I WANT to be up early so I can enjoy the lake. The water is usually so calm that early. This morning, though, it is quite breezy. I hung my wind chimes out, and they haven't stopped ringing.

With the wind blowing, it's pretty cool. That's a VERY welcome change from yesterday, though, when it was so humid. After the extremely cold winter, I said I wouldn't complain about the heat, but I never said I wouldn't complain about the humidity. hahaha

I have only three more weeks of school (woo hoo!!!) before I can "move" up for the summer. Well, that's not entirely true. My last day of work is June 1 (but that's a make up professional development day, and I might be sick. I'm beginning to feel a little feverish. LOL) On June 2, my three sisters-in-law and one of my nieces and I are going to Gulf Shores. John is thinking his neck surgery will be the next week, and if the doc says it will be okay, we'll come here once he's out of the hospital. He'd much rather recuperate here than in Dadeville. The view is quite a bit nicer.

Guess that's it for this morning. I need to grade a few research papers so I can emjoy my afternoon. The dock is calling my name, but it still just a touch too cool, and the dock isn't in the sun yet.

Have a GREAT day, and

KEEP DREAMING!

Night sounds

I love night sounds. Not just any night sounds...not a fan of the night sounds in the city...I love the night sounds out in the middle of the country--frogs croaking, crickets chirping, owls hooting (not screeching, though). And when we're here at the lake, I get to hear lots of night sounds.

We didn't get here until about 8:30 last night, so we unloaded (well, I unloaded...not about to let John do anything that could possibly screw up his wrist) and then we sat on the porch for a bit. The frogs were in grand form. Danny and Linda had left some crickets on the porch, and they were doing a lot of leg rubbing. No owls hooted, though, and fortunately, we didn't hear any coyotes yipping.

We opened the window in the bedroom before we went to bed, so I got to fall asleep to the sounds that I love. These are the sounds of my childhood.

Welcome back to the lake!

Yeah, I meant to make this post TWO weeks ago when we were AT the lake, but that didn't happen, and then last week I was exhausted from getting back into the swing of things.

We went up to the lake on the Tuesday I was out for spring break and stayed until last Sunday. The weather wasn't quite as nice as we'd have liked, but most all day Friday and then Saturday afternoon were perfect early spring days.

From here on, until it's too cold, we'll be "laking it" most every weekend, so hopefully I'll have some fun posts. =) We were at John's mom's this weekend, so the pictures are from week before.

I'm not sure these will be the permanent homes for the rooster and the flying pig, but for now, this will do.

We have a pair of ducks who live nearby. They swim by our place every morning and every afternoon. I hope to get some more pictures that will be better.

Ahhh...I love kicking back on the dock with a good book.

This is our "new" walkway and dock. It needs work, and we will be adding a covered boat slip, but for now, it serves my purpose JUST FINE. =)

It is always 5:00 somewhere...