{Missouri} Lake Visits

2018

2017

2016

2015  - ?!?!?!

2014 - Nate's first year (so uncomfortable in that life jacket!)

2013 

2012

2011

2010

2009

2000 - 2008 - we think were all at the same place, 2001 and 2002 may have been elsewhere

I'm trying to make a collection of all our photos (or at least the highlights!) from every year and making a small book through Shutterfly or a regular photo album. It'd be fun to flip through every year. 

Side note - I also thought about doing that for major holidays and/or birthdays. Like one page per scrapbook/photo album for year for the kids' birthdays, Halloween (to compare costumes!) and Christmas (which we already started). After so many years, I could make it into a book instead of a photo album. 

How do you store your photos? Do you do books or photo albums? Or are you all digital? I've lost many photos after computers have crashed so I'm trying to print all my favorites and save them "to the cloud". Some day I'll figure out how to get photos off three old computers - one of which is literally just the hard drive, not an actual laptop anymore. 

{Missouri} Lake Trip 2018

Happy Monday!

We just came back from a crazy, busy weekend. We spent the majority of the time on the water at our favorite lake and it's NOT the Lake of the Ozarks. That lake is crazy!

My mom bought a vintage boat a couple years ago and it finally saw this lake. It's been to other places, just not on vacation. 

My girl!

This crazy boy and his amazing hair. 

Lily really wanted to jump off the cliff last year but we didn't let her. This year though, we decided to go check it out and see if she wanted to do it. She was a little nervous but decided to go. She ended up loving it and said its was her favorite part of the trip and what made the day "the best day ever!" She also finally learned how to skip a rock and was successful and caught her first fish! 

And no, Doug did not throw her in even though it kind of looks like it. He was about to jump off himself. 

And Mr. Nate had his first this weekend - first time on the tube. I got a few good photos of them but I like the lighting of this one. They were so happy and excited but definitely could feel it the next day. We are looking into buying the type of tube that the kids can sit up on. This tube has been around since I was in high school. 

And my girl, loving some time alone with my parents (and me). Doug stayed back with Nate who was passed out in the cabin. Lily loves to drive the boat and has become really good at it. She was standing up here to see the trash in the lake that turned out to be a beer can and coozy that my dad picked up. 

And the weekend continued with another first with Lily. She went off to Girl Scout Camp. This road leads to her cabin and little area for them. It's part of a bigger camp and I hope she's having a blast!!! 

{Missouri} Lake Time 2013

In the middle of Lily's Big Girl Room remodel and our deck and everything else going on, we went on our yearly family vacation. We go to one of the local lakes for a few days, stay in a cabin, and enjoy my parents' pontoon. Some years there are more family, others less. This year it was just the 5 of us - my parents, Doug, myself and Lily. It was a lot of fun. We left on Sunday and came back Wednesday, giving us plenty of time on the water. Lily took swim lessons earlier this year and although she still needs more practice (who doesn't!?), it was a dramatic increase in last year's abilities. She could swim between people, her confidence was boosted a million times, and she was so much more comfortable in the water. She wore her life jacket the whole time without complaining (a big plus!) and was happy playing around with the four adults. 

So, here are some photos (minus the sunset shots that I'll show later) of the trip. For those curious, the red heart shape on Lily's forehead is the left over scar from when she fell at daycare a few weeks back. It's slowly getting smaller but it's taking its time!

{Missouri} Lake Trip 2012

For the past 10 years or so, my family has been getting together to go to a local lake. We definitely have our favorite lake and little cabins we rent from a sweet older couple. They aren't 5 star hotels by any means but they are great for our little getaways.

This year I didn't take nearly as many photos as years passed but that's ok. We also normally go for a sunset cruise but I didn't get to do that this year. As Lily gets older, our normal routines change to fit her needs. Maybe next year I'll do a sunset cruise with my parents. They make for beautiful photos!! And speaking of beautiful photos, these are shot with a 6 year camera that I'm afraid is on its way out. Some photos I swear will turn out great and they aren't, it'll make some photos blurry when I have everything in focus. It's annoying, but it'll do until I can afford a nice DSLR (mine's a Canon Digital Rebel XT and has been known to take some beautiful photos).

Anyway, enough about that, here are some photos. If you're family, you'll notice there are more on Facebook.

Last year we didn't go to this lake but did spend some time on the water, as seen here, here and here.

{Missouri} Lake Trip 2012

Last week we went with my parents and took their boat out for the first time this summer. We always like to do that before our family vacation that's coming up and with this weather, we needed it!!!

We stopped at one spot to go swimming but Lily couldn't touch and wasn't feeling it, so we found another spot. She LOVED it!

However, this is a look we get quite often from her...

And a crazy bunch of dragonflies on some driftwood.

We have a similar shot from the past 3 years and I'll get another one of their faces on our vacation.

Buddies...

Showing Lily how to kick and walk in the water.

There are a few more shots but they don't want to upload right now. I'll try again later. 

{Missouri} Lake of the Ozarks, Part 2

She's ready to go back into the water!!!

As we were swimming, we heard a weird sound and this was it... an Army helicoptor that kept circling extremely low to the water as if it was doing training exercises (we never could see).

And here it is up close. It got closer, but I didn't get a good pic.

{Missouri} Lake of the Ozarks, part 1

Here's part 1. I thought about adding all the photos from the trip but my computer didn't seem to want to do that tonight. I'll try again tomorrow.

Here's Miss Lily sitting on BaPa's lap.

Yep, she's driving the boat. It wasn't super busy for enough time that she actually had complete control. She loved it.

We found a different swimming spot halfway through the day and this one came with a pair of ducks! They definitely were people friendly and enjoyed some crackers and bread I fed them while they swam around the boat. Lily enjoyed watching them from her "green boat".

Driving the boat again, this time with Bapa's help.

She was really enjoying herself.