Weekend at the Lake with Friends

For the past three summers, my best girlfriends Val, Ashley and I have gathered at our lake cabin for a weekend of fun together with our families. This year, sadly, Ashley wasn't able to make the trek from Nebraska as she recently had a new baby girl and used all of her vacation days on maternity leave. New baby trumps a Wisconsin lake vacation by a million (!!) so Val and I completely understood Ashley's change in plans this year, but we definitely missed Ashley and family during our annual get-together at the lake this past weekend.

Also different this year -- Val and her family rented their own cabin for the summer on Pipe Lake, the same lake as us, so they didn't stay with us over the weekend. Instead, we planned a fun-filled day for our crew on Saturday, which included a trip to the Turtle Lake County Fair, lunch at our cabin and dinner over at their place.

Saturday morning we met in nearby Turtle Lake for a park play date, and to go to the carnival. Andi and I have been coming to this fair for years and we like how small and low-key it is, especially in the daytime. Perfectly manageable with young kids like ours. (This year, Kasen is 4 years old, Tory and Linden are 3 years old, and Lucy and Aden are both 1 year old).

I love comparing photos of these three over the years. From babies to big kids in the blink of an eye!

This year, Tory (and Kasen and Linden) were big enough to ride several of the carnival rides by themselves. It was an exciting and nerve-wracking moment in parenting for me to stand by and watch Tory climb up onto a ride and be buckled into the seat belt all by herself. What if the ride went too fast? What if she needed me?! I was "that mom" shouting commands to my kid through the fence ... "Keep you seatbelt buckled, Tory! Stay seated the whole time!" She did great, though. The kids had a blast! 

Tory and Linden won matching blow-up princess dolls playing the "fishing game" and were over the moon about their new toys. Meanwhile, it took Andi's full concentration to keep Aden from diving head-first into the swimming pool filled with plastic fish. That crazy kid!

After the carnival, everyone came back to our cabin for sloppy joes and an afternoon playing in the sun. The kids had so much fun swimming together in the lake, and Val and I had a great time sunning ourselves on the floating dock.

We capped off the evening with a BBQ and s'mores at Brionn and Val's cabin. It's was really fun and different to see the Pipe Lake we love from a different viewpoint. It made me think about how many other people are gazing out over the same waters having made /or are making cherished memories of their own. Love!