At the Lake

A couple of weeks ago, we made our annual summer visit to Florence, Alabama to see our friends, Heath, Tricia, Ethan and Cloie Trousdale. Heath's family has a lake house on the Tennessee River and they invite us over every summer to 'play'. We went over on a Friday afternoon and met them at Rosie's, a cool Mexican restaurant, and ate our fill while the kids sized each other up. It has been just about a year since we've seen the Trousdales and I thought it was very possible Tanner, Ethan and Cloie didn't remember each other because they were 4 1/2, 4 1/2 and 3 the last time they saw each other. Tanner had already asked me what Ethan looked like. I always forget that they may not remember events from when they were less than 5 years old!

After eating, we headed to the lake house (which is actually in Killen, AL - just outside of Florence). The rest of the night was spent watching the Olympics and letting the kids get reacquainted (which didn't take long!). Bedtime ended up being about 11:30 or 12. I know the kids had to be exhausted since they had just completed their first full week of school, but you wouldn't have known it.

On Saturday morning, we headed outside to the lake. They have the coolest two-story pier with a slide. Heath's dad is a big fisherman and he has a fishing boat there, and they have a wave runner that sometimes works, but we started the day doing a little fishing from the pier. Anna started to get a little hungry and decided to have a "snack" - YUM! Nothing like a little extra protein!

The interest in fishing didn't last long, so after donning swimsuits and life jackets, we all hit the water. Our family loves the water and my kids can have a ball just messing around in the lake. There is really nothing to do but swim around, but they love it. Anna couldn't get her head wet, due to an ear infection, but she was content to float around in her life jacket with the rest of us. Ethan, Cloie and Heath jumped in too. (Tricia just watched - she doesn't like lake water!)

Later in the day, Heath got the wave runner going and we all took turns riding it out into the river. I rode Anna and Avery - Terry rode Tanner. When we got a second turn, Terry rode Avery and Anna and I rode Anna (again) and Cloie (Tanner didn't want to go again). Anna and I were doing a "doughnut" in the water for the 2nd time when we tumped over. I felt so bad! Falling off didn't scare her, luckily, but it got her ear wet. Thank goodness it didn't make it hurt. I guess I'm the bad mother for doing a 'doughnut' in the first place (although it was pretty fun when we didn't tump!). Needless to say I did NOT do any doughnuts with Cloie on board. And I did not take a pic of Tanner on the wave runner!! Sorry, Tanner!

The rest of the day and night was spent visiting with our friends and playing. This 40 year old Mommy did jump off the "high dive" diving board on the neighboring pier 3 times. Avery didn't do it this year (maybe because Anna couldn't do it with her?) and we couldn't talk Terry into it either. Although Avery, Anna, and I have all done the "high dive" several times the past few summers, Terry is still counting zero on this adventure. We can't seem to talk him into it! But he did grill us a great pork tenderloin that night and we had a delicious dinner sitting outside on the back porch. After more Olympic watching and another late night, we all crawled into bed with the "good" kind of tired.

Sunday morning, I slept in a little. Tricia took their kids to church (they are going for perfect attendance), so it was our family and Heath still there. When I got up, much to my surprise, the kids had caught some fish! And Anna had caught a WHOPPER catfish that she reeled in all by herself. I hurried down to the pier and saw the haul! Although they caught 7 or 8 fish, they had kept 2 (very tiny) brim and 1 (very BIG) catfish. They were so proud! Avery and Tanner caught the brim, so they all had a turn at reeling in a fish! I was so mad I missed it!

When Tricia and the kids got back, we snacked around, then ate lunch and started packing for home. We had a great weekend with friends that are really special to us. The kids had a blast and already want to go back. We are blessed to have friends that we can spend a weekend with and it be fairly peaceful with 5 kids running around. When the kids get along, it makes all the difference and they all had a good time. We look forward to seeing them again soon!

Cloie (4) Ethan (5 1/2) Avery (10 1/2) Tanner (5 1/2) Anna (8 1/2)