Carter Lake Trip 2011

The kids and I flew to Arkansas Saturday to meet my Dad, stepmom and siblings for a trip to Lake Oachita. Unfortunately our flight was not without a little drama...

In short - I misplaced my ID somewhere between check-in and security, it took tears and my Costco card to get us through, then our flight was delayed 2 hours (1 of those hours we were stuck on a hot plane), Knox threw up gummy worms while we were waiting at the gate, and the AC on the plane was out... Combine all this with the expected challenge of having to drive, park (James will be in trial when we return, so we needed the car), ride the shuttle - all while managing 2 kids, 2 suitcases, 1 duffel, 2 carry-ons, and a stroller and you can just imagine how tired we were once it was all over. What's more exciting than air travel with toddlers...

But eventually we got to the lake and we really did have the best weekend with family! We skied/slalomed, tubed, wake boarded, fished, cruised, ate, laughed, played a rowdy game of Taboo, and just enjoyed a fun time together. I grew up spending summers at the lake so it really is my favorite vacation! Such a great way to make memories...

I tried to get a lot of pictures, but my battery died mid-trip so a lot of these are from my phone and my step-brother Phillip's camera...

I LOVE watching my sweet babies fall in love with the lake also...

Knox was REALLY in to it this year.

The boat is his favorite. He always has to "drive"... He tickled me to death this year - he called ski boats (which is what my Dad has) "car boats", the pontoons we saw were "truck boats", and the house boats were "bus boats"... Pretty smart! We saw a sailboat yesterday and I asked him what that was. He said "Sailboat!" Duh, mom...

My Dad took him out fishing one night and he was able to catch a little brim... His first fish! Dad got a pic with his phone and I think it's just priceless...

We were out tubing one day and I was completely shocked when he climbed in and rode with me...

{All we had were phones handy for the pic. Knox and I are on the right.}

He's typically pretty cautious, but he loved this. And we actually went fairly fast. What a big boy he is!

Hadley is turning in to quite the little lake rat as well...

...And she's just so stylish about it ;)

She's always loved the water - splashing and kicking - and she was completely fascinated with the boat.

{Attempt at a self-pic of us.}

I had to hold on tight to keep her in!

Mommy also had fun. I got to thinking the other day that since I was pregnant all last summer I hadn't slalomed/wakeboarded/tubed in 2 full years. That hasn't happened since I was probably 5. It felt good to get back to it. Phillip got some good action shots so y'all get to see a peek at my competitive side ;)

I can do a few tricks but didn't get too crazy... Although my back is KILLING me today. #old

And...

A wipe out pic. I totally freaked mid-air!

My brother Nick is really good on the board...

I'd love to see what he could do on a boat with an actual wakeboard overhead tether.

And I was so proud of my step-brother, Phillip...

I taught him how to board and he got up in just 2 or 3 tries!

And here's just some more random pics from Phillip's camera...

{John is Knox's buddy!}

{Trying to get Hadley to walk. She is so ready.}

{She LOVES bottled water.}

{"Poppy's Little Cupcake" ...That's what Dad calls her.}

{No mercy in bumper tubes!}

{Attempt at a group pic with the camera timer. Babes were napping.}

Sorry for the picture overload - it was just a fun-filled weekend! We live so close to a lot of good lakes back home and everything in me wants a nice ski/deck boat to make family memories with... But I know realistically our kids are too little for a ski boat. Maybe we could find a little pontoon to putt around in for a few years until they're ready... ;)

We rode back to Memphis with the crew to visit some more until next Monday. We're staying with my mom right now, so I'm sure I'll have some more exciting things to post about soon :)