I have some of the very best memories from when I was little at the lake. We used to live on a small lake in Tuscaloosa county. Even after we moved, we still spent a lot of time there on the weekends and in the summer because we had (and still do) have a LOT of family there. I learned to waterski when I was 4! Waterskiing, riding the inner tubes, and just swimming in the lake was the most fun. Now, my kids are able to do all of these same things. Different lake, different boat, different time for sure – but same amount of fun and memories being made!
I love the 4th of July! It is a great holiday to just sit around with the Fam, chill and of course EAT! The lake is the perfect place to do all of this. My cousin, Cori, and her family came up to spend the day with us. Everyone had a lot of fun. Chace and Dylan took turns trying to stay up on the waterskis. Then they moved on to the one person tube. Todd was making it his mission to throw them off. Dylan learned a hard lesson while flying by the dock on one of his rounds – tie your swim trunks tighter!! Cori and I were just walking down to the dock when he was riding and all of a sudden, all we see is a bright white hiney streaking by! I haven’t laughed that hard in quite some time. His swim trunks were stripped off and then he couldn’t let go because his hand was stuck in the handles of the tube. It was a priceless Kodak moment, too bad we hadn’t gotten down there 10 minutes sooner. I probably would have had the video camera going, and that would definitely be YouTube worthy! Dakota and Lael rode the 4-Ball tube, Lael loving every second of it. Dakota was more like Caeden, not exactly thrilled. Madyson spent all of her time in the water with Chris. She didn’t want to get out for anything!! Cori and I got on the 4-Ball too. Todd slung her off one time and I didn’t even realize that she was gone. Fun times!
We are going to continue the fun we had in Chattanooga at the lake for a week. Todd is off on Monday for the July 4th holiday, so he will stay til then, then he will have to go back to Huntsville without us. We will stay at the lake, hang out and enjoy! Today we mostly just sat on the dock, taking turns riding the tubes and waterskiing. When it got dark we settled in on the dock to watch the fireworks show from across the lake at Cedar Bluff. It was awesome! I thought we would be able to hear them much more clearly though, but Dad said that it was farther than it looked. I tried to get pictures of the fireworks, like I do every year. But, I failed again, like I do every year! I did get a great shot of the Fam though!
Caeden has been asking of Dylan could go with us to the lake for a while now. This weekend was the perfect time to try it out, we were only going to be there for an overnight stay so it would be nice to ease them into it without a full weekeds worth of time to get into trouble!Â
We spent Easter weekend at the lake this year. It was really nice just to hang out with the family, not worry about getting all dressed up to go to church and all that. Plus, the huge yard has so many hiding places for eggs!! The twins were their usual way competitive selves while hunting eggs though, so it almost made that part not fun. It is always like that with them. They are competitive about everything – but egg hunting takes it to a whole other level.Â
On Sunday the kids fished a little more and Caeden finally caught a few fish, he was quite happy. Bailey also had an adventure. She loves to explore, and will disappear so quickly. She LOVES being at the lake, I mean really loves it. She thinks it is the coolest place, all the new smells and stuff, she just goes crazy when we arrive and any time we are outside, her nose is to the ground.Â
Today I got a few pictures of everybody fishing. Caeden and Lael were not happy because they weren’t catching many. Todd and Chace were reeling them in, one after another. I also got some pictures of the beautiful sunset. I had planned on taking several as the sun started to set, but once it started – man, it went fast!
We’ve really been enjoying going to the lake. There is still plenty of work to be done, and each time we go we do a bit more. This is the first time I’ve seen the hardwood floor complete. That was a huge job and everybody involved is glad it is finished. This is the kitchen and living room.
This is also the first time that the twins got to ride in Poppy’s boat. They absolutely loved it. You could hear them hooting & hollering all across the lake.
The lake house is and will be for a while, a work in progress. It is wonderful and is going to be so much fun this summer, but there is still a lot of work to be done. This weekend at the lake, I got a picture of the hall bathroom that Heather and Shaw did a complete makeover on. The bathtub that was in there felt like it was going to go right through the floor when you stepped into it. So, they just ripped the whole thing out, expanded the area a bit and tiled a new shower. It is awesome! For the kids bedroom we bought bunkbeds. The room is just big enough to hold 3 sets of bunkbeds, which gives all the kids a bed, plus one extra.  They have been working on putting the beds together, and this particular one was giving Dad fits. He had to call in support. I thought it was funny that it was taking 5 people to put one bed together, so I had to snap a picture. I have been working on powerwashing the crud that has built up on the sidewalk and seawall for the last decade or so. I don’t think that the people who owned this place before us did any yard work or any work on the dock and seawall. I love to powerwash, it is so satisfying to spray the gray away, or in this case, the black gunk! Here is the seawall, and you can see the line where I stopped powerwashing, it will be way underwater in the summer, so you won’t be able to see it then.
Last picture is one of a tree trunk that Chace and Dylan drug in from the lake.  It was just floating along, and they wanted it to compete with the one that Mallory towed in a few weeks ago.Â
My Dad has been talking about finding a lake house for quite some time now. The hunt intensified in the past few months and we made many trips up to Lake Weiss to look at different houses. We decided on Lake Weiss because it is centrally located for my parents, my sister and her family and us. We finally found one and have all gone in together to buy it. It is absolutely perfect for us. It has 3 bedrooms and we are building a wall to turn the dining room into a bedroom for the kids. The lot the house sits on is beautiful, quite a bit larger than Dad wanted (translated means more grass to mow!) But, it slopes gently down to the water, has lots of water frontage and is on deep water. There is plenty of work to be done on the inside of the house, but with all of us we can get it done.Â
I have some of the very best memories from when I was little at the lake. We used to live on a small lake in Tuscaloosa county. Even after we moved, we still spent a lot of time there on the weekends and in the summer because we had (and still do) have a LOT of family there. I learned to waterski when I was 4! Waterskiing, riding the inner tubes, and just swimming in the lake was the most fun. Now, my kids are able to do all of these same things. Different lake, different boat, different time for sure – but same amount of fun and memories being made!
