Saturday, July 12, 2014

family reunion at the lakehouse



when i was a teenager, our family owned a lakehouse up on lake cavanaugh. we sold it about 12 years ago and last year, i was looking on VRBO and noticed that it was for rent. for christmas, my parents gave us all the best present ever and rented it for a week. the week of the fourth of july, no less, which is only the best week up at the lake.

after much waiting, the week finally arrived. my family all drove up from utah and last sunday, we headed up to the lake together. this is our convoy leaving our neighborhood:


there is no cell phone reception, and no internet up at the lake, which means that we spent a lovely, quiet week together, catching up and hanging out without any distractions. it also means that instead of just using my camera phone, as i've become bad about, i actually got out my nice camera and took tons of pictures. i also didn't get to instagram up there, which means that i was actually good about posting these pictures on my blog. you can thank me later.

let me warn you, there are a lot of pictures. this is only a fraction of what we actually took, but it still is a lot. i didn't even attempt to put them in any kind of order.


 













 




























 










 












you can't beat the fourth of july up at the lake. i have yet to see even a municipal firework show that wows me as much as the one up at the lake. not only did we get to see a great show from our dock (care of the nearby reservation fireworks stands), but you get to see everyone else set off their fireworks around the lake. this year, there was one house that had a spectacular show. someone told us that they spent over $40,000 on fireworks, and i totally believe it. it was amazing.








this was that one house i mentioned. it looks kind of like a fireball here, but it was much better in person.

















we also took some family pictures while we were up there.





























my dad let diane pick out this pony at the community garage sale they were having up at the lake. she didn't let it out of her sight for the rest of the week.
























attempts at a shot of the cousin, wherein i am made to look especially attractive.









this was taken right after diane got in the water for the first (and last) time. she is used to a pool heated to 84 degrees, so the admittedly cold water was a bit of a shock for her. she and jonathan spent their time on the shore and dock, but did not get in to swim. madeleine, on the other hand, was a fish.









































































if you made it to the end, i'm impressed. we had such a fantastic week. it was so relaxing, everyone got along great, and it was so fun to share a place that is so special to me with randy and the kids. it was fun to think about all of the fun memories that i have there from before and to make lots of new memories.