Our Family Vacation

For our family vacation this year, we went to the Warren's lakehouse. It was a wonderful week for us - it was a much needed time of rest and relaxation and family time.

We spent a lot of time on the water - it consisted of heading down to the water around 9:00 to 9:30 each day, staying until about 12 or 12:30 and then staying in until about 3:30 or so. We tried to save our skin and not be out during the hottest time of the day. Plus, it was 99 degrees most days so this helped. In addition, there was the FIFA Confederation Cup (soccer games) on TV that we had to watch, too.

Rather than tell a bunch of stories here, I'd rather show you some of my favorite pictures of the week. Here they are:

Boat ride at sunset. (Dont worry - they had their life jackets on but we had them take them off just for the pictures)

So cute!

They had just taken their "funny picture" which Julianna leaned over and licked Christian and I captured their reactions - I love this.

Christian decided to give the wakeboard a try. He popped up his first time. He busted a few good times too but by the end of the week, he was even going over the wake some. We were so proud of him for trying something new.

Rebecca also decided to give the wakeboard a try. She popped up the first time (this picture is actually from that first try - love her genuine smile) but struggled some after that. She would immediately go straight toward the wake and bust. She isn't quite strong enough yet to figure out the shifting of her weight to put her where she needs to go but she did incredible and we were so proud of her, too.

Julianna had some "issues" with wedgies this week, mostly because of her life jacket the and the strap that went between her legs to keep it down. This is one of the more "appropriate" pictures. Matthew said the others were too obscene and I couldn't show them!! :-)

Okay, this picture looks like Julianna is having fun, but it was "required" of her to ride the tube at least once a day and she had to alternate riding with Christian and Rebecca. She did NOT want Daddy to go fast or bumpy and she wasn't real thrilled to do it although we got a good shot here.

Julianna became quite comfortable with the water and loved to walk in at the boat ramp and then swim over to us in the boat.

Rebecca even gave slaloming a try. She tried pretty hard, but never got it. It was after this she tried the wakeboard and so she wasn't interested in one ski anymore!

We took MAggie with us - thought this picture was funny. She loved being on the boat with us but sometimes the wind was just a little too much for her..

Okay - here's a story. It was like Thursday night (our last night there) and Julianna came to me and kept asking where Maggie was. She finally found her and I asked her why she wanted Maggie and she said she wanted to give her a snack. After a minute or so, I asked her where she got a snack for her and she said, "Someone left some in that back room." I go back there and there's a box of mouse poisoning (the little pellets) and she said that's where she got it from.

I freaked out, called Mattew who was grilling and told him. He grabs Maggie and takes her out and attempts to stick his finger down her throat to make her gag. Well that didn't work, so we filled her bowl up with food and made her eat a bunch (which of course she didn't mind). Then our minds ran wild and we told the kids about it just in case she didn't make it.

So she came with us on our boat ride and the kids each individually wanted their pictures taken with her "just in case." I got some cute pictures and am happy to report that Maggie is still with us! :-)

Julianna, the attempting murderer (just kidding!) with Maggie

Christian & Maggie

Rebecca & Maggie

Okay - so it's very rare you'll see me without make up, but I liked this picture of Matthew & me and of course I'm rarely in any pictures and this is as much to prove that I was on this vacation. Christian took this picture with the new camera. I thought he did a good job.

One morning, Christian found this turtle in the yard. We're city folks so we were quite impressed with the size of him. Maggie went bizerk and man, that turtle actually went quite fast once we left him alone.

One day, we went into Rome, GA and saw and movie and went out for dinner. We also went by Granddaddy Warren's gravesite. We sure miss him, especially when we're down at the lake.

I think this picture is funny - Matthew cut off his sleeves so he could still get some sun but not fry his back. He NEVER wears sleeveless shirts so this just struck me as funny!! :-)

Christian drove the go-kart around and shuttled his sisters to and from the lake. Here, he even asked Dad if he could give him a ride. I think Matthew ended up with a headache afterwards from hitting the roll bar so many times, but Christian thought it was cool to drive him.

Julianna loved the rides with Christian

One of my FAVORITE pictures of the whole week

Another favorite of the week - my girls

Julianna and her Daddy on the "ice cream boat". For some reason, that's what Julianna calls the wave runner.