We headed to the lake, which is about an hour and half away from Augusta, right after work. I had a crazy busy day, so we weren’t able to leave quite as early as we had planned. Because of this, ALL of our friends arrived before us! Luckily, we were able to relay the lockbox code, alarm code, and other key items of information to our friend Darryl, who made it in no problem. 

When we arrived, the house was still cooling down since it was sooo HOT outside. We hung out for a bit on the patio, then started dinner asap. We had some cheap Sam’s Pizzas- which are actually pretty good, some Ceasar salad, and some brownies. You should have seen Jason and I the night before as we bought TONS of food for the weekend. We have never bought so much food at once! 

That night, we didn’t do much of anything except talk. We talked and talked and talked, which was so much great, especially since I haven’t spent quality time with most of these folks in FAR too long. Late night hanging out reminded me of the good ole’ college days. I’m so thankful to have friends where you can pick up right where you left off. I know it’s cliche, but its true. We finally hit the sack around 1:00 to get rested for the next day full of boating! 

The next morning, I went for a run by myself. This actually took a bit of bravery given the amount of loose dogs there are in our neighborhood. For some reason, at the lake, all the dogs live footloose and fancy free. Their owners don’t really care that they chase any runner or walker down and instead just shout from their front porch “he won’t bite!!!!”. This really doesn’t make me feel much better when there is a dog twice my size, running full-force at me, showing his teeth, but oh well… Over the past year, my family has developed a few strategies for getting these dogs to go away. Option #1. Yell at the top of your lungs telling them to “Go home!” or “Stop!” Option #2. Pick up a stick and wave it violently at them – don’t worry, no dogs have been harmed in this process! Well, since this morning, it was me by my lonesome, I decided to play it safe and actually run with a stick. I know I must have been quite a sight for those who drove by, but oh well- I don’t care- I made it home alive! 

Once back, we had a breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon and toast. Then the guys played a few rounds of pool while the girls did what we do best…talk 🙂 Soon, Jason was getting antsy to get behind the motor of the boat, so we all got ready and hopped in. We started off with a crazy tube ride with Lauren and Drew which didn’t last long. Over the course of the weekend, everyone got multiple chances to ride the tube. It was a totally different experience than normal, since this time, we would all ride until we fell off. Normally, the kiddos play things a lot safer, and ride and ride and ride, until they are sick of riding. This normally can last anywhere from 15-20 minutes! Here are some pics of tubing and boating over the weekend. 

One of the coolest parts of the weekend was that we had some people actually get up on the wake board! I was beginning to think that this was impossible, given that none of the members of my family had been able to get up – despite watching many YouTube video tutorials haha. 

Drew was the first to get up. We were definitely all cheering from the boat! Michael also gave it a go and got up his first time! Awesome! Angelyn, Brenda, and I also tried, and we all got soo close, but not quite up all the way. At least we tried! Here’s to next time! 

Jason was our fearless boat driver who perfected the craft of pulling people out on the wake board. Which also takes considerable skill. I’m am proud to say though that I did my own share of driving and even managed to get Jason off the tube with some crazy turns too! 

Some of the best times were had just hanging out and eating together. On Saturday night, we grilled out and enjoyed an amazing meal that left us all stuffed. We also had lots of downtime to swim at the dock and use all of our colorful floaties. I wish I had a photo of that! 

Thanks to everyone for driving through the middle of nowhere to get to Monticello. We had a great time!