[the Lake] Part 12: a "Few" Favorites

I remember being a tad {sad} that I didn't get to take more pictures on our vacation. I mean, even with help, juggling three little girls takes up just a little bit of time! But as I started going through them, I realized I had a "few" favorites that weren't included in the previous {11 posts!}. So as a {final} Lake post, here are some of my favorites!

{starting with sunrises}

{little girls gazing into the rain}

{with fun times throwing pine cones in the lake}

{and Addie swinging on the pool rail}

{sweet Cousin Kira}

{Grandpa helping Daddy calm the babies}

{miss priss}

{being outdoors with flowers}

{and butterflies}

{beautiful white fence lines}

{and of course dragonflies}

{and ending with sunsets...}

{...and rainbows}


{a picture perfect vacation in my book!}

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. Genesis 9:16

Wordless Wednesday: No Mommy. DON'T take my PIC-TURE!

[the Lake] Part 11: Fun Times

{long, hot walks}

{peaceful sleeping}

{fun times with great aunts}

 {sweet cousin moments}

{yummy food}

{and unexpected guests at the table}

{playing games}

{bathes with cousins}

{dancing babies}

{and serenading uncles}

{special Daddy time throwing pine cones in the lake}

{fun times}

[the Lake] Part 10: the Lake!

The lake was really beautiful, full of trees, glowing water, hills, and amazing sunsets. I'm pretty sure there were some amazing sunrises, but I never made it up to see one until the last day (picture to come)!

The owners of the house had a boat on site that we could rent. So we went on a rainy boat ride on Tuesday afternoon and a gorgeous {eventful} boat ride on Thursday. You might remember this post. Yup, that's what made the Thursday ride eventful for us!

Addie decided she was {scared} and didn't want to go on the boat. But her Daddy and I knew she was 1.) safe and 2.) with us and decided we would go anyway. That pouting lasted all of .5 seconds! She had a blast!

Because how can you not have a blast riding on a {boat} with Grandpa, Ms. Gail, Uncle Jay, Kira, Graham and Uncle Ron...

 ...and white heron/egrets

...and a deer with her fawn

...and wingback chairs!

On Thursday, when Addie, Uncle Jay, and I went tubing, there were even more fun people on the boat! Cousin Alan, Cousin Katelyn, Cousin Timmy, Aunt Millie, Uncle Jay, Cousin Kira...

Lauren with baby Nolen, Aunt Pat, Uncle Ron, Aunt Jan...oh, and Mommy :)

And I think most of us ended up in the rather warm water. I didn't realize how hard it was to tread water with a two year old grabbing your hair and swimsuit! Thankfully I ended up sitting on a life jacket and didn't go under too many times!

I finally got Addie to let me hold her life jacket or just her hand, and we were both much happier!

[the Lake] Part 9: Catching Bugs

I will be the first to admit that Addie has her Daddy's memory. For that, I am incredibly grateful, as it will serve her well in the future! For now, it tends to get her little mind stuck on things. And when I say stuck, I mean hyperfocused stuck! Animals are always in the forefront of her mind (I can't imagine where she gets that!), but I was a little surprised when she got really stuck on {BUGS}.

Little tiny ants.

Buzzing flies.

Creepy caterpillars.

Beautiful butterflies.

Web spinning spiders!

...and darting dragonflies!

They were everywhere at the lake. Apparently dragonflies eat mosquitoes; and if you live anywhere near the south, you know how bad the mosquitoes are around here! Whether it was the dragonflies or something else, I was quite grateful how few (none) mosquitoes we saw at the lake, especially with all that water (some of which was pretty stagnant).

So each morning, Addie would venture out with either Daddy, Gail, Grandpa or me and search for bugs! She learned to creep up on the dragonflies so she could watch them. She loved finding spiderwebs and seeing what was in them. But I think the thing that surprised me the most was what she did here:

She knew she wasn't allowed to touch the bugs, so she grabbed some pine straw and {played} with them that way...

(it takes a lot of concentration!)

As Addie would say, Want to see what I found? A string of mayflies. 

{dead} mayflies that were supposed to be some spiders breakfast!

Loving that sweet face.

I'm {sure} you're getting tired of Lake posts...but {only} 3 more and I'm done!