A Perfect Day

I do not think I have ever experienced such a beautiful, perfect day as today. The summer temp was a mild 80-ish, with no humidity, feather light breezes, brilliant blue skies with gorgeous puffy white clouds, and no where to go, nothing to do, but to play in the water and swim in the lake with friends. For a person who hates being hot, and frankly, for anybody who is alive and breathing, today was fantastic. We could have stayed out there forever....and today we nearly did!

The kids were begging to go swimming from the moment we woke up (which was an hour later than our sleepover guests because we are so lazy!), even though it was a cool 60-something....my kind of weather! We enticed them with the playset instead which was located on one end of the resort. My ever-impressive friend, Lisa, insisted I leave all the kids with her (for a total of 9 little ones---my two oldest are at home with Daddy until Monday) while I made a large grocery run for the necessary supplies to feed my family for the next 10 days. With guilt, I left them behind, with the exception of Laura who has had more separation anxiety than Tubby lately. The kids love Lisa, and everyone had a great time at the park. When I came back to the cabin, all the kids were content playing Hullabaloo, and my baby was settled on her shoulder, not even caring that I had returned. Gee whiz. On Wednesday night, he waved good-bye to me with a big smile on his face as I left for hockey. He didn't even shed one tear for his Mommy....my baby is truly growing up! (sniff, sniff)

After a very speedy lunch of hot dogs and chips (perfect beach food), the kids finally got their wish to play in the lake. They remained in the water for the next 6 hours! From splashing near the shore, to jumping off the dock, floating on noodles and inner tubes, to riding hydrobikes, balancing on fun bugs, peddling paddle boats and maneuvering kayaks, these kids were BUSY! They tried it all, and then started all over again. While most of the kids enjoyed all the resort has to offer, the two 4-year olds looked on in longing to try too. At one point, I brought them both out on a paddle boat ride. Funny, after begging for several hours to do something fun like the big kids, they were both ready to go back to the beach to swim after about three minutes. Silly kids! The two babies were enjoying the water and sand so well that they did not even realize that they were missing a thing. Both of them even took a long, several hour nap on the sandy beach....what a way to relax!

Lisa and I enjoyed visiting again (although not quite as easy to do with nine kids running around, swimming here and there and halfway across the lake). We had done our main visiting the night before, after the kids had gone to bed. It is about the one time per year I can manage to stay awake until nearly 2am .....it is our best chance to talk, when we have 11 kids between the two of us! The kids play so nicely together, and her kids are so well behaved, and such good helpers.....certainly very nice kids. We look forward to this trip every year. In fact, this year marks our tenth anniversary of "Watermelon Day" vacation!

I had better be off to sleep....after such an active day, we all could use some extra rest before our Watermelon fest tomorrow. We are also excited to see our Miami cousins....but I am going to have to come up with some really creative ways to hide Melissa's bad sunburn from my dermatologist sister-in-law. I kind of missed Melissa in the sunscreen line up this morning, and boy, does she look hot (in a very bad way). Poor girl. I feel a scolding coming my way!