Labor Day at the Lake

Since Kylie's school was closed on the Friday before Labor Day, my mom took Kylie on up to the lake Friday morning and Noah and I headed up after he got off the bus that afternoon.  We left Waylon at home to do some planting and mulching in the front yard.  We had a landscape designer come out and give us some ideas as to what to plant and where so he was getting a jump start on that!

I'm pretty sure Kylie enjoyed being the center of attention that day - not only were Grammy and Papa there but also Roz and Duane.  Roz even helped her make some cookies that day!  :-)

Noah was so excited about going up also.  The first thing he said when he got off the bus was 'Grammy, Papa, Roz, Duane!!'  :-)  Fun playtime, dinner, etc when we got there that evening.

The next morning, we had another visitor on the porch.  We've seen quite a few praying mantis' recently!!

We went down to the beach for a bit late in the morning.  There were lots of friends for the kids to play with there.  We usually say how nice it is to have the beach all to ourselves but it was actually really nice to NOT have it all to ourselves!!  :-)  The kids were having a great time together - Noah seemed to be the ringleader while Kylie wasn't quite sure - typical for them.  :)

It started raining on us after about an hour of being out there so we came back for lunch.

Kylie learned to make the Wolfpack sign!

Luckily, the weather cleared up for the second annual Sandy Trace Fishing Contest.  We didn't go last year but I'm pretty sure we'll be going next year!!  :-)  Despite the looks in this next picture, Noah had a BLAST.  He caught a pretty big catfish (2 lbs, 6 oz) and it was the biggest fish for a while - until another little boy caught another catfish over 10 LBS!!!  Wow.  Noah won a trophy for "1st Place Total Weight" - which wasn't quite true but the other kid won the trophy for 'Biggest Fish' and wasn't eligible to get 2 trophies so Noah got it!  He was SOOO excited and even wanted to sleep with the trophy that night!  :-)

Watiting - very patiently

Noah's catfish!

My daddy - recently saw a quote "The only thing better than having you as my dad is my children having you as their Papa"

Kylie joined in, too!

Another fish!  I think he caught 3 total.

Love this shot of Kylie  :-)

Awards Ceremony

 

The winners!

So proud

Kylie got a participation  medal, too  (she didn't want to pose for the picture with the other boys)

Kylie's catch of the day - the minnows from the bait bucket

When we got home, Noah didn't want to put his trophy down.  Roz and Duane went to visit some friends for the day and he was so excited for them to get back so he could show them his winnings!  :-)

Kissing the trophy

So happy!

Sunday morning, we went back to the beach for a picnic lunch.  Love these next few shots - they are both so comfortable in the water.  I love it.

They both love jumping off the end of the dock.

This is the life!!

Good times

Friends for many many years!

Kylie pulling Papa in

They played really well together down at the beach.

Cutie Patootie - in one of my dresses from when I was little

We decided to switch it up and go to the marina for dinner instead of our usual lunch trip and that decision kind of backfired on us.  the plan was to ride the boat over there but it started raining right before we left so we drove.  It stopped long enough for us to feed the fish after dinner though!  Always a hit.

That night, Kylie read some books to Papa before bedtime!  :-)

Sibling silliness with the iPad

Monday morning was kind of nasty and rainy also so we weren't sure what we were going to do at first.  We finally decided on a quick boat ride which turned into a really fun trip!  We stopped at Goat Island - a little island in the middle of the lake where there are goats who graze!  They are really nice and people stop there all the time and pet and feed them.  The kids obviously loved that!  It's funny - we've been going there for 10 years and it's the first time we've stopped there.

Love my kiddos!!!

Noah feeding the goats.  Kylie got brave right before we left and fed them but I didn't have my camera with me at the time.

Swimming at goat island

We came back around mid-afternoon and everyone was happy to see daddy (and I think he was happy to see us, too!).  The new beds and plants look great so it was a successful weekend altogether, I think!

I've been back at my 'new/old job' for about a month now and in a lot of ways it seems like I never left!  My friend Jenn and I have always been 'brain twins' and we showed up to work one day last week looking like this - in fact, the sweaters are the exact same ones (we actually bought them together) and we have the same brand and style of jeans, too!!  :-)  Too funny.

One night last week, we spent some time at the pool.  We were actually the only ones there and the kids had a blast with that.  Like I said, playing well together - which ironically also means more arguments but that's just the way it is, right?  :-)

 

This past weekend was another fun one but that's for the next post!!!  Have a great week to those of you who actually still read this!!  By the way, thanks if you do!  :-)  I do it mostly for myself these days but it's always nice to hear when people are reading!