Lazy Lake Days with Friends and Family

We have spent almost every weekend at the lake this summer, some were three and four day trips others were just down and back.  Either way, we've enjoyed time with family and friends alike, making memories and soaking up summertime.

A couple weekends ago my sister in law, Grace and her son Theodore were able to join us which was a lot of fun.  It was a little bit chaotic being that it was my four kiddos, my sisters little boy and then Theodore rounding out our motley crew,  with just Adam, Grace and me to keep up with the six little people which is a lot when one adult is skiing, one adult is driving and the other is helping keep all the littles on their bottoms!  There were a few harry moments, with tears and resistance to being sunscreened up or not wanting to let someone else take a turn on the tube, but for the most part, it was enjoyable.

Here's an action shot of all the boys enjoying bouncing in the tube over lots of big waves.

Ava Jane was only interested in riding if we went "real slow"...which meant, barely moving; but she did it!

I've been coming to Lake Ouachita for more then twenty years, there's clearly always been big fish and slithering snakes, but this summer I've seen more then I'd hoped to see.  While we were skiing  we kept seeing all these pool noodles floating all around the lake.   We saw this one floating out near our boat and then saw a fin flapping on the water so Adam pulled closer to get a better view.   It was a huge Alligator Gar that literally was about 3.5 to 4 feet long with a snout like an alligator.  Just seeing this creature gave me the heebie jeebies!  (I wish you could see more of the fish in this picture but the pool noodle is attached to the head of the fish and you can see its tail...it was a big one!)

This little dude enjoyed wearing Emerson's hat.

We had fun just chilling in the water.  Lake days with cousins are the best!  There were water gun fights and canon ball wars which the boys thought was super!

Spending time together was really a treat.

We grilled out late that afternoon and enjoyed watching the kids play Ninja Warrior on the swing set.

Having Grace and Theo down for the day was really fun!

Then again this past weekend we brought some dear friends of ours to enjoy sometime on the water too.  With our eight kids in toe, everyone had a fairly realistic expectation of how the day would go, and there were a few harry moments sprinkled throughout with at least three different times when antibiotic ointment and bandaids had to be lovingly administered then there was the moment when we realized that our new tube had a slow leak---but other then that, the day went beautifully.

Here's five of our eight kids enjoying the ride.

We found a cove with a rope swing that quickly became quite a bit of fun for everyone.  The kids thought it was awesome, the dad's got to visit in the water (in between helping the littler ones grab ahold of the rope.)  It was definitely legs up and bombs away for a good long portion of our cove time.

Cooling off in the water was a hit for us all.

There was some knee boarding, skiing and wake boarding to be had along with plenty of tubing too.

Time with these friends is always enjoyable. There may be screaming, crying and loads of whining going on, but there's also tons of memories shared, laughing done and life being lived.  I'm so thankful for how both John and Carol speak truth into mine and Adam's lives and how they desire to live life alongside us.  We are truly blessed!