Lake in September

I should just give up, but I can't just yet...so I'll start twitching and actually let quality suffer. I had typed this up a while ago, but don't expect so many words on the posts to catch us up! Not everyone has facebook (I've loaded some current pics there), and even if they do they harass me about this (all for you, Luke :)).

When Jason was younger he and his family would head up to Twin Lakes and spend a week there. Obviously he hasn't gone in several years, though Bob and Eva have been several times without all the kids. This year, they invited us for the first week of September. It was wonderful!

It's about a 4-5 hour trip up there, but the drive really wasn't that bad. We stopped at Edna's (a customary stop) and got some pretty good fried food as well as yummy shakes. I was very glad we stopped because I got super car sick in the back seat. I had to wait in the car for several minutes after we stopped so the world would stop spinning. I don't know why, but my carsickness has gotten worse over the years. Just looking down to read something, or even just grab something, especially while going backwards, seems to instantly make me sick. Just no fun. If I hold whatever I'm trying to read as high as I can, that usually helps. But yuck.

Here's a picture of those rolling hills...and winding roads!

To get onto the reservation we have to cross the river. Zach was excited about the "big boat" we were going to go on. Actually a pretty small ferry, but I was surprised it didn't cost anything.

Us waiting to move.

We got out for a few minutes while we were crossing the river. It was windy!!

The little resort we stayed at has several cabins ranging in size. It seems like the place wasn't built with much thought as they are scattered all over, with mobile homes and private cabins mixed in. The cabins themselves are pretty shoddy (even Jason was surprised how his perception has changed since his younger years), but nice and quaint. We had a cabin with two bedrooms (we shared one with Z), a living room and full kitchen. Bob kept telling me we weren't going to have a microwave, but we did! We were pretty excited. It wasn't the best sleeping in the same room as Z (we just don't like it), but it worked out fine enough. He's just so loud, and we don't want to wake him up, especially if he can see us! I was a little concerned that he would wake up a lot because the doors were just folding and didn't even close all the way. But he did fine.

It took us a while, but we finally got everything unpacked and the boat in the water. Course we did this all too late to get our fishing permits - they closed before we thought they would. So no fishing that night.

Here's some pics the next day. I think all week long we had some scattered showers and overcast skies, but it was pretty random. But a good excuse to use Z's raincoat. I bought that in KY a while ago (obviously), knowing it was too big but too good a deal to pass up. I don't mind buying clothes in advance if it's cheap!
We brought lawn chairs and hung out just outside our cabin a fair amount. Z ended up with some greasy looking dirt on his shirt (several times), and we came to find out that he brushed up against the cabin - the outside was pretty nasty. Not sure it ever came out...

J and Z driving down the road. And when I say road, I mean gravel with all kinds of potholes and bumps. But they would drive down to the docks (really not very far at all) if we had heaps of stuff with us. Since we didn't want to leave stuff overnight in the boat, we had to haul the poles, tackle boxes, spotlights, plus random stuff every time we went out.

We did most of our fishing in the evening after Z went to sleep. Of course we couldn't all go out, so J and I took turns staying home. I ended up doing a lot of journaling and working on crossword puzzles. It was quite wonderful to not have a tv...I've often wondered about not having one at all. It's quite peaceful without it and forces you do find something else to do (hopefully productive).

Anyway, since I'm not sure who went out each night, I'll just chronicle our fishing ventures (what I can remember). I think I got to go out the first night, since I really haven't done much fishing at all (J was nice). I know that's a lot of what our crew did over Memorial day, but neither J nor I had licenses/gear or a good excuse to go without Zach. J's always mentioned he didn't really like fishing, but I've always thought it to be pretty neat. What very little I've done :). So I was excited. Bob asked if I knew how to cast, and I was completely honest and told him most of my experience fishing was on the Wii :). I used to make fun of Sean so much when he would come over and play Zelda just to fish, but that's what I ended up doing! I just like to cast and reel, cast and reel. It's fun to catch something, but I don't have to. The first night I went I didn't catch anything, but it didn't bother me any. I switched between several different lures, but they didn't like what I was selling. When I came back Jason teased me and my family...Luke likes to fish but really just sucks at catching them :).

I went out a few more nights and I think one night I caught like 4 fish. All little bass, but still, they counted as fish. Tease me all you want, but I felt bad for catching them! I kept trying to use the lures that had the least amount of hooks because I didn't want to hurt them. 'Course the only ones that I found to be effective had three hooks, and sometimes they would not only get caught in their mouth but their side, their face, etc. I don't want to hurt the little guys! So we tried as gently as we could to get them out safely. It was exciting to win, though.

Jason caught fish every night but the last, I think. So I couldn't tease him much about being bad at fishing :).

We usually went out right before or after Z went to bed, then came back several hours later. It was pretty cold, so we had to layer up (like snow pants and 4 shirts/coats). There weren't any lights on the docks, so we had to use the spotlights. Which were fun :). I just kept shining them around at stuff. Probably upset the neighbors. But one night, right about dusk, we had to get the light out because of a tangled line or lure or something (I ended up tangling my line several times, though Bob said it wasn't my fault - they was way too much line on the reel, so it kept coming off). And what would you know? Animals! I kept seeing these things flying around, but couldn't figure out if they were really small birds or really big bugs. Neither. Bats! Eva didn't like them at all, but I thought they were so neat. Just little guys, but flying all around us, even under our fishing poles, eating all the bugs. But the really cool part was that they weren't really visible until we had the light out - we would never have known! So I kept shining them, tracking them. It was really neat. I just thought it was so cool.

Here's Z eating. I think this is when he started learning the whole "cheese" thing. I don't think J and I taught him that much, but argh! He makes the most ridiculous faces. Hard to get a good shot!

Judge me all you want, but to be honest Z hadn't done much of his feeding up 'till this point. He wasn't very focused and it was just way easier for J and I to feed him. Not to mention a lot of the foods we give him are super easy finger foods. Anyway, while at the Lake he totally took over feeding himself, which was nice. He needed some encouragement to keep going, but he did great.

Speaking of food, we had such good food that week! We had planned ahead and brought everything with us (they have a little store, but the nearest grocery is 20 minutes), and planned all of our meals. I prepped everything I could, including our breakfast casserole (with biscuits, eggs, peppers, sausage and cheese), waldorf salad, quesadillas, pesto pasta, and I think chili and cornbread. We also had chicken cordon bleu, beef stew, french dip sammys and pilsbury orange sweet rolls. We ate well :). Bob kept saying we didn't go there to cook or clean, but man it's nice to have some good, hearty meals after spending hours on the boat. And I have to plan to keep a significant amount of veggies in our diet, so I didn't mind. It was good food! :)

I didn't go in the water at all (a travesty, I know, but it was cold!), but J did some stuff. He wakeboarded a little and went on the tube, but by far the most fun was watching Z tube. He said he wanted to go, even though like I said, the water was a little chilly for my taste. At first he was terrified, but then he got pretty comfortable with it. And for the most part we were pulling them just about as slow as you can pull without just stopping. I know there are many pics of Z and J on the tube, but it was pretty fun, not to mention cute!

Z just loved the buoy, so we drove by that a few times.

Waving...

For a few minutes we actually went a little faster. This part is always the worst, before the tube starts to plane out. Jason said he felt like was going to slip backwards.

So he ended up holding on with his toes :).

After Z got comfortable, he really liked leaning over and putting his hands in the water.


As I mentioned, Jason almost always caught at least one fish when he went out. One night he caught the biggest of the trip, though Bob tried to claim it as his own :). They kept it in the livewell, then brought him up...in a fishing net...before putting him in the cooler. Bad idea! Jason said he had lost some blood because of the hooks, but that long out of the water probably wasn't helpful. He wasn't too active once we got him in the cooler.

Here's a pic of J with his catch.

Throughout the week Z had kept mentioning he wanted to pet the fish that we caught. Didn't quite understand the concept, but once J caught the big one we decided to wake the sleeping boy and let him check out the fish. J's original plan had been to cut him up and cook him, so we wanted Z to be able to see him. At first Z wasn't too happy we woke him up, but he LOVED the fish.

Here's Z telling J how big the fish is :).

He was just so excited! It was really fun.

So after we watched the fish for a while (sometimes starting to float on its side - I'm telling you, the fish wasn't very healthy), J decided to let him go. Even though it probably would have been tasty, I don't like fish so much and J didn't really need to eat him. We just figured it would be nice to let him go - kind of a shame to kill such a big fish. So we loaded up in the truck and took the cooler down to the water. Note: when putting a fish, especially a fish you don't know will live, DON'T throw him in the water! I don't know what J was thinking. I would have gently slipped him down, but oh well. I'm sure he hit the rocks as it wasn't very deep. But thankfully, after watching him for a while with the lights, he seemed to get more energy, swim upright and faster. So we think he made it. Would have been a bummer to let him go only to have him keel over sideways.

Here's Z eating again. Mmm, beef stew. I think we had Hawaiian rolls that night, too.

Bob doesn't smoke anymore, but he brought up some cigars. I guess he had to sit down and smoke one at least once while we were there :).

I think they took that picture while J and I were on one of our walks. For several of Z's naps we went for walks around the area. There's lots of land, and actually a lot of development. It's so beautiful there! We came to the conclusion that we'd love to have a cabin there, so we checked out some pricing on signs, as well as copied down info on for sale signs. Sometimes the mobile homes on the resort property are for sale, but you lease the land, so that's not really the best. We'd love to buy property and build a little cabin, probably about the same size as our last apartment. Doesn't have to be fancy. But man, some of those places have a view! It's just gorgeous. Maybe one day.

One night J and I went out for a fishing trip, just the two of us. We weren't really intent on catching anything that huge. It was just fun to cast and reel. It was so beautiful, though!

The sunset was just amazing, but of course the camera didn't do it justice. I think these may have actually been taken with one of our phones.

Jason did manage to catch this fish...and we both joked that he was probably wondering what he was doing on the end of that hook. He was really pretty! His scales were a shiny gold. Bob told us the type of fish (perch, maybe?) and how he doesn't really like them (runs out the bass?). But he was neat.

Here's me fishing. I really enjoyed it!

Zachary being a goon. He drove that truck everywhere, inside and out. And he loved wearing his raincoat - best 3 bucks I ever spent.

What kid doesn't like hot cocoa?



Out for a little walk. Some of the time it was a little chilly, but it was still really nice.

Standing around chatting. Zach was trying to copy all of us as we were crossing our arms.

Between the south and north lakes is a pretty shallow channel. We went through a couple of times, once to get gas only to find out the store was closed. We also towed J and Z through it on the tube. It was pretty neat, but pretty tight.

The boys on the tube again. Zach really enjoyed it. We even left it inflated in the cabin so he could play with it there.

Waving again.

Dipping his toes in.

Jason was playing with Zach, and all we could hear were Zach's squeals of laughter.

Then J thought it would be fun to pick him up higher...

Then invert him...

Then almost tip him over! I really thought Z was going to fall backwards. Can't have felt very nice on the back :).

Naked boy! we had to change his clothes so he wouldn't get super cold.

So after a week of fun, Bob decided he wanted to stay another week. Eva had to work, but since Bob is retired there was really no reason not to. So we left the food with him, intending for Eva and Jason to come back up on the weekend for him. Bob switched to a cabin that had two beds, but it was really only one room with curtain dividers. I figured Z wouldn't sleep very well with all the noise, not to mention trying to figure out where to put his crib. So we decided to stay home.

Anyway, when we went to go switch cabins, Bob decided to take a peek in the shower...only to find a little frog! He picked him up and put him outside, and Z got a kick of watching the frog bound away. I did, too :).

Here's Bob in the shower.

Here's a random cute picture of Z with his snuggle blankets.

And our cabin with lots of stuff that we were packing up. It was really a cute little place.

Few other things to mention. One night J and I just went down to the boat and watched the stars. It was pretty cool - we saw several shooting stars and could even see an arm of the galaxy, it was so dark. It was just really neat to be able to see a sky just packed with stars. City lights flood them so often, I forget how beautiful it can look!

Z also did some fishing with us, though he didn't catch any fish and it was just to show him the basics of how it worked. Though he did enjoy it.