We spent the better part of last week down at the lake with the Smileys.  After feeling like our summer was highly overscheduled, it was a much needed and welcome escape from town and schedules.

We had all the usual shenanigans – tubing, skiing, picnic lunches on the boat while anchored in a cove, Abigail’s Birthday celebration (11!!), freezie pops, fishing, sunset cruises, feeding the carp, kidpiles, picture taking (uhm, I have something like 1200 new photos on my memory card alone) reading (I read 3 books!!) and of course, poptarts for breakfast.

Edie’s bff Soph joined us, a very welcome addition, who fit right into the kid piles. Betsy the Beagle came along for her first lake trip too. Will’s dad popped in for a visit one afternoon and got to see Walker skiing around the cove.

Walker took it upon himself to train our dog. We’re not sure what Walker trained her to do, but it kept Walker busy. Of course, Walker manages to stay pretty busy on his own.

Our first night there was quite the adventure. Betsy got out of her harness and took off, at dusk. We spent a good hour looking for her before heading back to the house and started contacting various groups in the area about our lost dog.  Edie was understandably heartbroken, sobbing that we just weren’t meant to have a dog. After all, Betsy had been with us for less than two weeks. It was dark, she was in a strange place. Our chances of finding her seemed slim.  Until about 2 hours after taking off, she suddenly showed up at the back door of the porch, having had enough adventure and excitement for one day. I guess she likes us?

Lake time with the Smileys is always one of our favorite weeks of the summer.   Let’s face it – vacations are work when you have kids, just in a different location. But vacationing with a sisterwife, where you tag team the work, now that’s a vacation.

We came back feeling refreshed and relaxed, with two days to get Edie packed up for camp. I know, I can’t believe it’s camp time already. It’s like summer just started and is already halfway over! Edie and Abigail have been safely installed at camp and here at the homestead, we’ve entered the kid free portion of our summer.

So far, that’s meant recovering from back to back weekends filled with laundry and packing broken up by a week of the most delightful fun.