Rain

Did I mention we had a lot of rain on vacation?  Right.  Well.  The spillway behind the cabin was the best indicator for how much rain we had each day -- there were days when it was raging white-waters.  It is usually no more than a trickle in  the summer...  

Too Much Vacation

By Thursday morning of our vacation poor Teddy was just done and ready to go home.  After we dropped the girls off at camp he started crying that he wanted to go home and said it was "too much vacation".  Honestly, I think we were all getting to that place.  If it weren't for camp, we might have headed home early.

Boats and Birthdays

We only made it out on the boat once during the week due to the weather -- and that trip was a pretty short one because, of course, it started to thunder.  But we enjoyed it while we could.  We also celebrated both Scott's birthday and mine out at the cabin.  They were pretty low-key celebrations.  Ice cream for Scott's and dinner at the clubhouse for mine.  My birthday was the one day that the girls' camp was cancelled, so it was a long day of being in the cabin.  There were lots of movies that day :).

At the clubhouse on my birthday, Millie very sweetly asked our waitress if she had any candles so that they could sing to me.  The waitress couldn't find any candles, but she did bring us a free dessert.  She also tried to get her coworkers to sing, but they weren't up for it.  I was okay with that.  I got a quiet serenade from the kids and that was just perfect.

More Beach Time and Cousins at the Cabin

Monday afternoon brought another short trip to the beach after camp and a nap for Teddy.  Every day the beach was a little smaller due to the swelling of the lake!  My sister came out to the cabin on Tuesday during our vacation so the kids could play for a bit.  The plan was to take them to the beach in the morning, but the weather was too unpredictable, so we just hung out and played.  It helped keep Teddy entertained while the girls were at camp.

Millie's mission was to clear the debris from the shore

She was also determined to extend this 'island' further into the water

Those are Scott's (exaggerated) foot prints -- it looked like Big Foot had visited the beach!

Beach Time (and more rain)

Once the rains came on Saturday, they really didn't stop much for the rest of the week.  We managed to get to the beach most days for a little while, but the clouds always rolled back in and after half-an-hour or so, the thunder would start and it would be time to pack up and head back to the cabin.  By the end of the week it was clear Mother Nature just didn't want us going outside at all!

Well, if you can't beat the rain, you might as well pull out the water guns and play in it...

don't worry dad, the door was closed!

back inside for puzzle time

Millie managed to pick out THE most difficult puzzle she could find -- though we didn't realize how difficult it was until we started working on it.  It became Scott's project for the week and he almost finished it.  

Monday didn't bring any improvements in the weather, but it did bring the first day of camp for the girls.  They really enjoyed the camp and I think are hoping to do it again next year!

Vacation

We decided to take a local vacation this year and spend a week at my parent's cabin out at Innsbrook. We timed it so that the girls could participate in Innsbrook's summer camp (a daily camp that ran from 9-12:30 in the mornings).  We were looking forward to a week filled with lots of time at the beach, some hiking, boating, fishing, and maybe some berry picking at a nearby farm.  We didn't QUITE get all of that thanks to a tropical depression that decided to sit over St. Louis and drop record amounts of rain for the ENTIRE week.  But, the girls still got to enjoy camp -- to their credit, they only cancelled one day -- and Scott got to enjoy a week off of work, and the kids got to watch LOTS of movies and play games and do puzzles, and we didn't spend a lot of money on the vacation (just the cost of camp and food for the week) and didn't travel far, so all in all we still counted it as a successful vacation where we MOSTLY stayed cheerful and upbeat.  (But lets be real, we were in a relatively small, open cabin for seven days with five people -- three with endless amounts of energy -- and not always a lot to do.  There were moments of crabbiness.  Lots of crabbiness....)

Our pretty drive out to the cabin Friday night

Super excited to sleep in the bunk beds our first night -- Teddy and Merrill had grand plans to sleep on the bottom (full-sized) bunk.  One guess how long that lasted!

 Saturday morning was actually really nice, and even a bit hot.  We got in our one and only 'hike' of the week.  (we walked the roads instead of finding a trail as the thought of ticks gave Merrill extreme anxiety)

Still sporting her glasses

watching a caterpillar

done walking, but  not quite home

After lunch, Scott and the girls headed to the beach.  Then the clouds rolled in so we headed to the closest town to pick up reinforcements for what was going to be a long week -- puzzles, crafts, and games.  Then it was back to the cabin to play and watch the rain.

A common view during the week -- notice the spillway is running, but not overful

 That's rain, not fog

The spillway starting to really run

We ended Saturday night watching the Lion King -- I was the only one who had seen it!