Summer Fun

After the interesting experience of the concert, things still did not slow down around here. The next night, we went to our friend Kelly's house. He lives in a beautiful part of Washington with a small river in his backyard that bursts at the seams with salmon in the fall. I love all bodies of water, but that river really calls to me. It's not very deep on his property (except when all the snow in the mountains is melting!) and there are so many beautiful rocks! I blogged about it last year, too, here and here.

On Sunday, we took care of a few errands to prepare for all of our trips that would begin Monday morning. Matt took Haleigh and our neigbor's son William camping. I took my very first ever (as an adult) all girls vacation. My friend Katie O. (remember the first time I introduced you to her here?) is blessed enough to still have all four of her wonderful grandparents. Her maternal set owns the sweetest little cabin on a private lake in the Arlington area. It's about a mile wide, and it's charming and perfect! The cabin that her great-grandfather built is beyond words. As soon as I get pictures from the other girls, I'll post them here. We arrived Monday at lunch time and left Wednesday afternoon.

The setting was breathtaking, and the company was fabulous. The memories we made are some of the best of my lifetime. We stopped and picked up lots of fresh produce. This is an agricultural area, so we had our pick of yummy treats. The berries alone were enough to make me swoon! We lounged on the dock and in the lake talking and giggling! We played lots of games, and had absolutely no agenda for anything. I even kayaked for the very first time and I am now hooked. The other Katie, Katie H. and I both hopped in the kayaks the first day. It was her first time, too, and she was a natural. About 20 feet out from the dock she turned around and yelled "You GUYS, I should go to the OLYMPICS for this!" Thus, the theme for our vacation was born. We had diving competitions, judged on creativity and silliness of your facial expression. We played a card game called Nibs until it was an all-out war. We turned everything into an event!

I almost forgot! The first night we were there, a meteor shower was happening! We bundled up and layed out on the dock to watch the wide open sky. It was unbelievable. Our deep discussions of life (and requisite silliness) were punctuated every few minutes by all of us shouting "whoa, did you see that one?"

And the closing ceremony to our "Olympic Events"? A late-night skinny dip in the lake on our last evening there, of course!