Labor Day on the Lake

For all that we have been good about living the Kentucky life in our over ten years in this fine state, we still have a few items left to check off.  On Labor Day weekend we took care of a big item by hanging out on Lake Cumberland as part of a three day weekend with the Johnsons.  They are veterans of the lake life, so they were happy to guide us through the experience, from renting the pontoon boat to bringing all of the necessary supplies.

It didn't take long for the kids to jump right in to the experience.  They had their life jackets on and Vivie Ann and Mason led the way for our girls.  Callie and Reese did not hesitate, and quickly took the plunge by leaping off the boat into the water.

One of the fun parts of the whole experience was riding the raft pulled behind the boat.  We must tell you that this is not a speed boat, but still the pontoon boat went fast enough to make the ride an adventure.  There was only one major mishap when both Callie and Reese fell off and Reese went under the raft for a few seconds.  She was a little shaken up, but eventually got back up and took a few more rides.

We got out on the boat around 9:30am and were out on the lake until probably 4:00pm.  It was just fun to cruise around, check out the various nooks and crannies of the lake, jump in when we were hot, and enjoy the great company.  It did not take us long to understand whey so many people spend time on the lake, that's for sure.

And of course the whole trip was made better by the fact that we were with the Johnsons.  At this point Vivie and Callie have known each other for seven years and they are both getting so big.  And their friendship is so sweet and comfortable.  Vivie is the exact kind of friend we want Callie to have during her teenage years - that is also because we are on the same page as her parents.

As you can imagine, all of the parents were required to take a spin on the raft.  John was quickly dubbed the funny one and Sarah, not surprisingly, was dubbed the crazy one.  She insisted on pushing the envelope and doing acrobatics while rafting.  She is the one standing up here, but we have numerous pictures of all the kids standing up under her watch as well.

Even Jessica got in on the fun.  This was a big task because she was the only one on the boat that little Emerson would truly listen to and  Seth was the primary driver.  This meant that we had to keep Emerson occupied, though at times Seth was willing to hand the wheel over to John so that he could help out with Emerson.

These five kids get along so well, and continue to add memories like this to their scrapbooks.  Callie and Reese had an absolute blast, though they often wondered why they had to keep their life vests on the whole time.  That's lake life, kids, that's lake life.