Fun Zone. WARNING!!! Picture Overload. WARNING!!! Fun Zone.
This year we got to go to Aunt Judy and Uncle Ernie's house, in Bella Vista, Arkansas, again for a few days over the 4th of July weekend. Dad, Mom, Lindsee, and EP met us there too. Judy had a sack of trinkets and goodies for the kids... which included the cute goggles they are modeling in the picture below!
We got to borrow a paddle boat and three kayaks from some of Ernie and Judy's friends for the weekend. We all had a lot of fun riding around in them and falling out of them...
The first fall out happened when Silas wanted to take a ride with Daddy in the orange kayak... We successfully loaded him into the kayak. He sat still for about 1 second, and then wiggled tipping the whole thing over right next to the dock.
There was lots of swimming, jumping off the dock, fishing, boating, eating, firework watching and laughing done by everyone!
(That hottie in the kayak below... He makes me melt like a Bomb Pop on the 4th of July.)
Notice the white towel/rag in the middle of the paddle boat below??? That was the "spider rag". If a spider was spotted in the paddle boat crawling around with the passengers, my Dad would swat at it with his "spider rag", not always effectively killing it, but instead flinging it into the air and propelling it onto an already spider anxious passenger. Which was then cause for terrified laughter and some passengers jumping overboard.
Below was one such spider swatting incident while I was paddling around with him...
This was actually hilarious. Dad and I were both laughing so hard it was hard to breathe. All the while the spiders kept coming and trying to crawl onto us or escape, whatever. Below I was finally able to stop laughing long enough to tell Dad that his wild swatting action with the towel was actually just flinging the spiders all willy nilly back into the boat and onto us....
Uncle Eric displayed some A+ Uncle and kayaking skills. He loaded up three children and took off... way out into the cove, never tipping once. Two kids actually abandoned ship once and he successfully loaded them both back in by himself out in the middle of the cove. Way to go, Uncle EP!
No boat riding adventure would be complete without driving Uncle Ernie's boat....
The first evening we were in Bella Vista we drove over to Crystal Cave, also known to us as the "bat cave". If you get there a little before dark, you will get to see the action starting to happen. Stay till dark and keep watching as thousands of bats circle up and out of the cave to look for a meal.
There was LOTS and LOTS of jumping in off the dock!
There were snacks on the dock during swimming breaks.
Another treasure in the kid's goodie bags from Judy and Ernie were the glow sticks. They saved them to take out on the boat while we watched the fireworks display.
Below, waiting for the fireworks display to start...
And, there they go! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each one of our days there was filled with more swimming, fishing and boating.
We also got to do some tubing and skiing. Lindsee and Phoebe rode together in the tube.
Silas rode with Popee. Before they took off, Popee gave Silas a short lesson in hand signals... One finger pointing up (instead of a thumb up) meant "faster".
Below, Silas was giving the "cut it" or stop hand signal.
Then Phoebe and Sarah rode together.....
They were a little conflicted on whether to go faster or to go slower....
But they both sure did have fun!
Until the rope, broke! They weren't sure if we were leaving them there and they began to paddle with their hands. Not to worry though, to their relief, we circled back around for them.
We had fun coloring, rolling balls, and throwing Frisbees in the front driveway too.
Lindsee and I both water skied. There were a LOT of boats out on the lake which made the water pretty choppy, but we both popped right up out of the water and hung on as Uncle Ern pulled us around and around the lake. (I heart water skiing. It is challenging, and refreshing. I am thankful for a Dad who hearts this too and taught my siblings and I, each at a very young age, to ski, salom, and trick ski.)
We went to a community 4th of July concert at a park. Silas fell asleep on the drive there, and slept for about 20 minutes of the concert.
After the concert, back at Ernie and Judy's house, Phoebe found a cool place to play in a spotlight.
Keeping the romance alive...Me and my hottie...Kissing on the boat... 4th of July style.
Thanks for a fun time again this year Uncle Ernie and Aunt Judy! We all enjoyed our time with you and at your home.
"We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun." -Unknown
