Lake Wedowee, Alabama 2013

We had another great week on our annual summer trip with Wes’ family.

The first part takes place in Georgia.  Southwest finally started flying there so we try to spend a weekend in Marietta where Wes grew up before we head to the lake.  Saturday was a fun-filled day that was a lot of fun.

It started at Stone Mountain with Spencer, Spence & Jaidyn.  What a fabulous place that turned out to be!  I’m hoping that will be a yearly adventure.  Next time we will all wear close toed shoes to avoid having to buy the fake crocs.  We did the ropes course area, rode the train, the barn, we “rode the ducks” & went to the top of Stone Mountain.  We ended with the kids in the water area. 

After a day of fun, we spent the night at Dixie Speedway where Leigh and Maddox could join us.  We enjoyed a night out with the Southern rednecks of Georgia!  My boys were in heaven watching the racecars and it was definitely a fun experience.

We drove to the lake on Sunday after church and it wasn’t until we got there that we realized we were twins.

Monday morning starts our week of fun on the lake.  We got lucky again with great weather!  We had a few short storms pass through but we were out on the water every day and it was great.

One of the favorites amongst the kiddos are the tubes & jet skis.  We hooked double tubes up to the boat all week and they loved it!  They took turns on and off the tube, boat and jet ski . . . it never gets old.

A lot of the kids also know how to knee board.  It was Nate’s first time trying and he did great!  On the first attempt he was a little hesitant and scared and kind of gave up with tears streaming down his face but he tried again and got up and loved it.  He is very proud of this accomplishment!

Another favorite is the rope swing.  All the kids {well, except for Ryan & Adi} absolutely loved it.  Jaidyn about gave us all a heart attack when she didn’t let go when she was supposed to . . . we all just hoped she didn’t let go as she was over the extremely shallow part or on the dirt.  Luckily she held on the entire time all the way back to Wes.  She said, “I just like swinging.”  Love her.

And Wes did some wake boarding.  It was a lot easier for him to get up this year!

This year, the boys helped Robert pour a driveway at the lake house.  It’s been small rock since they moved in and weeds grow super fast so it was time to turn it in to a driveway for convenience!  They worked for quite a while on Tuesday morning doing all of the labor themselves.  We had the front door barricaded and locked but somehow little Maddox had about 3 minutes of freedom and he moved the barricade, opened the door, and stepped right in to the wet cement.  When everyone yelled, “no!  stop!” it scared him and he ran inside with his cement shoes to find his mama.  Pretty funny.

One of the best features of the lake house is the pool!  We always have it all to ourselves and it’s great.  It’s nice to have a place for the kids to just swim other than the lake.

We ventured down to the lake on a few evenings – one night for cobbler and the other night for smores & fireworks. 

The favorite mode of transportation is always the golf cart!

I brought home a pack of Cry Baby gumballs one day and had all the kids try them at once.  Grandma G. is always great at getting all of them together for fun games!

Every year we take some updated family photos at the lake.  Wes’ brother Grant and his family weren’t able to make it this year since they had a 2 week old baby (Scarlett) at home – they were missed!

Because we were down a family this year, we all stayed at Robert & Doreen’s lake house instead of renting another one.  We had a breakthrough in our family – our kids slept great with all of us in the same room!  Robert & Doreen are always so nice to give up their master bedroom and join the Thorntons in the loft (they are troopers, too) so that we can all fit.  It was nice to have everyone under one roof!  We always love spending a week with Wes’ family – I wish my kids could see their Griffeth cousins more often.  They have such a great time together.