We just returned from another awesome week relaxing and playing on beautiful Bull Shoals Lake! We made it to Grandma and Grandpa's lake house and got our boat to the water ASAP! Then we packed our coolers for a full day on the water.
Syd and Jack each took friends, so there were some additional "Big Girls" for my little girls to play with. Violet was excited to tube this year, and Syd was kind enough to ride with her.
Russ took them on a pretty good ride! Amazingly, they didn't fall off, but I guess Violet told Syd, "That really wore me out!"
Evie went with Syd's friend, Kylie, and had a great time.
Evie also went with the boys, but I was on our boat so this was the only pic I got.
And the boys went on plenty of crazy tube rides with Caden and Luke, but somehow I was never on the boat while they were riding, so I didn't manage to get a single pic of them with their friends tubing :(. I did get to see them skiing, though. Calvin is getting good on slalom!
This isn't a great pic of Calvin, but I liked how you could see Snoopy's head poking out of the water in the background. The lake is high, but not as high as it's been the past couple of years when Snoopy was completely submerged.
Oliver also did some great skiing. . .
. . . and Little Miss popped right up this year as well!
Calvin is a good skiier, but really prefers the wakeboard. He is sure fun to watch!
When we weren't on tubes, skis, or wakeboards, we were taking boat rides.
Calvin's getting to be a good driver. . . Violet, not so much (but she sure has fun!)
And Grandma Jo spotted this beautiful bald eagle while we were out for a ride one day.
Goat's Bluff was 25 feet high this year, which was just about right for jumping. After much discussion/debate about how high it was, we decided to just measure with with a 25 foot rope. . . which was the perfect length.
My boys took the leap several times.
We also found plenty of time for quality floating, always our favorite lake activity.
The evenings were spent playing plenty of card games and a couple of hilarious rounds of charades. See if you can guess what my kids were trying to be.
We also hung out at the VRBO our friends, the Thompsons, were renting in the evenings. It was super convenient that it was less than a block away!
Not sure if Evelyn's hand was extra good or extra bad here!
Before heading to the water each day, Jadyn was kind enough to get Evie's hair braided up beautifully. My braiding skills don't hold a candle to Jadyn's.
Our "Lake Church" just down the road from Grandma and Grandpa's house, Lord of the Lake Lutheran, unfortunately shut its doors this past year. We've been attending with these sweet saints for a dozen years or more when we visit in the in summertime, so this was sad news to hear. The girls and I went for a walk around the block one evening to see their new Memorial Garden.
The think the plan is to fill the cross with memorial bricks. We found a brick with Pastor Don's name on it. He was the pastor when we first began attending and was there the last time we worshiped with them in 2019. I didn't realize he had passed, but he definitely lived a good long life, God be praised!
The City of Diamond City purchased the building and I guess they are going to make it into a community building. We have so many memories of this church. Usually our crew about doubled the Sunday morning attendance. And brought the average age down SIGNIFICANTLY. Pastor Don always offered a children's sermon when he saw we were there (and one time even gave the kids each a piece of gum!). There was the children's "busy book" that my babies always played with. And their favorite hymns were "Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying" and "Go, My Children with My Blessing" -- I can't sing either of those songs without thinking of Lord of the Lake!
Evenings at the lake are my favorite.
There are so many great parts of the lake, but my favorite HANDS DOWN are the people I get to spend the time with. We are so blessed with wonderful friends and family to vacation with!
I'm so thankful especially for this man and the family God has given us!
We had another fabulous lake vacation at Grandma Jo and Grandpa Denny's lake house. Until next time!
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