It was the first weekend in August which can only mean one thing: a whole slew of crazy Deterdings can be found headed to the Lake of the Ozarks! This family tradition has been going on for longer than I have been alive and is one that I genuinely look forward to each summer. This year was extra special because we had a new place to call home for the long weekend vacation. The first 20 years we stayed at Mimosa Beach, but then they sold out to make room for high-rise condos. Then we moved to Runaway II for the past 10 years or so. This year, we were completely spoiled. . . My cousin Kristol and her husband David bought this gorgeous lake home last January and were gracious (and crazy) enough to let our WHOLE family stay. And when I say our whole family, I'm referring to all 54 of us! The really amazing thing is that this house easily accomodated all our group and was oh-so-comfortable.
Here is the view of the house from the water:
This is the room Kristol calls the "bunk room" for obvious reasons (There are actually 4 sets of bunk beds in the room, but I could only get 3 in the picture). Our family (Mom, Dad, and the other 14 of us) stayed here. Notice I said "stayed" here rather than "slept" here; with 5 kids 4 and under in the same room, there wasn't necessarily a ton of sleeping done. Yes, we are certainly one big happy family!
And this is the view of the water from the house. Most of the time, the majority of our crew could be found just as you see them now, hanging out in lawn chairs on the back patio/boat ramp. Those who weren't sitting here were probably on one of the boats, jet skis, or floating in the water.
Speaking of jet skis, my mom found a great deal on this inflatable one, and the kids couldn't get enough of riding and squirting each other with the on-board water gun.
It didn't take Oliver too terribly long, however, to realize that he could possibly go a bit faster on one of these jet skis! David & Kristol were also kind enough to let the kids use their super fast waverunners whenever they wanted -- talk about awesome hosts!
Some preferred to stay closer to the house in the shade. . .
And others tried to set a world-record on the number of people you could cram into an old pontoon. With the massive 40 hp motor on this baby, I think it maxed out at an impressive 6 mph when loaded this full. And they were nearly successful in making this an underwater vessel as well on the excursion out. (This boat was one of the newest --and oldest -- additions to the water crafts this year.)
Calvin tried to play a little bumper boats while on the inflatable jetski. I'm thinking the full load on the paddle boat came out victorious in this fight.
Then Calvin & Tyler decided to see just how the paddle boat works. They took it all over the lake (or at least our corner of the lake).
As always, Oliver could be found behind a steering wheel most of the time. Boats may be even more fun to drive than cars, he's beginning to think.
Calvin had fun fishing this year. He got his own rod & reel, and look what he caught! We'll be eating on this baby for weeks!
Once again, my cousin Nathan spoiled us by cooking up his secret recipe on fried fish.
And once again, the fish disappeared as fast as he got it out of the fryer. Where are these people's manners, anyway? The fish fry is definitely everyone's favorite meal, including my boys.
After dinner, the games came out. Kyle & Clay are playing a little washers, while Oliver & Brynn try to figure out the game with the golf balls and Jack tries his hand (or rather his waist) at the hula-hoop.
Somehow Oliver managed to get injured by the hula-hoop. The small burn on the bridge of his nose was the result of getting too close to the path of a spinning hoop.
The evenings consisted of card playing with the adults, all the way down to the 4 year-olds!
I love it that Calvin has so many cousins to play with. Here the kids are showing how old they are with their fingers. There are 6 kiddos who are 4-5 years old (JaeSi wasn't there yet when I took this picture, but she is shown above playing cards).
Those who weren't playing games had fun just visiting with each other. We are one crazy bunch who like to laugh, as you can tell by my Aunts Connee & Cheryl. What are they laughing at this time?
Perhaps it's the extreme measures these guys are taking to avoid having extra dishes to wash.
The best part of the lake this year, hands down, was that Grandma Ruth was able to come. You see, my Grandma fell a couple of weeks ago and had to undergo hip & elbow replacement surgery. She is still living in a rehab facility, and it took some convincing for them to let her out, even just for a day. When she came through the front door, it was like she was a Queen entering her court with the reception she received. She immediately started tearing up and said just how happy she was to be there. In the nearly 40 years that the Deterdings have been going to the Lake, Grandma has never once missed. I'm so glad she didn't have to this year, either.
It was so funny. . . as soon as she in the house and settled that morning, I asked if she'd like some water to drink, to which she replied, "No, but I'll take a beer." Hmmm, I'm beginning to think maybe she was happy for more reasons than one. It's five o'clock somewhere, right Grandma?!?
Violet got plenty of time to play with Grandma, too. I just can't get over how well Grandma is doing so soon after major surgery. At 89 years old, she is truly an inspiration.
We got our annual picture of Grandma with most of her great-grandkids (we were missing 4 of the kids, who were in a wedding that evening). It's a pretty impressive bunch, don't you think?
Thank you SO much, Kristol & Dave, for opening your home to us! We had such a fun weekend, and I can't wait to make many more memories in the years to come!
And this is how it looked when we returned from that trip:
I thought that was a big difference until I saw how much more progress was made during our most recent vacations. When we got back from Wisconsin & the Ozarks, this is what we came 'home' to:
And here is the view from the back as they continue to put the sheeting on the roof:
And here the boys are in their play room over the garage.
The shingles for the roof will be coming on Wednesday, so by the end of the week our roof should be completed. Then the fun stuff on the inside of the house will be getting started! I can't believe how much it's really starting to look like a house!
The Wisonsin Dells are famous for their water parks, and we learned quickly that even the smaller hotels had much nicer pool areas than we were used to. Our Best Western had this fun outdoor "waterpark" area that the kids enjoyed.
We have never stayed in condos before, and I'm afraid the bar has been raised yet again for accomodations. Each condo had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 fireplaces, a hot-tub, and fully functional kitchen. They were just gorgeous!
The first pool the kids hit was the wave pool. Calvin & Tyler find their tubes. . .
Although Uncle John did climb the 518 stairs to the top to ride one of the water slides (okay, so it probably wasn't really 518, but it certainly felt like it after climbing them over and over again), he prefered to spend his time socializing in the lazy river. There was a high school volleyball tournament going on the same time we were there with some 400 girls running around. I think they all knew John by the time we left. . .
While Uncle John was floating in the big lazy river, Brynnie & Oliver found their own lazy river -- it was so cute watching them go around the loop!
Those kiddie slides weren't NEAR exciting enough for the big kids. . . This red slide was Calvin's favorite. Here Calvin & Tyler are racing. I'm pretty sure Tyler won every time (but weight was the only real strategy for winning, and Ty has a few pounds on Calvin).
While the kids went on all of the slides, Grandpa & John hit the mini-golf.
She is busy trying to figure out how to eat this thing without any teeth! This restaurant is famous for its crab legs and our party certainly took advantage of that!
In the evening, the kids loved playing in the huge sandbox (aka sand volleyball court) right outside our rooms, while the guys did a great job supervising. 
Maybe Uncle John thought so. For the rest of us, it was a very peaceful (some less appreciative of trees may say boring) ride.
. . . and this cool rock formation called 'Hawk's Beak' on the water part.
