Eight Point Lake '17, Pt. V

(and now, the thrilling conclusion. . .)

Monday

July 24th
"The Sandbar and the Exodus"

A questionable start to the day, but ultimately we lucked out with another  day of beautiful weather.  Kris ended up having to go back to work, so Yours Truly was on solo-parent detail until dinner time, thereabouts.

Today ended up being pretty chill for the most part, with not much going on in the morning at all.  Later on, in the afternoon, we decided to take all the kids up to the Sandbar.  The girls and I rode over with the Whites in their boat, while Bryan took Blake and his friend, Nick, in Dad's.

I about fell into that muck-trap off to the right, retrieving Bradley's ball: underneath those lily pads is about two-feet of mud and grime that sucked me in to thigh before I managed to scramble back.  That'd be a really crappy way to die.

Bryan's friend, Brent, and several members of his extended family clan were also at the Sandbar while we were up there, and eventually we were joined by Lucy, Dad and Cindy, who drove over to the Waites' cottage and walked over (they're located a convenient 100 feet away.)

Alayna, bored.  She's to that age now where splashing around in the water gets boring after five minutes.  Fun times.

(That's not a beer.)

Collecting rocks and 'shells.'  A lot cooler in Florida, I'm afraid.

Alayna, still complaining about being bored.  Bradley, bein' weird.

Cindy and Lucy

After the kids complained enough, Bryan and I walked the kids over to Lucy and Larry's cottage in order to smoke some cigars and let the kids play in the sand.

One of the coolest cigar labels I've ever seen.  Love the kukris.

A couple of lazy-ass dogs. . .

Heading out for another tubing venture.

This is pretty much how the rest of the day was spent.  The kids were pretty exhausted from playing in the sun all day, so aside from swimming and fishing, they pretty much just loafed around most of the evening.  I ended up reading about 1/3 of my four-inch-thick book (Aztec, by Gary Jennings) throughout the day.  Can't complain.

Monday

July 24th
"The Swan Song "

One, last tranquil morning over Eight Point Lake.

A lazy, liberal-leaning morning at the Cottage

Bryan had to fly back to Vegas in the morning, Kris was away at work, and most of the Grants, Waites, and Whites had - over the course of the last twenty-four hours - gone their separate ways, back to everyday life in the Civilized World.  The girls and I would be following their example in the afternoon. . . after we had ourselves one last day on the lake, of course.

My Command Center this week.  You know how I roll.

Taking the Whites' boat out on a leisurely cruise around the lake with my crew of Sprite-chugging miscreants.

Cleaning up the dock (not sure what the hell Abby's doing.)

I forget what this game is called, but Alayna loves it.  And the fact you get to play with Shopkins cards makes it all the more enjoyable. . .

Aunt Lucy, in the zone.

Some forced wind-down time after a morning/afternoon filled with swimming and boating in the sun.

Moana on a tablet.  This kid's in Heaven.

Paddleboatin' with Nana.  This is way too much of a workout for me - more power to 'em.

Cleaning up the offspring before reintroducing them into Society.

A last family picture (sans Kris) at the Cottage as we finished loading up all our crap back into the van, ready to head back home.  Until next year, Eight Point.

- Fin -