The First Juneteenth, Pt. II (or, Father's Day)

 (contd.)

Sunday morning, Father's Day.  I woke up early - like frickin' 5am - and couldn't go back to sleep, so after editing some pictures on my laptop, I went out on the dock to get some sunrise pics of the lake.  Check out the ducks (or geese or whatever) majestically flying across the sun - pissed I didn't have my SLR on me. 

Morning fog on the lake.

Later on in the morning, after breakfast (and coffee), Dad and I decided to try out these electric bikes he recently bought for the lakehouse.

Safety first.

We ended up taking these things all the way around the lake, with zero effort.  You can ride it like a motorcycle (holding down the throttle and not pedaling), or you can set it to 'assist' you with pedaling, with various levels of 'assistance': the electric motor kicks in whenever you pedal, propelling you - again, in varying levels, depending on what level you have it set on - far more than your legwork could do on its own.

I didn't get many pics of this, because it's hard taking pictures while riding a bike, but I was able to get the previous pic and this shitty video for ya.  We got these things up to 20 mph, more or less, which feels pretty fast on bikes as small as these.

Back at the cottage, taking the dogs - and the Cannonball - out for a walk.

Later on in the morning, time for another cruise around the lake on the pontoon.

Abby takes another turn at the helm.

Back on shore for some lunch.

The Whites came up in the early afternoon, so the kids were able to screw around with their cousins for a bit.

Abby finally gets a seasoned swimming buddy up at the lake. . .

Teenager, enjoying the cottage.

Shortly after the Whites rolled in, Brian decided to take his boat out for a spin around the lake.  His boat goes a hell of a lot faster than Dad's, so the kids were excited for the opportunity to cruise around on it.

After tearing ass around the lake for a bit, Brian slowed it down a for a bit for the standard putting around the lake.  What you see here, at this point in the cruise, is the mouth of the cove where our Original Cottage sat.  We always like to pop in to the Cove to catch a glimpse of the old place - bittersweet seeing it these days.

Meanwhile, back on shore, Blake passed on the boat ride in order to catch a nap with a dog.

Kris, having just arrived back in Midland from her Momcation in the afternoon, decided she didn't want to sit around an empty house and wait for her family to return in the late evening, so she drove up to Eight Point instead, showing up around 3pm, just in time to catch a boat ride.

Brian stopped the boat at one point so Jax and Abby could repeatedly jump off the boat and swim in the lake.  Whatever works.

After about twenty minutes of swimming the kids were tired out, so we continued on.

Picking up speed once again.

For Father's Day this year, Kris checked out some website where artists turn people into Simpsons characters.  I guess she went back and forth with the artists to make sure all the details - Masonic hat, pipe, rings, etc - was accurate.  Turned out pretty awesome.

Beer Can Chicken.  Eight Point staple.

Chowing down.

Post-dinner pic of the girls, shortly before we left for Midland (we ended up getting home around 7pm.) Next time we return to Eight Point will be for the annual, family shin-dig - with the extended family, Cornhole tournament, etc. - in mid/late July.  Stay tuned. 

- Brian