And now, the thrilling conclusion to this year's not-as-epic-as-last-year's venture at Eight Point Lake. . .
Monday
July 25th
"Nephew Wranglin'"
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| Monday morning saw the departure of Dad and Kris, who both had to work. Yours Truly was to be charged, once again, with keeping children entertained with all things boat-related throughout the day. Let's do this. . . |
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| Blake had a friend of his up staying the night at the cottage, and they had hounded me about taking them out fishing in the morning. I was actually up and around before they were, and by the time they got their gear around it was already 8 - 9am. |
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| If you're a middle-school-aged fisherman, this is the best spot to fish on the lake. Or so I'm told. |
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| After an hour or so, we anchored in one of the inlets, close by the cottage. I don't think either of them caught anything throughout the morning, though. That's what they get for sleeping in so damn late. |
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| Back at the Cottage, trying his luck off the dock. |
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| Cindy served as my spotter while taking the boys out and about on the tube. It's always fun throwing kids off into the lake. |
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| After lunch, I loaded up all five kids (the nephews, Blake's friend, and my own Tax Deductions) and drove the boat over to Eight Point's sandbar. Since it was during a weekday and everything, it was pretty dead (on the weekend, it's nothing but Pontoons piled up on top of each other - super annoying.) |
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| Digging for treasure |
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| I always worry some stupid high-schooler on a jet ski is going to fly across the sandbar and run over my kids' heads like speed bumps. Pictures like this give me anxiety just looking at them. |
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| (Abby wanted a picture of her taken in front of her 'cave.') |
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| I had to tether the boat to a tree, even with the anchor out, due to some strong wind. It would be just my luck to have the boat float off while we were out in the water. |
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| Man down. |
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| After dropping off the three boys, the girls and I headed over to the Waite's cottage for some lunch (and beers.) By FAR, the most stressful part of boating this week is docking at this cottage: the wind coming in is ridiculous, and their dock is L-shaped, so you can't bring the boat in like you can at our own cottage. Still, miraculously, I was able to pull it off without a hitch. |
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| The Waites do have a pretty awesome 'beach,' though - the girls had fun playing in it while I had some beers with Al, Lucy and Larry. |
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| A flotilla of pay-to-use boats at the Waite's. The cottage's owner charges a ridiculous amount for people to use these boats, so they just sit tied to the dock throughout the week. And rightfully so. |
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| Castle Waite |
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| Later on, after dinner back at the Cottage, the Waites hung out with us and I made a campfire. Here, Abby perfects her 'under the smoke' marshmallow-roasting technique. |
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| Evening cigars - you can always count on Al to bring up good ones from Grand Rapids. . . |
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| Obligatory tiki torch picture. You're welcome. |
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| Netflix |
Tuesday
July 26th
"Lucy, Larry, and the DNC"
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| In the morning, Bradley insisted on helping me make breakfast (he gave up after making a huge-ass mess in the kitchen.) Cindy had to work, so I was left as the sole adult until she - and Kris - returned to the Cottage around dinner-time. That meant no tubing, due to the lack of spotter. . . which, honestly, I was more than okay with. |
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| Brian swung up and picked up the boys later in the morning, and after they left I got the girls around for a morning over at the Waites' cottage. Fortunately, the weather was once again perfect. |
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| The boat loaded up with adventure gear, coolers, and just about anything else you could want for a morning on the lake. |
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| The girls have definitely gotten the hang of this. |
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| I'm going to miss this a lot come winter-time. . . |
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| The Waites' cottage has a significantly more 'rustic' theme going on. . . |
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| After lunch, we came back to our family's cottage for a change of scenery. . . |
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| Alayna napped for nearly the entire afternoon - a morning filled with sun, swimming, kayaking, and fighting with her sister took a toll on her. |
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| Larry took over grill duties for dinner, which I'm sure Cindy appreciated. |
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| The evening's big event centered around the cottage TV, oddly enough: the Democratic National Convention. I don't have a lot of pictures for this, obviously, since it was just a bunch of us sitting around a TV watching state after state throw their lot in around Hillary frickin' Clinton. R.I.P. The Bern |
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| Gruncle Larry, gone fishin' |
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| Bored watching politics, the girls 'played catch' with these thingies (whatever they're called.) |
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| . . . needless to say, they sucked at it. |
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| Cindy and Kris made it back around dinner time. Reinforcements are always appreciated when it comes to wrangling children. |
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| Trudging through some knock-knock jokes with Aunt Lucy |
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| Out on an evening cruise - one, last sunset over Eight Point Lake |
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| Not surprisingly, this was the best family picture we had taken of us the whole week up at the lake. |
Wednesday
July 27th
"Swan Song"
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| Last sunrise over Eight Point Lake |
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| Watson assumes his favorite position in the cottage. He did so much better up here at the lake this year compared to last year: we didn't have to tie him up on a run, like my folks had to do with Bailey, and he didn't bark nearly as much as he used to. Cross your fingers he keeps this shit up. |
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| Lazy morning, watching Netflix |
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| Last pipe and book session on the Cagafuego |
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| Another morning coloring session on Nana's iPad |
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| No idea what they're so focused on, here. |
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| Dance party on the raft. Watson is not amused. |
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| Kris, having fun on a boat. |
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| Taking the girls out on a leisurely cruise about the lake. |
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| Back to the Sandbar - once again void of pontoon boats (thank God.) |
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| From deep within our hideout, peering out at a 'Mom Monster.' |
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| These things are pretty fun, actually. . . but I'm pretty terrible at 'em. |
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| Aunt Lucy swung over for a little bit while we were down there (just in time for Abby's limbo routine), as her cottage is literally 30 or 40 feet from the sandbar. Pretty convenient. |
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| Ol' Captain Whitebeard, setting course for the Cottage. |
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| The Beast returned, raising hell with his swimmies. . . |
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| No dogs allowed. |
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| While Nana and the girls did some swimming, Kris and I took the nephews out for one, last tubing ride around the lake - the weather was starting to look dastardly. . . |
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| Coming back into port, after beating the bejesus out of my nephews around the lake |
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| Swimming with Nana |
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| Chaos |
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| Drying off |
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| Santa's Little Helper |
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| In the afternoon, the Rain God looked pretty pissed, and so as the ominous clouds drew closer and closer to the lake - and seeing how we were already planning on leaving at some point in the day anyway - we packed up for our trek back to Midland, and Civilization. We said farewell to our family and the Cottage, and ended our annual stint on Eight Point Lake. |
- Fin -
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