Father's Day and a Couple Birthdays, Pt. II

(contd.)

The next morning, I was the first one to get up, sometime around 6am.  This isn't really all that much of a surprise, though - I get up with the sun.

Gotta have your traditional sunrise-over-the-lake pics. . . .

A couple hours later, Cindy and Kris get to work on making breakfast for the Fam.

After breakfast, Dad and I took Blake and Alayna out on the pontoon to do some morning fishing. . .

Blake was the one who really wanted to go fishing; Alayna said she did, but more or less just wanted to go out on the boat again.  It was a bright, cloudless morning, so we made her bathe herself in sunscreen beforehand.

(She's not into fishing.)

Slim pickin's this morning.  He caught a small bass or two, that's it.

Alayna was pretty relieved that Blake wasn't keeping any of the fish he caught.

After awhile, she tried her hand at fishing. . . . to no avail.

Later on in the morning, back to swimming in the lake.

Definitely a difference in how girls swim vs. how boys swim.

Look at all the white boys.

Blake and Bradley go down. . . .

Abby runs off down the neighbors' dock to rescue a runaway (floataway?) swim toy (none of her older, male cousins would do it.)

Mission Accomplished.

Resting Bitch Face, revisited.

In the afternoon, the Whites and us took the kids out tubing around the lake for a bit.  We had ourselves a send-off on the dock from the grandparents, who were nice enough to watch our dogs while we were out.

This tube doesn't fly around nearly as much as the ones in previous years, but you can still catch some air on it.

Down goes Blake. . . .

After Brian at beat the shit out of his kids for awhile, he toned things down (substantially) and took Abby out around the lake a few times.  Bradley was nice enough to ride along with her to help balance out the tube.

After a couple hours of tubing, this thing was losing some serious air.

I need a haircut.  I'm aware.

We took this tube out for a few more turns around the lake, but most of my pics didn't turn out that well - Brian's new boat (that we utilized for this tubing venture) doesn't have a dedicated, rear-facing seat, so I had to sit sideways.  Consequently, I'd lose balance - and the camera went out of focus - whenever he turned.  Plus he has crossbars across the back of the boat that constantly are in the way.  Probably a safe bet I won't be taking a ton of tubing pics from this point forward.

After tubing, we were hanging out inside the cottage when Abby brought up this rock that had one of the scariest f***ing bugs I've ever seen hanging on to it for dear life.

Dad keeps the dogs busy.

The neighbors gave the kids permission to jump off/slide down their pontoon boat.  Bradley wasted no time in jumping off the top of it. . . . into four feet of water.

Capt. Brian and his new Deck Boat.

Kris, gettin' her drink on in the lake.

Abby climbed up after watching her cousin for a few minutes.

Cindy made up a bunch of steak for dinner, which we were totally cool with.

This shit's sooooo good.

After dinner, Brian, his cousins, Jill, and Kris took all the kids out tubing again (Yours Truly was taking a break from camera duties for awhile, having gotten my fill in earlier in the afternoon.)

Alayna watches her sister tube.

(All these videos are from Kris. . . .)

Once they came back to shore, we switched out tubes for wake boards, and I once again put on my photographer pants.  Taking pics of wake boarding is waaaay easier to shoot, as the boat goes faster but doesn't turn as much, and you can anticipate the good shots.  Unfortunately, the Whites were running out of time that evening (they weren't staying the night), and Bradley didn't get to board for very long at all. 

Before the Whites left, however, we belatedly-celebrated Alayna's 12th Birthday.  Cindy bought made a cake and everything.

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to the Cannonball. . . .

Way to go, Dad.  Way to go.

Alayna holds up a birthday sign that Cindy made for her.

We would've taken another sunset cruise around the lake that evening, after the Whites had left, but Dad's boat hoist wasn't working properly - it was stuck in the elevated position, and he couldn't fix it.  During his tinkering with the lift, his cherished cup (shown here) fell down into the lake, below the boat hoist.  Eventually I had to rescue it in four feet of silty lake water, using only my extraordinary Hough toes.

The next morning, Dad and I took Abby out into Lake Station in order to pick up a few supplies Cindy needed.  This is more or less a suburb of Farwell, and should be treated with equal disdain by all civilized people.

This ole' timey general store is pretty cool inside.  Next time you find yourself in Lake, I'd recommend popping in there and checking it out.  Of course, that would mean traveling to Lake. . . which, you know, you probably don't have to do.

- Brian