Sweet Memories

I can hear thunder pealing outside which only serves to remind me of our trip this last week to the lake. We had plenty of weather to keep us busy. Lots of wind and rain interspersed with plenty of hot sun. I wore lots of sunscreen along with my wide-brimmed hat and a long-sleeved swim cover-up and yet I still came home with a sun-tanned face and arms while my legs look like freshly-plucked chickens that have been beaten with sticks. I always get tons of bruises at the lake from bumping into the metal sides of the houseboat, the kitchen counter, chairs sticking out, kicking my feet on the prop of the boat as I try to get out of the water (that one really hurt). I have one huge bruise on the front of my leg that is from an unknown source. Oh well. Shave softly I suppose.

At the beginning of the week the boys caught their largest lizard yet. They named him Rex. According to them, Rex was well trained by the end of the week. I'm not exactly sure what they trained him to do.

My nephews also caught a lizard as did my niece.

My mother-in-law found a crawdad which was fed to the lizards and another nephew found a teeny-tiny praying mantis. Seriously... it's tiny.

With all of this catching of animals you would think that at a lake there would be some serious fish-catching going on too. Nope. Not a single fish was caught. Well....I'm not counting the dead, floating, bloating fish that was scooped up in a fish net. If so, then ONE fish was caught. Ewwwww.

Brett had to go home partway through the week for a youth activity but we didn't let that stop our fun. We simply hopped into Grandpa's boat for the hour and a half ride to Rainbow Bridge. Yep. You heard me. Hour and a half. Bouncing up and down. Up and down. Up and down. Not a ride for the seasick. Or for the migraine-prone. Don't try this April. But I drugged myself up (and brought more drugs for the ride back). This was my view for most of the time...

When Smiley asked how much longer there was still to go to get there and he was told it was still another 20 minutes, he wasn't too happy about it.

Even the other kids lost their excitement in the repetition of the waves...

But we survived the crossing and made it to our destination. It was worth the trip.

Because of the high water levels the hike to Rainbow Bridge was only 1/3rd of a mile. That had me excited! I'm not much of a hiker to be honest. We arrived in no time with only a few complaints from the little ones about "what are we doing next?" etc. This IS what we are doing. Duh. I thought it would be great to bring a little net along for the kids to catch lizards in because that is what my boys are constantly doing at the lake. So we arrive at Rainbow Bridge with lizard net in hand whereupon the Park Ranger tells this great story about the bridge...

I won't go into details about the story but if you look at the bridge on the left side it looks like there is a lizard going up the left side of the bridge. The moral of the story is to listen to your parents. My kids didn't get that out of the story. Here is what my youngest was concerned about..

Smiley: So is that lizard going to come back alive?

Me: It was just a story

Smiley: But is the lizard going to come back alive and come down off the rock?

Me: No, you don't understand Smiley, he was just telling a story. It wasn't real.

All the brothers at once: IT WAS JUST A STORY SMILEY!!!!

He ignores them.

Smiley: But is it going to come off the rock?

Me: Just like movies are pretend, his story was pretend. It didn't really happen. But if you don't listen to me then he will come down off the rock and get you.

True Story. I said that.

So the Ranger's parting shot as one of my sons is holding the net in hand says,"and remember to never catch lizards in any national parks. We should always treat wildlife in the parks carefully." What???? Not catch lizards??? I think I probably stepped in front of my son at that point to hide the offending evidence of their nefarious activities for the week. We never knew that catching lizards was such a heinous crime in national parks. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Rex was still alive and well back at the houseboat. The same couldn't be said for lizards in past years. Not that they hadn't tried to keep them alive but the shock of being handled by the kids had probably given the poor creatures a heart attack. Rex was made of stronger stuff. The meal of the crawdad had probably helped as well. Rex was eventually set free and returned to his home although I have to admit that Giggles tried to recapture him only minutes after his release. Some rules are harder than others to keep.

My view on the hour and a half ride back...

Going to the lake for us is a change of pace. We want our family to spend time together and set other things aside. I left my computer at home. On purpose. I didn't blog, didn't check email or facebook for a whole week. And I survived. The only thing I checked was my phone for messages. We had the boys leave their DSs behind. Of course that didn't stop them from watching their cousins play Angry Birds.

But what we "lost" in technology we gained in experience. Wannabe, Giggles and Smiley worked on their waterskiing skills on trainer skis.

All the boys cliff-jumped from the same spot (including Smiley who is not the most daring of kids).

I missed getting a picture of Wannabe so you'll just have to trust that he jumped too.

I was able to play Sketchy with my kids and my nieces and nephews, we enjoyed a few campfires together with some corny jokes and I went on some great waverunner rides with all of my boys.

I'm almost sad to have the week end. Almost. Next week they go to summer camp for five days. All of them. Every single one. I'm so excited for me. I mean them.