Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Cold and stormy week...at the lake.





Wooo! What a week! Our Spring break at the lake was a cold...wet...and a stormy one. We went up on Wednesday...Lindsey's birthday... only to find our screen room had blown across the yard. There must have been a Strong wind blow through to pick up this metal frame and toss it across the yard. It was windy and cold, so we didn't think we would get the boat in the water. But the crazy people that we are, zipped up our jackets, grabbed a few blankets and took a stroll around the lake. We were the only boat on the lake that afternoon. It was nice to see what changes some homeowners have made this winter to their properties. Kelley likes to drool over the floating docks and I drool over their yards and homes.
Thursday was better weather...the sun was out but still a little cool. After breakfast we took a trip into Abbeville, for ice cream at this cute little Christian owned ice cream parlor. I think I have started a tradition with my girls. The first thing out of their mouths when we tell them we are going to the lake is " Can we go to Abbeville for ice cream?" As you can see in my photos Mackenzie really enjoyed the superman ice cream. We then headed back to the lake for more boating and staking out the layout of our house. Hopefully next week the builders can start grading and maybe by August we can begin using our little retreat home. We had the younger six girls with us for the first couple of days and then Sarah left Thursday night.
Friday Emily drove up for a little fun with all the girls. Friday morning we had rain ...but that afternoon was really nice. We had a fun filled day of boating and rope swing making. Leave it to Emily to be creative. Watching her try and get the rope over the tree branch was the best entertainment. I think tying a rock to the end of the rope was what finally achieved the end result. They first tried a chair...then a branch and finally a 2x4. Genius! A perfect afternoon of entertainment!
Friday evening proved to end the day not so good. About 8 O'clock we received a phone call that a storm was headed our way. Tornado warnings from Tennessee to South Carolina were issued. Well, chilling in a camper during a bad storm is not where you want to be! I am so thankful for our good friends who have a house next door. We gathered up the kids and a pillow or two, and headed to their house for a couple of hours. The winds blew hard and the rain...let's just say it was blowing sideways. We weren't sure how the camper or the screen room would fair this storm. Finally about 10 o'clock the warnings were over and we headed back to our camper for sleep.
Saturday we spent the the morning cleaning and moving the camper closer to the lake. The fiasco of the morning was Jessica stepping on a rake and having the prongs go through her flip flops, one of which went into her foot! Oh! that swing...the rope broke and Megan did a face plant on the ground.Jessica is still limping and Megan is fine.We took one more boat ride before taking it out of the water. The storm from the night before...rose the lake a half a foot. We do have plenty of water on this lake!
I will be so glad to have more room for everyone when this house is finished. I am really looking forward to sharing this retreat with others. Hopefully it will be a place of rest and great memories!