Dale Hollow

The girls went back to school today and our magical summer is over. It’s sad and also needful and I’ve been crossing tasks off my list all day. 

Back to the lake! It’s so hard to coordinate schedules so we had people coming and going all week, but for Wednesday it was Mike, Cani, and Cosette from Washington (and byu), Dan, Chantel, Rye, and Zoe from VA, and then of course Brad and Lea from Cincinnati. 

The lake was so warm, it was amazing! In the later half of the week it had cooled way down and the lake water was warmer than the outside temperature so it was hard to get out!

On the first day we rented a pontoon boat with a slide and found a swimming hole where we parked and swam and slid and Zoe and Laney explored. 

We really really wanted to jump off the top of that pontoon, but we settled for the slide. 

We went head first on stomachs then backs, feet first on stomachs then backs, in a cannonball position and ending in a flop. Any way you can think, we slid. 

We tubed every chance we got! 

Delaney and Dan relaxed on the back deck. 

Lake days are all very similar. All amazing. 

Lea knows we like to puzzle so she bought this impossible puzzle that was clear and also had lots of pieces that could fit in lots of different spots. I’m not about that life, so I didn’t even try. The crew had it out for a day and a half before they gave up. 

The cousins in Tennessee. Our girls know Rye and Zoe much better than Cosette, and they were enamored with her. 

Lea took 2 full days of cooking and the rest of us took one and we ate so much all week and it was so delicious! I brought home recipes for skyline dip and salami rollups - so yumma!

Lea had made a 500 piece puzzle that was smart sorted and the crew finished it in about an hour. I had never seen a smart sorted puzzle before and it was so cool!

Brad and Lea are such good hosts! They are generous and gracious and have hosted so much that they are amazingly prepared. 

Also safe. Being on the boat always makes me anxious at first, but it helps that I trust that they are careful and wise and safe. 

One couple would make a big brekkie, then we’d hang out, pack lunches and snacks and boat bags and head down to the lake, about a 3 minute drive from their cute house. 

I made crepes for my brekkie, pasta salads for my lunch,  taquitos for my dinner, and I made and froze Brooki’s Bakehouse cookie dough so I made fresh cookies for dessert. 

One night the electricity went out. It was weird, we lost power, but the house Mike had rented right across the street kept their power for another hour after us, it just kept flickering. Then finally the whole street went dark. Thankfully the electricity came back on around 11 and it never got too warm. 

On Thursday they got a late start and I had a RS Roundtable, so I skipped that day. I stayed home and assembled taquitos so I could just throw them in the oven on my day. 

Dan, chantell, Mike, cami, and Cosette stayed at the other house, the girls and I were in Brad and Lea’s loft, and Rye and Zoe were in their downstairs bedroom. Then grandpa flew in Thursday night, so the big girls moved upstairs with us.

Then D&C and R&Z left Friday morning. So we had the loft to ourselves again and we stayed that way when Matt and Adi came Saturday morning.