A Week at the Lake

Here's a selection of pictures from our week at the lake. We had much fun, and I tried to remember and bring the camera, but, let's face it...sometimes you're just having too much fun to remember the camera. Oh well.

We stayed with Grandma Beth and Grandpa Dick at their cabin on Deer Lake. During our week, we managed to get Julia to the fireworks twice , and this is the first year that I've been more entertained watching my two-year-old watch the fireworks than my watching the fireworks themselves. Julia was in absolute awe. "Boom Boom Boom" she would shout, and then yell, "Watch out, guys, there's fire!!!" We watched one set from my aunt's pontoon boat, and Julia stood transfixed as they blew up over the water. She was amazed that the fire didn't come and get her. I was laughing too hard to take a picture of that.

Later in the week, Mike and I decided to take the Catamaran out for a sail on a particularly windy day. As we were leaving the shore, Mike said to me, "Woman, you need to wear a life jacket."
"Why?" I asked. "They're in the boat house and I'm afraid they're full of spiders."
"Too Bad" Mike said. "Wear one anyways, what if we capsize in the middle of the lake and you get thrown overboard and the sail hits you in the head? I can't swim very well, you know..."

Well, I gave in and wore the stupid jacket. (After I dipped it in the water to remove all potential insects...)

You can imagine what happened to us when we were out on the water. It was a particularly windy day...one where sailing becomes tricky. You don't want your sail perpendicular to the wind gusts because they're too strong and your boat will fly up out of the water and blow right over....so you try and get the sail to catch the edge of the wind....more like at a 120 degree angle to the gusts. All was going very well....we were going at a nice fast speed, but weren't gripping the boat completely terrified...and then I think I got too confident...and waved to somebody on shore. At that moment, my clumsiness "Kicked in" and I kicked the rope loose from the trolley at the end of the sail that controls the angle of the sail.

"Oh CRA....."

The sail suddenly made itself perfectly perpendicular to the wind gust, and before I could mutter the word, "Crap," We were flying in the air and then upside down...and I was underwater...and the mast came under and knocked me............in..........the life jacket.

...

Somehow, Mike and I managed to get the Catamaran standing upright in the middle of the lake. We learned that "go COUNTERclockwise can mean many things...depending on where your point of reference is from. We learned that the little thing that holds the rope at the end of the sail tightly is easily knocked free. Mike learned that the middle of the lake is much colder than the nice warm shore water.....and I learned that I should listen to Mike and wear the stupid life jacket....cause even a lifeguard can get violated by the mast on a catamaran.

Well, needless to say I didn't get any pictures of that, and If I'd brought the camera along, I'd have no pictures of anything at all....the muskies at the bottom of deer lake would have our camera.

Here are some random photos from our vacation:

Julia, preparing for a kayak ride
Playing cards, a Riesgraf tradition, complete with Fuzzy Navels and letting the kids play with the two's and threes during a game of 500
Mary's first boat ride. It must have been windy...
This is Lindsay, Dan's girlfriend,who is simply fantastic. Mary thinks Lindsay is her second mom....
Mary, smiling for the camera right before she poo'd all over this nice new onesie....and on the couch behind it...
Cousin Dan took the cousins to an island in the middle of the lake with a nice sandbar for swimming. Julia LOVED It.

Mike discovered a new love for crossword puzzles...
Grandma Mitzi and her great granddaughter #2
I seem to feel compelled to take a naked butt picture whenever I have the chance. Julia will someday want to kill me for this.
Papa, Julia, and I canoed out to an island. We wore our life jackets. :)
There was a nest of sea gulls on the island, and when we got there, they all flew up in the air and made angry squaks. Mike calls them "rats with wings."
Julia and I got out of the boat and did some exploring
A pair of loons dared to get close to our canoe. Later, I took the kayak out for a spin and got within six feet of a loon! He didn't seem to care that I was even there...I must say it was a bit intimidating looking him in the eye....their eyes are red and they are the size of a turkey!