Family Vacation

We had a great time with family this past week! It was a lot of fun to see so many people at my Grandma's birthday party, and then we went out to the lake to stay with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Pat for a few days. The girls had more fun on the water than they have had with anything else in a long time!

They got a pontoon boat, so the girls tried out tubing for the first time. They loved it. Abigail was a bit clumsy at first, but Amelie was really a natural. She got the hang of everything, instantly. Impressive to watch. They even went together which ended up being the most fun. Once, the tube flipped, and the spent 5-10 minutes figuring out how to flip it back over. What great teamwork and persistence! The method that ended up working was Abigail (who called the shots for this endeavor) pulled the rope over the top and pushed with her feet against the side of the tube. Amelie lifted from the opposite side. After a few tries, they flipped it!

The girls also enjoyed the kayaks, and, surprisingly, they found a new way to use them. They stood on the back and paddled as if they were stand up paddle boards! Very creative and a lot of fun. They are just the right size to get the balance down. Amelie was kneeling inside her kayak and one point and flipped it over. Quite the shock to her, and she hurt her ankle. Abigail righted the kayak while I took care of Amelie. Naomi came over in the paddle boat to help Abigail. 

We also played some croquet and had a bonfire cookout that Uncle Pete came over for. Didn't quite get a good view of the rising super blue moon, though. Too cloudy. We did get a chance to go to Pete and Joleen's for dinner. It was great to see them and the girls really enjoyed spending time with Joleen. 

After some sad goodbyes, we went to test drive a car on our way to Mary and Jim's. Shady dealership. When we got there it was gone, even though I had confirmed a couple hours before. Waste of a trip. We did have a great time with Mary and Jim! Excellent food, fun at the foosball table, and we even managed to get some shopping done. 

Our time with them was cut short when we were notified that we could either be there to recieve all our stuff from the Netherlands in 24 hours, or we would have to wait until after Labor Day and pay storage fees. The girls were very upset to have to leave early. Lots of tears from Amelie.  Naomi dropped them off at my parents and took care of the movers while my dad came down with the truck to pick up the first shipment of woodworking tools. Everything got unloaded and the only problem was a crack in the driveway from the moving truck. Yesterday we just installed a couple showerheads, cleaned up a bit, and got out of there. The amount of work was too overwhelming. Went for a walk on our land. So nice to be back there again after two years! 

Driving out to our land.

A full load.

Wiped out after three days on the lake.

Wiped out after having twins around.

Amazing food at Mary and Jim's.

Red sunrise from wildfire smoke.