Memorial Day 2012

We spent our Memorial Day weekend on Lake Hartwell....big surprise, right?  We planned to go up on Friday morning and come back Saturday evening.  However, some gorgeous weather, excellent company and some "positive peer pressure" from that excellent company changed our plans a bit.  We ended up staying until Monday...lots of fun, and exhaustion upon our arrival home.  :)  Definitely worth it, though.

When we got there Friday, Mikey, Parks, Marlee, Shayla, Kaly and me all took our first family swim in the lake.  We have some new life jackets for the kids that are much more comfortable than last year's were.  Marlee LOVES the water.  She continually dunks her face in and comes up and coughs...repeat.  It's hilarious.  She squeals and giggles and smiles so big.  Parks was a bit more pensive, especially at first. He just floated there without moving a muscle but taking everything in with his eyes.  By the end of the weekend he was kick-kick-kicking all over the place.  My parents showed up as we were hiking back up to the house (the water is wayyyy down, so it's a bit of a hike down to the dock).  We hung out for a while and then Libby, Grandpa, Patrick and Michael all showed up within seconds of each other.  We had a few hours of nice relaxation and then I headed for bed.

super fuzzy but it's all i got

sportin' the new b-suit

My mom discovered that "Seneca Fest" was on Saturday, and they had a 5K race in the morning.  Since I've been training with Kim, I thought it would be fun to try the run.  My dad agreed to run it with me, so we headed out about 7am and found the race just minutes before the starting gun.  It was HOT and HUMID and I was HURTING.  I ran it in 26:28 and am really mad because I don't think I've ever walked in an official race, but I had to walk at the end...probably during the last 1/4 mile.  It was fun and I do enjoy the extra adrenaline I get when running in a real race.  Mikey ran most of the race and then stopped about 1/4 mile from the turnaround and waited for me to be heading on my way back (2nd leg of the run).  He was barefoot running, and tried to "motivate" me by talking and telling me who I needed to pass and stuff.  It was helpful, I guess.  My dad did awesome too.  He said he was going to walk it, but when we were looking for him near the finish line, we looked up and saw him barreling down the hill in a solid run.  Pretty awesome!!!

Later on Saturday, Erin, Taylor, Bella and Baby Gus (Mikey's nickname for our soon to be nephew) showed up with their friends Sarah and Joseph, and their awesome dog, Cash.  Cash can climb ladders, jump through screen doors without making a sound and can swim for hours on hours.  He's amazing.  They were all great to hang out with and Sarah and Joseph fit right in.  I hope they come back!

The rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of eating, swimming, boating, grilling (by Patrick and Michael) and did I mention eating?  We are infinitely grateful for the amazing help we have from family and friends with corralling and entertaining our kids.  We wouldn't be able to do ANY of this stuff without them.  I am amazed each time we go up there at how perfectly God has made us all to fit together, work together and use each of our "gifts" to become one body.  I pray I will be able to "return the favor" and serve these people in the ways they serve me.

I only took a couple pics...

Libby watching for fish

Parko driven with Grandpa

teeheehee