Sunday, June 28, 2009

WAS@thelakehouse - KAYLEE EDITION

Kaylee has really developed the photography bug - at least a quarter of the shots we brought home were hers. Here are a few of the highlights from the collection:


ELEPHANTS!, from the wildlife collection, 2009


LION!, from the wildlife collection, 2009


SQUIRREL!, from the wildlife collection, 2009


DORKS!, from the wildlife collection, 2009


Picture of my picture, environmental portrait, 2009


Door, environmental portrait, 2009


Boat ride, environmental portrait, 2009


Where they make the clouds, environmental portrait, 2009


Mom, portrait, 2009


Aunt JJ, portrait, 2009


Uncle James, portrait, 2009


Izzybutt, portrait, 2009


Uncle thumb-face, portrait, 2009


Dad and GG, portrait, 2009


Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Cindy, portrait, 2009


Aunt Bex, portrait, 2009


Uncle Steve, portrait, 2009
(a "Grandma Trimmer photo" for those in the know)



Aunt Mary & Aunt Ruth, portrait, 2009


Alice & half an aunt, portrait, 2009


The artist, self portrait, 2009

WAS@thelakehouse - part 4


The most important part of the trip for all of us was making sure we spent time with GG - especially the girls. Kaylee made the trip out to see her twice - and she visited us at the Lake House twice. We were so busy spending time with her that we even forgot to take a picture of the three greatgrands with her.

We'll get that one next time.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 3


The high point of the weekend was probably our day on the boat. It was Kaylee's first time out on the water and I don't think I've ever seen her so entertained.


"Now, where the heck are we again?"


Despite his irrational fear of boats, open water and being eaten by a giant squid, James managed to have a good time. As long as he didn't get too close to the edge.


Each of the girls took a turn driving. It's scary how fast Kaylee picked it up. Turning was no big deal - she's seen me do that in the car numerous times. But she also figured out where the throttle was and what it did pretty quickly.


I'm not sure what happened, but how's that for a moment? I'm pretty sure either someone fell out of the tube, or we had a giant squid sighting.


The joy she found on the boat was second only to Kaylee's love of riding in the tube ...


... with Dad ...


... and Grandma Cindy ...


... and riding with Grandpa Charlie would have been a lot of fun too ... if he could have gotten in the tube in the first place.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 2


The North Carolina Zoo was a surprise hit. It's HUGE. It may be in the middle of nowhere, but it's worth the drive. Sure, we only got to spend an hour there and it was miserably hot and muggy - but that didn't slow the girls down. Too much anyway.


We found huge rocks to climb on (and make Rae uncomfortable). And wild snakes to chase.


And every exhibit has life-size statues of the animals to play on.


Aunt Rose and Uncle John's back yard is amazing. It's huge and the landscaping must have taken them forever. But the number of bugs per square inch makes me never want to leave my arid climate ever again.


But it's great for running.


And acting stupid.


Kaylee's experience with Izzybutt makes me think that she'd make a great big sister. (Don't get your hopes up, it's not happening.) She loved holding the kid and feeding her was a special treat. It had to be one of the highlights of the week for her.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 1

It must have been a good vacation - because I didn't take pictures of most of it. We were too busy making memories to document them. Hopefully someone else had a camera going.

This is also going to be more of a photodump than a coherent thought. The writers in the family will have to excuse me for not having any sort of linear thought process.


The whole vacation basically revolved around this ... laying around and enjoying the company. James even woke up for some of it. The girls loved it. The "adults" loved it. The grandparents cried like babies when it was over.


The girls managed to love hanging out. Most of the time anyway - being two-years-old does get in the way of getting along every now and then. (MINE! No, MINE! AAAHHHH!!! MOOMMM!!) But when they were getting along (which was most of the time) they were a blast to watch running around the house.


Thanks to some great floaty-things Grandma Cindy found, they took to swimming pretty quickly. Rounding out the outfit is Kaylee's Little Mermaid swimsuit - complete with "her beautiful tail." And I don't think she wore anything BUT her new swim shoes for most of the trip.


The water was (much) warmer than last year but we traded that for no beach, leeches and fish who liked to nip at freckles and moles. Maybe next time we'll find something warm, with a great beach and fewer blood-suckers.

Friday, June 26, 2009

@thelakehouse

It wouldn't be vacation if we didn't gorge on dessert at least once.
Thank you Coldstone.

@thelakehouse

Uncle James: Hey Kaylee, want to go to India with me?

Kaylee: No way! I like hangbugers.

@thelakehouse

Kaylee: "Daddy. We are going to be married soon."

Me: "Well, I think the state of Arizona might have something to say about that."

Grandpa Charlie: "I think the state of Georgia might be all right with it."

Thursday, June 25, 2009

@thelakehouse

Can you say "sofa-fort?"

@thezoonearthelakehouse

A monkey and a monkey for Maggie - because she apparently can't wait
long enough for me to download the good pictures from my camera.

It's the best I have on my phone. You get what I got.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

@thelakehouse

"Shhhhh ... Izzy going sleeping."

Monday, June 22, 2009

@thelakehouse

Punching balloon-a-rama. Sounds like "thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-
thump-thump-thump-thump ..."

@thelakehouse

Swingset + cousin + uncle + lake = vacation

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Five Guys

(Second) best burgers, ever.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Happiness is ...

(your daughter eating enough of her fish to get) a bowl of ice cream.

Fountain fun

Three spitting fish in Charlotte. Hilight of the day so far.