Summer Vacation 2011...

My summer vacation started last weekend...with a Saturday morning long run with 6 other women. Last summer when I was marathon training I was running with Meggie. Just she and I at 6am alone on the Monon week after week. Pushing each other. This summer, we have gathered a group of women that run together each Saturday morning training for different marathons. Our duo turned into a group. How cool is that?! I have found all these amazing women that start planning for their weekend long runs on Monday. Talk about ladies after my own heart. Yes. Please. Here we are bright and early:

 Once I got home from the run we packed the car up and headed north for Lake Tippy for 7 glorious, relaxing nights. And I did not pack a blow dryer. Now that's a vacation!

We hadn't taken a vacation since Florida Spring Break and we were more than ready to get away to the lake. We had several families that were going to come stay with us, but all-in-all we had 3 nights alone and 4 nights with guests. Was the perfect mix to our vacation.

The cottage we rent belongs to our dear friends the Tynans and they were more than generous throughout our stay at the lake. We entered the cottage to find my all time favorite lake treat: bagels, cream cheese, homemade pesto and fresh tomatoes. Oh my, does Nancy know me or what?! They also let us borrow a ton of toys for the girls to play with, a pack-n-play, their tube and their boat. Their boat. How generous are they? To know them is to love them, that's for sure.

Our first guests were Mike's mom Cathy and Larry. The girls did some serious swimming with them:

 After his parents left, several of our friends showed up:

 The Morses and the Fechtmans arrived on Sunday afternoon and we didn't waste any time...bathing suits were on before bags were put into rooms. We know better than to mess around at the lake. When the sun is up - we are outside, on the water. Boat rides, swimming, jet skiing and tubing were in our imminent future.

 You could tell Sandi is an amazing stay at home mom (who works the night shift as a nurse!), as she whipped out crafts every time we turned around. If it wasn't making a tree imprint with crayons, it was painting or making jewelry. Talk about keeping the kids occupied!

 And it isn't lake living if you don't bathe in the lake...

 Matt & Jill (Matt grew up in California, on the coast, surfing. Lake living was out of his vocabulary but I'm pretty sure we've turned him on to it.)

 Tubing!!!

 Sunday night was a riot: listening to the big kids in the dorm room of 4 twin beds trying to fall asleep. Again, this is a rite of passage of lake life...sharing a room with a bunch of your best buddies singing, talking, laughing. It was so much fun to listen to. We adults stayed up late chatting and by midnight the boys were on a boat ride that lasted late into the night. Good times with great friends. And making memories along the way. Wouldn' have it any other way.

 There was a watermelon eating contest (Ben won)

 Water balloons...

 Everyone left on Tuesday, which left a few days to ourselves before more guests arrived. Fortunately, the weather turned and the humidity left us (which made for some very cool & comfortable runs in the country for me). We turned the a/c off and opened all the windows. Decided the mornings were too cold to swim so we set off for Shi.pshewana's notorious flea market. Land of the Amish. Yet everything sold there is made in China. Go figure. The girls loved the new environment and adventure:

 We bought a rainbow of nail polishes for Izzy, jibbits for their crocs, a princess ring for Mizz Iz and some fresh produce.

And then some more swimming and boat time

 

 The view from our deck

 Thursday we were invited to go turtle hunting with Big Joe & Aunt Nance...

 Mike caught a little turtle whom we named Yertle the Turtle and one large-ish turtle whom Iz called Yertle's mommy.

 Nance & Big Joe have been turtle hunting for years. Years. And tradition is we catch them, take them home for a night or two, leave them in a cooler/bucket over night with a rock to rest on and leaf to nibble on, then we return them to where we found them to go back to their homes (so they don't have to come home with us!). Simple, right? Well, we woke up the next morning and discovered Yertle wasn't in the cooler. Or anywhere on the deck. Seems as if an animal must have taken him as a snack during night. We told the girls Yertle went home to be with his parents, that he missed them. Izzy cried. I cried. Then I immediately called Nancy. She laughed. Then realized there were kids involved and said, "Oh dear! This has never happened to us, ever!" So we had that to deal with. RIP Yertle.

 Mike's dad and Laura arrived on Thursday just in time for dinner and an evening boat ride...

 Bob brought his fishing gear and he, Mike and Iz fished for a while on Friday morning. Izzy actually is very good at casting off...she has quite the natural arm!

 Morning boat ride snuggle

 We swam at least twice a day, which allowed plenty of time for Izzy and Mike to learn new circus tricks:

 Do some serious Izzy tossing...

 And relaxing during naptime. This was my FAVORITE time of vacation, as I would grab my book and the monitor to spend 2-3 hours in the sun!

 This might be one of my favorite pics...Izzy is always asking to take pictures and this is one of her shots:

 By the end of the week Izzy became brave enough to jump into the lake without any help. And would submerge herself under the water. Big time. She's kind of a big kid now.

 And she's proud. We are, too!

 Self timer at its best:

We had an amazingly relaxing and fun vacation. Thanks to the Tynans for their generosity and our friends and family that were able to join us to compound our enjoyment!