Spring Cleaning at the Lake

We have been blessed by Jim's parents with a wonderful get-away lake retreat. It's only about 1hr. and 15min. from our house so it's the perfect weekend respite where we can regroup as a family and enjoy many outdoor activities like fishing, boating, tubing, knee-boarding and much more. We were really spoiled when Jim's parents were still the owners because we'd just show up and be able to jump right into the fun stuff. However, now that we've taken over, we, and our children, have learned that there's a whole lot of work that needs to be done before we get to play. Great lesson to learn. Some of us learn it faster than others, however. :)

Jim usually begins his work day by trying to get the mower started. Never an easy task. This year, he brought the parts to fix the steering mechanism and even got the mower started on the first try! It only stayed "started" for about 5 min. Guess we'll be needing more parts.


With minimal complaining this year, the boys got to work on gathering sticks from the yard and the dock because they know the faster they get their work done, the closer we are to taking a boat ride.

There had just been a pretty decent storm the week before so there were a LOT of sticks to drag to the burn pile.

Then of course, Daddy started sweeping out the boat house and dock and provided even more sticks for the boys to drag. If that's not enough, there are also sticks brought up out of of the water inside the boat house as well.

And where is sweet Josi during all of this? Waiting on the boat watching her brothers do the grunt work. Like I said, it takes some of us longer than others to get the "work comes first" concept. (Let me say that Josi did "help" me inside of the house making beds and cleaning bathrooms, however, we still wanted her to do some of the outside work as well).

This was Miss Josi's reaction when I told her she had to get out of the boat and help or we weren't going to be able to go on a boat ride. (Priceless)

So, she stomped her way over to the stick pile, bent over to pick up a bunch of sticks...

And threw them ever so fitfully into the air....No, they did not make it into the back of the golf cart which I think is just the way she intended it! (Gotta admire her stubborn streak...I mean spunk!) She eventually cleaned up all of her assigned sticks and so it was finally time!

A.J. is just as excited as the rest of us for the first boat ride of the season!

Time to load up and go for a cruise. Too cold to tube just yet. :(

Got the captain at the helm. Mom's in the back taking pictures. We're ready to roll!

Someone's a lot happier now that the work is done! Me too, Josi...me too!

Yep, nothing like hard work to make you truly appreciate kicking back and relaxing.

And there's nothing like ending the day with your family "almost" all together, a dog by your side, and the wind in your hair. We are truly blessed!