We went out on the lake this afternoon for one last hurrah before school starts. I drove the boat while Tom wake surfed (both super exciting in and of themselves). And Jonas and Xander both officially became…wake boarders…they got up on top of the water on the wake board and stayed up…what a beautiful and thrilling thing to see!!! I’m so proud of all of my guys. We also thoroughly enjoyed a little trio of ducks who hung out with us while we chilled on the boat, swam, and cliff jumped. What a great way to end the summer with fun times on the lake!

We headed out to Percy Priest Lake this afternoon for a family camping adventure! We unloaded the van, loaded up the boat, boated around until we found a good camping spot, unloaded the boat, set up camp, went tubing, relaxed and ate dinner, went on a sunset cruise, ate s’mores, and pretty much tucked into bed not long after that. Tom slept on the boat, I slept in the big tent with Xander and Roman, and Jonas slept in the little tent by himself (but ended up moving his tent right next to ours before nightfall). It was decently warm out, so it was a little tough for everyone to get to sleep. Xander woke up at least twice in the middle of the night, if not more. And Roman woke up bright and early at 5:45 am, saying (really loudly) that he was hungry. Around 6:00 am, a whole banana boat tube full of screaming girls from Camp Widgiwagan made continual donuts right beside our campsite on the lake for a good 30 minutes. All of that to say, we had eaten breakfast, broken camp, and were packed up and headed back to the dock by 7:45 am, ready to get home and recover for the rest of the day. It was fun…just exhausting.

I had the best birthday ever!!! I woke up to hugs all around. Then, Jonas made me a delicious breakfast (oatmeal and strawberries with cinnamon and sugar). Afterwards, the boys showered me with presents wrapped in snowman paper…Tom gave me a beautiful dress and fun earrings, Xander and Roman gave me a comfy pair of pajamas, and Jonas gave me a really unique cactus. All things I love from the people I love. Not long after, we loaded up and headed to Tims Ford Lake. We had never been out there before, and it was beautiful. The weather was perfect, and there was hardly anyone out on the lake. We took turns riding on the tube, hung out on the lily pad, and swam in the lake. I even tried wake boarding!!! (I wasn’t successful, but it was still fun trying…I probably never would’ve taken the plunge without Tom highly encouraging me to.) We picked up steak, potatoes, salad, and cherry cheesecake for dinner. Yummy!!! It was a beautiful day, and I’m thankful for my life and to be 43.

We went to Radnor Lake for a hike after blueberry picking this morning. I didn’t think it was going to be too much for the boys, but I guess it was. Oh well.

I gave Jonas a trail map and appointed him as the navigator (which was great until he would announce, “Guys, we still have a mile left until we get back to the car!”). Xander was not into being there, so he basically…ran ahead and tried to run off the trail whenever he could, grumbled the whole time, and hit anything and everything with a stick. Roman really dug the nature scavenger hunt I printed out for them and found all sorts of things. He also insisted on carrying (or on me carrying) a gargantuan stick most of the way because it doubled as “his antlers”.

We saw all sorts of wildlife…a buck, four does, a fawn, a heron and her babies, beautiful blue and yellow butterflies, and a log full of turtles. AND we hiked two miles! So there.

The boys and I went blueberry picking this morning at Golden Bell Farm. We ended up going a little later in the season, so most of the berries were a little tougher to find/get to than usual. BUT we still ended up picking almost 2 pounds collectively!!! Xander, even though he doesn’t look like he’s too into it in his picture, picked the most.

I’ve been feeling a little down and needed to pull out of my funk. So, I took the boys to Grand Ole Golf. I used to go put put golfing there with my mom when I was a little girl, and I knew they would love it as much as I used to. The weather was beautiful. Jonas, Xander, and I took score and Roman just played for the fun of it, which ended up working out really well for everybody. After we finished playing 18 holes, we took a break and ate the lunch we brought from home and re-grouped. For fun, I decided to let each boy choose one extra activity…Jonas (and I) chose go karts and Xander and Roman chose the arcade. This was Jonas’ first time driving a go kart on his own, and he did a great job…I was impressed! I had fun zipping around the track, trying to keep up with him. Xander and Roman, even though each ended up with differing amounts of tickets, were rewarded above and beyond by the sweet girl behind the counter (she even tossed in several things for Jonas). They were so excited. Afterwards, we stopped at Cotton and Snow for one big snow cone to share with multiple flavors…I picked snow cream, Jonas picked red velvet, Xander picked blue raspberry, and Roman picked sponge bob. Yummy! It ended up being a really fun, indulgent day that lifted all of our spirits.