Thomas was traveling for work Wednesday - Friday last week, so the Nanas (two of my aunts) drove up from Georgia and Tennessee to stay at our house and help out with the boys. It's actually totally manageable at this point for one parent to keep them but the Nanas hadn't seen the boys in a while and missed them and wanted to come up, so the timing worked out well. Wednesday morning, right before the Nanas were planning to leave their house to drive up, Carole offered to let us come to her lake house for the weekend. I was a little on the fence about whether to go, since the Nanas were coming up, Thomas wouldn't get home until 11 PM on Friday night (so I wasn't sure if he would want to come to the lake at all), we had just been in
Jacksonville last weekend, it all just seemed like too much. But I decided to call Aunt Mary Nell to see if they would want to do the lake thing. She was excited and was all into it, which made me excited, too! I reached out to Thomas and convinced him that he could sleep in on Saturday after his travels, then do whatever yard work he needed to do and then come up to the lake. Our dog sitter and our next door neighbors were both out of town, so Thomas wasn't going to be able to spend the weekend at the lake, but I knew he would have fun to at least come up and spend the day with us on Saturday. Plus, I knew we would be missing him and would be ready to see him after his trip! We also invited MaSha to come up because she loves the lake and has been traveling as well and hadn't seen the boys in over a week.
So, long story short, Carole invited us to the lake and we decided to go and bring the whole gang! We went to the lake for a weekend last year, too. Here's your refresher on that:
Water Babies at Camp Keowee.
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| Lake Keowee is so beautiful! |
We ended up leaving Friday afternoon so we could spend the evening there at Keowee. Apart from a little hoopla involving jumper cables and a trip to Advanced Auto for a new battery for Aunt Mary Nell, we had a quick and easy drive up there. The boys were supposed to nap for the majority of the drive, and they all fell asleep at times, but we had shortened naps for all 3 on Friday. When we arrived, we got the cars unloaded, I gave the Nanas a tour of the house, I worked a bit, and we just relaxed.
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Ryan laying with Nana Wanda
He loves laying on her! |
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Stokes "working"
Thank goodness my computer was locked. |
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| Dinner time on the deck! |
We fed the boys a quick dinner and after they ate, it will still light enough and hot enough that we changed them into their swimsuits, put on their sunscreen and went out to the water. We kept Ryan up on the dock (and eventually back in the house) since I was the only adult in the water for most of the time, but eventually Mary Nell put her swim suit on and got in as well. Stokes and William both wore their puddle jumpers and had such a blast! They loved "swimming" (aka floating) around and going up the ladder, jumping (while holding Mama's hand) in the lake and then up the ladder over and over again!
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| Pretty water |
After about 1.5 hours of swimming, we got the boys to come back to the house, bathed them and got them to bed. I only brought one pack n play, so I put Stokes and William in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed, which is super low to the ground and put pillows on the floor beside the bed, in case they were to roll out. I put them both under the covers with their blankets. I put Ryan in the pack n play in the same room with his blanket too. After only getting a short nap and all the swimming they had done, they were EXHAUSTED. When I asked them who they wanted to pray for as part of our typical nighttime routine, Stokes replied, "No prayers. Light off". HA! They literally must have fallen asleep instantly because by the time I closed the door, walked up the stairs and turned on the monitor, it was silent.
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| Sweet brothers snuggling |
Their first foray with a real bed was ok. Stokes ended up getting smooshed by William's desire to spread out and he eventually rolled out of the bed and started crying. I was sleeping in a bigger bed in the same room, so I just picked him up and put him into bed with me. In hindsight, I should have made a different decision, because the rest of the night was spent moving, rolling, kicking, wanting to be held, on and on. I don't know what time it was, but at some point early in the morning (maybe 6ish), he got off my bed and went over to the bunk bed. I thought he was going to crawl in there and go back to sleep (stupid thought) because he went over to wake William up. Then both of them got into bed with me and there was definitely no more sleep to be had. There was fighting over who was being held, hitting, (unintentionally) pulling Mama's hair, switching places and rolling around. I was pretty tired, but once we heard voices upstairs, I completely gave up the thought of any more sleep and we all got up.
Saturday morning was very chill. The boys pretty much wanted to go swimming as soon as they saw the water, but we hung out on the deck for a while. Carole arrive that morning and we were so glad to see Mimi (as the kids call her)!
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| Nana holding Ryan |
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| Stokes looking at a boat going by |
We got back in the water with Stokes and William for a while before lunch and they had a blast again.
Right around lunch time, Thomas and MaSha arrived so we all sat down for some sandwiches, chips and fruit.
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| Stokes, MaSha, William, Carole, Ryan and Nana |
When the boys took their afternoon naps, Thomas and I got out on the water while Mimi, MaSha and the Nanas hung out on the deck talking and listening to the monitor for us. All that swimming makes nap time a breeze! Then after they woke up, we stayed on the deck for a while. Those boys keep us laughing and they're very entertaining!
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| MaSha and William |
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| Dada holding Stokes |
It start clouding up, so we all came inside just before the rain hit. Thomas and I had left some floats on the dock when we were swimming earlier and the wind from the storm blew them back into the water and over to some other docks in the cove where Carole's house is. William was distraught. He wasn't crying or anything, but couldn't stop talking about Mimi's floats and saying, "Oh no!". He found Nana Wanda's phone and was calling PAW Patrol (his favorite show right now) to help get Mimi's floats back! He had us all in stitches!
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| Calling PAW Patrol |
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| VERY concerned about the floats |
Rest assured, as soon as the rain stopped, Thomas and I took the paddle board and got the floats back for Mimi. The boys were on the deck watching and cheering for us. So cute!
The sky cleared up and we decided to take a boat ride! This was the little guys's first time on a boat and they thought it was pretty cool! Ryan loved feeling the wind on his face. Stokes and William were especially into "driving" the boat while sitting on Mimi's lap. This created some drama and tears when it was time to share and take turns driving. Wowzers. Tired toddlers - YIKES.
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| On our way to the boat |
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| Stokes with MaSha |
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| William with the Nanas |
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| Ryan sitting with me |
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| Our Captain, Mimi! |
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| Beautiful day on the lake |
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HAHAHAHA
Dada and Ryan |
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| Stokes, Dada and Ryan |
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William driving
Dont' worry, the keys were out at this point |
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| Such a big boy |
We stopped in a peaceful cove and did some swimming and floating. Ryan got in the water finally and loved it! He had this awesome life jacket on and we would put him on his back so he could feel the water in his hair and he would kick his legs like his life depended on it! He's definitely picking up on things and understands some of what we say because when he was being still, I would tell him, "Kick, Ryan" and those little legs would start going again! This happened several times so I really feel like he knew what we were saying!
