Apple Valley

We were able to go to Apple Valley with Jim's family for almost a week. It was so amazingly relaxing and beautiful! On the drive there (only 2 hours rather then the normal 13 to the ocean) we had lots of beautiful scenery to observe. There were tall pine trees everywhere and we took a back road that was filled with tons of hills. These were the kind of hills that make your stomach drop when you go over them. Everyone in the car was giggling and I was tempted to make Jim turn around to go over them again! The kids faces and laughs were too cute! 

Our first night at the lake was a little rocky. The house was awesome and we had more than enough room as we were given the WHOLE downstairs, but there was no crib, so we had to "make" Jimmy go to sleep. After the first night though, he understood that he had to lay down on the bed and go to sleep. He even preferred to lay down next to Skylar to fall asleep. I couldn't believe it. Both kids crawled into the full sized bed, we covered and kissed them, then left the room expecting them to start jumping on the bed. To our amazement though, when I checked on them a few minutes later, they were both sound asleep and slept till 9:30 the next morning!!! The sun and the water really wore them out :0)

After we spent our first day on the beach, we were invited to spend the rest of our days on the private dock of a friend. Her house was gorgeous, the dock was huge, and it was on a cove which meant total privacy. We spent all of Tuesday just floating in the lake and listening to music... tough! 

On Wednesday Tammy was off of work and she took us all out on her awesome boat. Jim, Dave, Skylar, Grandpa, and Hannah went tubbing. Skylar was not afraid at all and she went on the tube with Jim and Grandpa. Hannah was the champ.. she held onto the tube longer than any of the boys! When Skylar went out with Jim, Tammy went really slowly at first. As it became clear she was ready for more speed, Tammy hit the gas and was pulling them around 40 MPH!! We went back to the dock to rest and have some lunch. Jim took the jet ski out and had lots of fun on that too. Then, we were lucky enough to go back out onto the boat. I could ride on it all day... I love the feeling of the wind in my hair. Jimmy was so tired, he fell asleep on my lap while we were traveling at speeds of 60 to 70 MPH. Sleepy boy! 

On Thursday we went back to the dock and floated all day again. Tammy had lots of life jackets and cool floats. We literally floated for 5 hours that day! I had quite the tan to show for it too!! The kids loved to float. They also enjoyed jumping off the dock over and over and over again. Occasionally, someone would swim out to the end of the cove and the kids would go with them. Swimming back in with a kid in tow, even with life jackets, is a tiring task! 

I can't forget to mention that each night was fun filled as well. Jimmy was obsessed with being outside and luckily Grandpa Carl was a good sport. He would take Jimmy for walks down to a different dock and watch the geese. Skylar had lots of fun building an Ariel puzzle with Gogo over and over again. Dinner was grilled by Jim most nights and was yummy. I was on the clean up crew which I didn't mind at all! I really wish we could have enjoyed the beautiful wrap around porch more... dang high temps! 

All in all it was so much fun and it made me realize how much I want my own boat. I would really, really like my own lake house too but a boat might actually be something I can afford some day!