Twist of Fate

On our way out to the cottage, Jane and I were pretty sure our plans for a warm, sunny day at the lake- kids splashing in the water, mama's chitchatting while sunbathing- were not going to happen as we'd planned.   The sky ahead of us was dark and rain was on it's way.

By the time we got to the cottage it was raining.  We weren't sure what we were going to do stuck in the cottage (albeit... a 5 bedroom very spacious home on the lake) with a house full of kids.

Jane, Nicki and I sat at the table and watched the rain splatter on the lake.  And within an hour, by some miraculous turn of events... the rain let up and the sky started to clear.  By 2pm it was sunny and gorgeous out!

Katie and her boys joined us around 3:30 and the kids had SO much fun together.   Porter was hesitant to get into the lake for the first hour or so...he'd go from the ladder to the side of the dock and dip his feet in and then skip across the dock to try another spot... back and forth back and forth. By the time Donnie got there, he jumped right in and Porter followed.  He was so happy and proud of himself... he kept saying "YES!  I'm so proud of myself, Mom!"  :)  Made me smile.

Porter, Ally and Donnie played together really well.  They swam (walked) out to the raft and squirted eachother with water guns and played on the boat and pretended to catch crabs.  I think Ally loved it that Porter and Donnie were up for anything she suggested.  They followed right along and were such good friends.

Hudson, Nolan, Grace and Luke just kind of hung out on the dock and played in the buckets of water.  We were constantly doing head counts on the kids. It was a bit of a mad house with 8 kids near the lake... only one of which could swim!

The Collins and our hubbies finally arrived at the lake around 6:30 and we started the fish fry up.  We drank margaritas, sat in the rockers on the porch overlooking the lake and let the kids run around and play.  There was one point during dinner I was sitting there (ok, a little buzzed from maybe a little too much tequila) listening to the kids playing and running around and all of us chatting and laughing and though... "This is the life.  This is what it's all about... good food and even greater friends."  I look forward to many more afternoons/evenings like this!  By the end of the night we'd had zero fights amongst the kids (ok, maybe a few spats between the toddlers about sharing toys), but seriously... what a GREAT group of kids we have.  Everyone played so well together and kept eachother occupied.  We are all so blessed!

We did miss out on LeeAnn's family... unfortunately she works 3rds on the weekends and they couldn't come.  We definitely thought of you and wished you were there!!