Lake Gaston

It had been planned for months and months...our family vacation. My poor mom had put so much time into finding a house and airline tickets for everyone. Cleve and Carson were flying in from Nebraska; Kristin and Penny from Ohio (after her eye appointment); Chelsea and Reed from Utah; even my grandma and uncle's family were coming down to join us at the Outer Banks. Then Irene happened. Thank goodness mom purchased hurricane insurance. We were able to find a house on Lake Gaston at the very last minute. My uncle's family didn't make it, because Irene knocked a hole in his roof and caused a flood in his basement. Thankfully, everyone else did make it, and we had a blast!

There was plenty of room for everyone at the house; even Kristin's dad came up and stayed with us.

We had fun jumping on the water trampoline,

kayaking,




swimming and jet skiing,

coloring,




singing karaoke,

and celebrating. We celebrated Kristin's birthday and had a mini bridal shower for Chelsea.

The only thing that would have made this trip better, was if Dave got to come. I hate to see my family go home. It really stinks we all live so far apart! Carson, who turns 5 this month, and I went out for a kayak ride together. He turned around in the chair and talked to me the whole time I was paddling. My heart melted when he said,"You know what I'm going to dream about tonight? That I went on a BIG, HUGE kayak." When I asked him if there would be seats for lots of people he said, "No, just 2 seats, one for you and me." Oh, how I love all my nieces and nephews! Oh, how they love each other!