wondrous weekend #5: lake gaston

you'd think that summer, without any kind of professional work , would give me time aplenty to keep this blog updated.  but i honestly think i have less free time than i do during the school year.  most evenings i'm falling into bed in a tired heap, after driving my charges all over tarnation, playing tennis, swimming at the pool, managing playdates, etc.  i love our carefree, fun-filled days of summer ... but had sort of forgotten how exhausting they can be.

so here are pictures from our trip to lake gaston from two weeks ago.  we got an invitation to join good friends at their lake house -- and what a treat!  the kids had never been to a lake house before, or boated like lake people do.  it was an absolutely phenomenal day, from start to finish.

liam and his BFF preston

kid-sized kayaks!  super fun.  must look into for the beach ...

the little sisters, campbell and susanna

for a summary of how liam felt about the day, one needs to look no further than the sheer exhilaration on his face in this photo

don't let this picture fool you.  susanna was TERRIFIED when we first started on the tube -- clutching the handles in a death grip, crying, screaming at me that she wanted nothing to do with it.  and then, a minute later, she turned to me and said it was the most fun thing she'd ever done in her life.  she proceeded to go back out two more times.  rest assured i will tuck this experience in my back pocket, so when the next time occurs that she's reticent to try something new, i'll only need to say, "remember tubing at lake gaston?"

kneeboarding was a surprising hit for liam.  it only took him a few tries before figuring out how to get up (and stay up)

and a good time was had by all

wondrous weekend #4: topsail

we spent the entire week of the 4th down at our beloved topsail.  i went down for a few days by myself with the kids (and was thrilled to live through two solid days of downpours) before chris drove down on tuesday. and then on wednesday, the basses joined us.  bill, lainey, web, and marshall were a welcome addition ... if left to our own devices, we manns would have just down the same ol', same ol', boogey-boarding in the ocean and beachcombing.  leave it to the basses to drum up all sorts of new activities -- only a few of which are highlighted below.

 why yes, there was a holiday to celebrate

 awaiting the famous july 3rd fireworks (and contrary to the image, i do actually have two legs)

 we had fireworks of our very own as well

we did do some of the normal things, like riding the waves ...

... and kayaking (notice the chivalrous web taking susanna out for a spin)

 ... and putt putt

... and even paddleboarding (which isn't exactly a typical pastime of ours, but since we rented one last year, we sort of feel like experts at this point)

but then we added some new activities into our mix, like wading in the water at the boat slip and collecting teeny tiny fishies in buckets and then pouring them into yogurt containers to take care of for a few days.  susanna is here feeding bread to her fish, named "cheerly" (your guess is as good as mine)

the boys also tried catching stuff by casting a net, but that didn't work so well.  so they adopted an alternate method.  the steps are as follows:  

1.  hook chicken gizzards onto a string that's tied to a wooden handle, and drop it into the water

2. watch in awe as a crab almost immediately latches onto that delectable chicken meat, and then scoop up that unlucky crab in a net

3.  drop it into a bucket to await its fate with other unlucky fellows (we stopped at six or seven, i think)

4.  steam 'em up and then spend an hour picking maybe a cup's worth of crabmeat.  (we wound up making delicious crab and brie stuffed mushrooms as that evening's appetizer.  what they say is true -- it tastes even more amazing if you've caught it yourself)

while the crabs and fishies were unlucky, another member of the animal kingdom was enjoying a little luxury.  super, whose back legs are so bad now that there was no way she could navigate the hardwood stairs, enjoyed riding on our outdoor elevator like the queen that she is.  vacation is not just for people, you know

wondrous weekend #3: bald head island

our annual venture to bald head island with chris's parents proved to be as fun as ever. it's just such a different type of beach experience than any other ... a ferry to get there (or two, if you're like us and plugged in the wrong address in your GPS), forests, wildlife, and those all-important golf carts to get ourselves around.  

just a tad windblown on the second ferry over

contrary to family humor, "old baldy" actually refers to the lighthouse on the island, and not our children's grandfathers

this is not liam posing with a funny expression -- it's truly his reaction to finding some special shell.  i use the word "special" lightly ... what he deems collection-worthy tends to make me scratch my head.  throughout our time down at the beach, he'd run up to me, breathless, proud to show off his findings.  and 99% of the time i'd wonder what in the ham sandwich he was finding so appealing.  yet, we now have a huge plastic bag full of such treasures back home, awaiting an attractive container to display them in all their glory

treats for the kids = luna pops.  treats for the adults = beers.  and everyone was happy

our rental cottage this year was so nestled in the woods that we kept referring to it as a treehouse

humans are outnumbered by animals on BHI, methinks.  seeing three deer right outside our front door on our last morning was really cool.  coming across a snake on a run, not so much