Lake Burton

We spent a five-day Labor Day weekend at Lake Burton with Jake's family, officially the last family vacay before the Gillies move to New Zealand. So I will not apologize for the number of pictures, because the weekend was one long photo op! Very gracious friends of Ken and Sandy's loaned us their fabulous home, and it was the perfect spot for our families to spread out, play hard, and enjoy God's creation in each other's company.

Ken rented a paddleboard for the weekend, and two of the mornings, Abby Jane and I went out for a pre-dawn trip across the lake. It was surreal to be in the middle of a big lake with my daughter with nothing but our board and the beauty of a sunrise on water. Morning water is one of my favorite parts of creation- the color, calmness, and beauty of water at sunrise is one of God's best gifts to man. It was such sweet time to share with my girl.

On our first morning there, Jake helped Cade catch his first fish, and this is right afterwards. Janie caught her first fish on our last morning there.

Blythe and Joy love morning water as well. I LOVE this picture. It is so THEM. Blythe is sweetly waving and smiling, Joy looks like Louis and Clark. Or Sacagawea.

Here's Betsy giving Cade and Abby Jane a ride...

Paul with Luke. Luke is not really into water, but he loved kayak rides with Paul! Something about daddies make kids a lot braver.

Joy getting a ride with big sis. I was so proud of her for not just jumping off when we were further away from the dock! We had a few close calls.

Mimi, the Pied Piper. I think I count four out of five grandkids following her along here.
Mimi is also a professional sand castle builder.
She built, they smashed.

WAR EAGLE!!! We loved watching Auburn WIN the first game of the season. Love watching Auburn, period. Looks like Cade is getting a little left out of the girl love here. Sorry bud.
Cade seems very ready to learn to surf when they arrive in New Zealand. If only they can get him to stay on the board long enough. His favorite thing was to climb up and jump off.
Bop Bop had to work really hard to get Cade to stay on long enough for them to balance on it together, but they did it!
Bop Bop with Luke and Abby Jane...

There is one very cool Mimi on a paddleboard and an equally cool Bop Bop on his kayak. Not your average grandparents.

SWEET Blythey about to jump to her Daddy.
Enjoying the view.
This girl was Trouble, in a good way, most of the time. Joy is just a mile a minute and not into wearing floaties. I'm proud she made it home with us. To say the least, she had a good time.
One of my favorite things about the weekend was the playtime the grown-ups had. During naps and while kids were up, we went on runs, paddled and kayaked, and just horsed around like kids. All the grown-ups got to really enjoy just plain playing and relaxing. There were also games at night (and I should also mention that I happened to win the longest and highest scoring game of Phase 10 ever. It went on for hours, and I think the highest score was in the 600's... but I won. :)) Pictured below is what happened when my father-in-law and sis-in-law attempted to balance on the board together. Pretty good stuff.
The weekend, on the whole, was joyful and sweet, if bittersweet at times, and a wonderful way to soak in the gift of family as we launch into this next season of our lives.