Pine Mountain Lake

Ben sacrificed his summer vacation by working as the high school principal for summer school.  Because of the extra job, he only had one week of vacation before returning to his regular elementary principal job, so we splurged a little and rented a cabin up at Pine Mountain Lake for several nights, and basked in some family togetherness time.  Our trip was rather spontaneous.  We looked up some rentals online Monday morning, made a few calls, and by Monday afternoon we were on our way!  I threw dirty clothes in a laundry basket, and Ben threw whatever food he could find in a cooler and we were off.  It was an incredibly relaxing trip, and a perfect last hooray to our summer vacation.  When we arrived at our cabin we learned that we had absolutely no internet access.  At first I was annoyed, but a week of no email and internet proved to be a nice break from reality.  I was able to read an entire book from start to finish, which I rarely ever get to do, caught up on sleep, and enjoyed every minute of lake laziness.  It was down right blissful.

Our first day at the lake the kids ran to the water before Ben and I even finished unloading from the car.  There were two big trampoline things in the water that provided hours of entertainment for the kids.

Liam headed out to the trampoline with the older kids but freaked out when he saw fish in the lake from his new vantage point.  Ben and I sat on the beach yelling to him that he was fine.  We're kind of "tough love" parents.  If he could get himself out there, he could get himself back to shore.

Some nice guy out on the trampoline with his own kids loaned Liam his floating chair to get back to shore.  Liam refused to get in the water the rest of the day, sure the fish would get him.  Meilani was less than thrilled that she had to paddle him back to shore.

Seth enjoyed playing in the sand, and eventually got brave in the water.

Sariah, taking the plunge.

After jumping Eli off the end of the float, strangers were asking for Ben to jump them too.

This little deer was quite friendly.

The first day, we watched her from the deck and threw bread down to her.

The second day, we got a little closer.

By the third day, she was eating out of the kids' hands!  They thought it was really cool!

There was a community pool we had access to.  We spent one entire day loungin' there.  Thanks to Meilani's persistence with Seth, he finally mastered the art of jumping into the pool.  Before now he's refused to jump in and would sit down anytime we put him on the edge to jump.  Once he mustered up the courage, he kept jumping over and over and over again, even going completely under the water.  I was so relieved because we just can't have a kid afraid of the water in this family.

There was a game room downstairs at the cabin we stayed at.  Ben taught the kids to gamble.

Our second full day at the lake, Liam kept pulling up his shorts like this so the fish wouldn't get him.  Later in the afternoon, just before it was time to leave, he finally conquered his fish fears and went in for a real swim.

Enjoying some ice cream at the marina.

Pine Mountain Lake is a private lake, so it's really quiet, with very few power boats.  You actually have to be a property owner to launch, which keeps the partying ski boat crowds at bay.  It was perfect for young families like ours.  Ben rented a little motor boat for an hour and took the kids for a ride.  They each got a turn to "drive."

Seth kept climbing in the canoes but neither Ben or I were up for paddling.

We also rented a sail boat for an hour and each kid took a turn out with Dad.

While waiting for her turn, Meilani found a frog that hadn't quite finished transforming from a tadpole. 

We ate several meals out on the deck.

Made up silly songs about our trip.

And watched movies every night.

The cabin

Eli thought it was so cool that we were staying at the "Wolf's Den" since he is in the Wolf Den in scouts.

Sad to leave and head home to reality.  Ben practically had to drag me out of the lake.  I could have floated there forever!  I hope we can make this a new family tradition.