Following our time with Dave’s parents we were off to my cottage near the Dells with a bunch of my family and extended family. This was big. Lots of people who hadn’t met Dave yet…lots of names and relationships for him to learn. Which is tough considering all the people we were going to see I call my cousins but in reality have no real bloodline to me! We met up with my real cousin, her husband, and their two children…this is my dad’s oldest brother’s daughter. Then there were HER cousins on her mom’s sides. Plus another aunt of mine from Florida was there! So let’s name drop who was there…shall we?
My Uncle Mark (my God Father…my ITALIAN God Father) and his wife, Cherie.
Their daughter, my cousin, Jennifer, and her husband, Steve, and their two wonderful children (Ryan and Sarah).
My Aunt Cher’s sister Cindy and her husband Larry.
Their children (the ones I call my cousins but aren’t really) Karen (a teacher in central Illinois), Sarah, who’s married to Tim, and their son Charlie (super cute and quite possibly the politest 5 year old I’ve ever met!).
My Aunt Leslie. She lives in Florida but made the trek to WI for some wonderful family time.
Jared even made it over for the day!!! :) RAY!!!
Our trip to the cottage would not be complete without a swim across the lake! A yearly tradition, and one that Dave had not yet had the chance to partake in! Typically we work our way up to the big swim across but seeing as how the 5, 7, and 9 year olds had already done it once we figured we’d have a go the day Jared made his appearance! :) Now, neither Dave nor I know how far it really is…I always though ¼ of a mile…he seems to think it’s much further than that…regardless…it was a solid 30-minute swim. The family swim works like this…there are a few groups of swimmers (no one swims alone). There’s a “fast” group (typically swimmers without small-ish children), a medium speed group and a slow speed group (typically the group with kid swimmers). Then there’s a row boat (complete with noodles, life-vests, and tow ropes should a swimmer get tired) AND a car that drives around the lake and meets the swimmers at the other end! So, you might ask, WHY would someone (more specifically a group of people) feel the urge to swim across the lake? Why…to get to the BAR of course!!! The sign outside Mark’s Parker Lake Lodge simply states, “Please towel off before entry”. How great is that?!?!?!? We filled ourselves with all sorts of fried goodness (cheese, broccoli, mushrooms, fries, etc.), great burgers and good beer. Needless to say Dave and I choose to walk back with Leslie and my brother. (Some did choose to swim…I was impressed!)
The next day after hours and hours of playing King of the Raft we all headed to the Dells for a night of arcade games, fun window shopping and people watching. I actually played Laser Tag for the first time! The tween-aged boys totally ganged up on me…but Dave came in 3rd of all 12 players! :) Way to go honey!
I love the cottage and cannot wait to go back there! There is something so charming and calming and wonderful about the lake. I swear I dream about yelling “I see the lake” and perfecting my Baywatch worthy entrance into the blue/green water, holding my breath as long as I can and kicking as hard as possible to see just how close I can get to the raft on one breath. Oh, how some things never change! :) At the end of each visit, from the time I was really young, my dad, brother and I would each select a stone or shell and stand at the end of the pier and throw it as far as we could into the water…knowing in our hearts, that same shell/stone would be there until we returned to throw in another one!
No comments:
Post a Comment