Family Lake Trip 2015

Every year, we make an attempt to get the Marshall crew together at Gigi and Ru's lake house for a weekend. This year, given that I stay at home, Gigi and Ru are retired, and Robert and Laura are on maternity/paternity leave, we were able to stay for an extended visit. It also coincided with David's days off/vacation, so really Mark was the only one holding down the working fort for us. It will probably never again be so easy to get all of us in one place at once! This is going to be a super long post with lots of pictures... enjoy! You can also see more photos here on my brother's blog- we mostly used our camera at the lake and theirs up at the house.

First up on the agenda... lots of baby Carter snuggles!

He was obviously having a good conversation with his uncle Mark.

It's a hard life being baby Carter.

Next up was water adventures with Daddies (Mommies too!)

Paddleboarding?

Introducing Avery to Paddle-Knee-Boarding.

This is how it ended up... Avery focused and holding on, Anna trying to jump off for a swim. Not surprising.

Avery taking a  solo turn with Uncle Mark!

Anna worked on her jumping skills and got pretty good!

Smiles for swimming!

There was a lot of this..

I promise the girls did have fun!

She was probably saying "More tubing Mommy"

A photo with Gigi, who was usually busy spoiling Carter or all of us with her food!

This Vacation We Took... Part Four, Extreme Adventure!

Okay, so the title may make you believe we went sky diving, or rock climbing, or maybe ate something still wiggling (looking at you Robert and Laura) but we did have two adventurous moments/days. The last full day we were at the beach, we woke up and the waves actually looked sizeable, so Mark rented a surfboard and went surfing! He had been pretty excited about the outer banks for the prospect of surfing (there are better odds at being able to surf some here than most NC area beaches) but the waves hadn't seemed big enough and the water was c-o-l-d!

The other adventure was for the little one. You've seen photos of Mark teaching Anna how to knee board. He really wanted to pull her behind the boar and tossed around ideas until he came up with one that was A) safe enough and B) that Mommy would let him try. We attached the rope to the jetski and Mark and Anna "kneeboarded" on the paddle board! Anna loved it, but she is (obviously) still a bit little for so much adventure on her own...

I wish I could get my hands on the picture of Mark with his surfboard at age 14...

Looking cool is part of the sport. Right?

Mark actually did get up on the board several times...

Not this time.

This one.

One benefit of having a skinny husband? You can share a wetsuit! Off to try to surf...

This is about all I did. Never got over the breakers. It was freezing. And there were probably sharks.

On to lake time adventure...

And they're off!

Look at that girl holding on!

The full, ridiculous visual.

Sometimes Anna gets bored...

And here is the video proof....

This Vacation We Took... Part Three, The Lake!

So, in order for the grandpups to enjoy a week with Gigi and Ru, we headed to the lake both before and after our beach week. This also helped split up the very long drive into more manageable (for a toddler) 3-4 hour drives. I mentioned in the first post that Anna probably would have been just as satisfied to stay at the lake. The girl went from water lover to fish over the course of our time spent there. We paddle boarded, took jet ski rides, and worked on swimming solo while wearing a puddle jumper. Oh and we ate a lot... we had to fill up Anna's calorie counter, as Mark and I called it all week. It was like you could see her going from green, to yellow, to red red red as she expended her energy!

The newest toy at the lake- the golf cart! Anna likes a ride, and it is nice to not have to carry everything every time!

Knee boarding lessons with Daddy!

Paddle boarding with Daddy!

Gigi preferred to "kayak" when Anna was aboard... Anna had no qualms about riding far from shore!

Family jet ski ride! When Mark would slow down, Anna would say "More Faster!". She would also request "circles" (donuts).

Waving on a ride with Gigi- This girl loves the jet ski!

My little reader reading with Ru! (beautiful sheet to keep my dogs fur off the couch ;)

Looking so big, washing dishes, hair in a pony tail!

This was a fun game... says the person who didn't have to lift the toddler up and down out of the water!

Daddies really make the best lake toys!

What is better than a paddle board ride with a toddler? One with a toddler and a dog!

Awesome!

This Vacation We Took... Part Two, Funtivities!

Up until this vacation, all of our beach trips had been to the southern areas of North Carolina. Mark had never been to the Outer Banks, so we tried to soak in some of the many things you can do around the area. Overall, we hit many of the touristy highlights and enjoyed the lack of traffic due to it being so early in the season.

So that you don't have to read fifteen posts about what we did, here is a super long post about all of our excursions. We had fun, to say the least!

First up, we went to Jockey's Ridge State Park.

Down at the bottom, and then climbing the huge dunes!

Someone burned some calories...

Watching the wind surfers

Mommy wanted a picture with Anna too, but...

Someone was more interested in RUNNING.

And then not running. Or walking. Or heading back to the car at all.

We went parasailing. Obviously Anna and I had different feelings on the subject.

Next, we went to the aquarium. While Anna loved the aquarium, we all know it was really a trip for Daddy...

 

Anna admiring the fishies...

She really loved the touch tank. She didn't touch anything, but the view from above was awesome!

Anna Kate really did not love the scuba diver. And he definitely was trying to be nice and pay her attention. The sharks were bad enough... now there is a scary looking person in there too?!

Daddy's girl at the aquarium!

Last, we took a drive down the islands to Cape Hatteras to see the lighthouse and enjoy the beach. We were going to take the ferry as well, but ran out of time (ran out of Anna time) to make it a happy and enjoyable trip on the boat.

Smiling with Daddy

Smiling with Mommy

You had to be one lighthouse tall to climb to the top. We were trying to get Anna to put her back to it, but she decided hugging was better..

When we walked around the grounds, Anna felt it was the perfect time to run around like a wild woman. It was pretty cute!

"I love the Outer Banks!"

Family photo... At least Mark and I were looking!