Beware of picture overload

We're home!

Our family returned last night from a 10-day trip to the lakehouse at Bay Lake in Minnesota. We go every summer, and it seems like each year we have a new little baby boy. Not really, but it sure does seem like it. This is a place so rich in tradition with Michael's family. He grew up spending his summers here and has so many great memories. I love watching him share this special place with his boys.

We had such a great time! The boys absolutely loved it. We had perfect weather the entire time...warm and sunny during the day and cool at night. Levi and Ben played outside all day - in the sand, on the boat, on the swingset, trampoline, and with all their second cousins. I think they each ate about 20 popsicles a day. I was laughing as I looked through the pictures because I don't have a single one with popsicles in their mouths. I don't know how that happened since they had one about 80 percent of the time. And the boys did better than we expected with all of us sleeping in the same room. I've already forgotten about the fact that Ben woke us all up at the crack of dawn every morning. Well, maybe I haven't forgotten.

I have so many fun pictures from the vacation that it's hard to choose just a few. So, here are LOTS of pictures to recap our time at the lake.

My little beach bums...

A true little beach "bum"...

Taking a paddle boat ride...

Fishing with Daddy...

Ben and Daddy tubing...

Playing in the sand...(This is where the boys spent most of their time - making sandcastles, rivers and lakes. We didn't allow them to take any toys with them to the lake so it was lots of fun to watch them get creative and just play.)

Boating fun...

Playing on the trampoline with Papa...

Just being boys...

Another family picture...

The entire Rothwell family...

My hubby still has his barefooting skills...

Levi wants to be just like Daddy...

Graham is ready to go tubing (Just kidding, Grandma!)...

Papa is such a great babysitter!...

Taking a nap on the beach...

And here they are playing putt-putt...

This was the first year that we were at the lake on the 4th, and we had such a great time. We had a family "Bay Lake Olympics", complete with relays, uniforms, prizes and medals. We shot off our own fireworks on the 4th and then watched the awesome fireworks show on the lake from our yard on the 5th...

One of the highlights of our trip was having our friends, Chris & Sarah, and their 3 little boys come to visit us for about 24 hours. We were good friends when we all lived in Fort Worth, and they recently moved to Minneapolis so they made the 2 1/2 hour drive to spend some time with us at the lake. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years, but it felt like we had just hung out last week. They are pregnant with baby boy #5 (they left #4 at home with the grandparents), so I was full of questions for them. I just wanted to sit and learn from Sarah because she is such a great boy mom. Oh how I wish I had more time to watch and learn from this precious family. And don't think the fact that we hadn't seen each other in years kept us from getting close. In fact, all 10 of us slept in one room. 4 adults and 6 kids in one room...now that's good friends!

As we were packing for the trip and making the long drive with 3 little ones in the car, I wondered if it really was worth all the work. The answer is Yes! It was definitely worth it. There is nothing like getting away from it all and just spending time together as a family. No phones. No television. No computer. Just us. I treasured every moment. And now we're back home where our lives are filled with distractions. But home is also a good place to be.