Labor Day Lake Weekend

For Labor day weekend, my "original" family all met up at a cabin at Center Hill Lake in Tennessee.  We usually are only able to all get together as a family once or twice a year.  We're always together at my parents for Christmas.  A tradition we all love.  But we decided to get together over Labor Day to celebrate.

There was plenty to celebrate.  We had three birthdays.  My dad is turning the big 6-0 next month, and my niece turned 17 a couple days ago!  And of course I mentioned in the last blog post that my hubby just turned 29.  We had a wonderful time celebrating life, and my sister in law's life was celebrated as well.  She is finished with her battle with cancer and is now cancer free!!!  We got the news of the cancer last year while we were home for Christmas, and they cut their trip home short to head back to Texas to meet with the doctors and start fighting back.  And she has been incredibly strong throughout this battle and faithful in the mercy of God.  We're so thankful she is healthy again and able to be the wonderful wife and mother of three that she is.  And after losing her hair to chemo, it's started growing back, and she looks stunning.  I hope she keeps it short, because she can rock the pixie cut with that thick head of hair.  Am I right?

And here were the fall birthday folks.

On the first day, some of us went canoeing on the Caney Fork River.  The canoe crew included my dad, my brothers-Bryan and Joe, my sister in law-Lindsey, Weston, and my nephew-Matthew.  We had an even number for canoeing, but I may or may not have a very good history with canoeing which made it difficult for me to find a partner.  By default, Weston had to be paired with me since we're married.  I think we agreed to that in our wedding vows.  So you may be curious how someone could be undesirable as a canoe partner?  Well, I have been known to jump ship a couple times.  When we were younger, I was canoeing with my oldest brother, Bryan, and we got wedged between some logs through some small rapids.  There happened to be the largest spider ever known to man right next to me.  I ran to the back of the canoe.  Did you know you can't run in a canoe??  Yeah, we tipped.

The second "incident" was with my husband, and we were enjoying a beautiful, spring day in upper east Tennessee.  We happened to run our kayak into a cliff rock, and I heard this loud hissing.  My first thought was snake.  I look up, and it's a mama goose hissing on her nest.  Like spiders, I'm not a big fan of large birds, particularly angry birds.  It took me 0.7 seconds to throw my paddle and jump in the freezing, cold water.  But I am happy to report that this weekend was a success with no tipped canoes!

My niece, Katie, loves the book "Dick and Jane" and pointing out everyone on the pages.  Her favorite is spotting the school bus which she just found when this picture was snapped.

Matthew is Uncle Weston's little buddy.  They have a special relationship.  It's really sweet.  Weston taught him how to eat sunflower seeds for the first time and spit the shells off the back deck.

My mom was a natural behind the wheel of the pontoon boat we rented for the afternoon.  I think they may need to get one considering she looked so good as captain.

Katie's first time in the lake.  We were so surprised that she wanted to get in the water!  She liked to splash in the water and was so good on the boat even without a nap that day.  And these next few pictures was Weston's attempt to get our adorably sweet but very shy niece to warm up to him.

 

Too shy to look at him.

We've made successful eye contact!

Bingo!

I hope everyone had a very fun and safe Labor Day!  We sure did!