Lake Monroe

This year we took our Klinker vacation earlier in the summer, since we didn't have to wait for any babies to be born ;)  Unfortunately Michael and Stacy weren't able to make the trip this year due to their move to Denver and it just wasn't quite the same without them.

The first day we met on the lake and rented a double-decker pontoon boat (a tiger-striped double-decker pontoon boat!) with a slide like we did last year.  Again, it was a BIG HIT!  The girls had no fear going off the slide, despite the two-foot drop from the slide to the water.

We spent all afternoon on the boat, which included a picnic lunch and lots of breaks to swim and float about.

The girls got to go tubing, which was great because the pontoon boat was just their speed...slow and steady.

Rose was brave enough to tube all by herself this year.

She had way more fun than it looks like in this picture :)

Ava and Madeline had tubing buddies.  Clearly the ride wasn't as exhilarating for them (hence the beer in Ben's hand ;)

The babies were just precious toddling about the boat in their ity-bity swimsuits.  They spent the day taking in all the action around them.  They could not have been easier (or cuter) that day!

The guys added a little danger to the outing, of course, by diving and flipping off the top deck.  Luckily, nobody broke anything!

Their form was near perfection!

After spending all day on the boat, we packed everyone up around dinner time and headed to the cabin about 20 minutes away.  It was a very spacious place (called the Snuggled Inn :), with a room for each couple as well as a separate room for the girls.  We were all so exhausted from our fun in the sun, that we just chilled the rest of the night, then turned in early to save up our energy for skiing the next day.



The second day, we rented a speed boat in the afternoon.  There was a big storm predicted to hit at the same hours we were supposed to be boating, so we were a little worried about how much actual ski time we were going to have.  However, I think the weatherman just wanted to get into our heads because it only rained for 2 minutes out of the entire afternoon!  The water was calm and the sun was in and out the entire day...perfect skiing weather!

We did a little wakeboarding...

...a little skiing...

...and Paul and Ben did a little slaloming, which was pretty awesome to watch, I must say.

Since we couldn't all fit on the speed boat at the same time, Joy and another adult took turns watching the little ones at the beach.

Once we got back to the cabin, we finished off the evening with a bonfire and smores....yum!

Rose came up with a fun idea for making smores on a stick...put M&Ms inside the marshmallow, then roast.  

It was chocolate gooey goodness!

Can't you tell? :)

After we got the little ones down, we finished off our last night there with drinks, a game of Buzz Word, and some late night chats.

On our last day of vacation, we spent the day at one of the many beaches along the lake, building sand castles, swimming, and catching some rays.

It was such a fun trip, we are already looking forward to next year!

Hugs!