On the Lake

We drove up to McCall on Thursday afternoon.  We took our time and stopped in Boise for a little shopping and lunch with JaNae and her three youngest.  We arrived in McCall early evening, checked into our rental house and had dinner with family.  Friday morning the entire Dixon crew headed to the lake for sun and adventure.  Steve's brother Michael rented a canoe, paddle board and a few kayaks for the day.  Steve brought our inflatable kayak (Which I lovingly named Baby Louise...if you've seen Dennis the Mennis you might get the reference.  Lets just say we had a lot of "junk" to take in our car and an inflatable kayak wasn't on my priority list.  It turned out to be just the ticket and I'm grateful Steve had enough foresight to buy Baby Louise.) and the kids spent the entire day swimming and boating. 

 Jenny, Chenele and Emily

 Colby, Andrew, Michael and Gary

 The public beach was pretty crowded especially by afternoon.  Fortunately, we were a large enough group we could stake our claim.  I was impressed how all the cousins took turns with the boats with almost no arguing.  Little cousins were taken for rides by big cousins and nobody was left out.  I was grateful we didn't have motorized vehicles for the lake.  The self propelled boats wore the kids out and kept them close enough to the shore where we could keep an eye on everyone.

 Colby and Steve on the paddle board.

This kid has no fear what so ever!

 Andrew giving the paddle board a spin.

 Anavey and Andrew

 Grady and Grandma Dixon

Grady was in his pj's most of the day.  They served as protection from the sun and mosquitoes.  Win Win.

 Steve and Colby with Baby Louise.

 Dixon party on the lake.

From left to right:  Whitney (friend of the Johnsons), Jessica, Andrew, Preston, Carter, Jane, Anavey and Steve.

 The women folk.  We kept the children too small to boat from drowning near the shore.

Claire with Cameron, Jenny, Grady and I, and Margie.

 This boy mastered the paddle board by the end of the day.  I think he would love to own one.

 I looked out once and almost my entire family was on the lake in group.

Colby and Andrew, Steve and Saylor, and Carter in the kayak.

 The princess and her boat.

 Andrew, Colby and Carter

 Colby after much pestering convinced Steve he was ready to go in a kayak by himself.  Steve made him promise to stay close.

As soon as Colby got a little freedom, he rowed for the hills.  Steve had to jump in the canoe and go get him.  I even witnessed a little lecture session from the shore.  

Colby Colby Colby, I love your independence and zest for adventure...however, you scare me to death.

 At the end of the day, the boys settled in at the shore and decided to bury Carter.

Ick.  

I can't explain to you how much sand was trapped on his scalp, how many times we had to scrub it to get the sand out and how dirty the bathtub was afterwards.

 Gary Sr. dumped an entire cooler of cold water on the boys before we left.

Carter loved it, Blake got sand in his eyes.

Sorry Blake!!

Around 6 pm we left the beach, cleaned up the kids and headed back to the houses for dinner and being with family. 

I think my kids had the perfect day with cousins.