Beaver Lake 08

We had a wonderful vacation at Beaver Lake. I was so thankful to finally have some time with Ben. Traveling was a breeze to both of us; I had an extra hand and Ben said anything is easier than taking 14 teenagers who ask a lot of questions overseas. Once at the lake we couldn't keep Alison out of the water. My dad bought her a little life jacket and we also had a little inflatable car she could float around in. We only had one sunny day but we still swam through the sprinkles the other two days. One morning my dad took just me, Ben and Alison out on the boat. Alison got to jump off the boat, stick her hand in grandpa's mouth (I have no idea why she has a fascination with sticking her hand in everyone's mouths, but she does it all the time!), drive the boat and enjoyed a relaxing nap while Ben and I skied.
I wish I could live at the lake. It's the most relaxing and refreshing place on earth to me. The house we stayed in had a beautiful sun room with a comfy couch, fireplace and a gorgeous view (it also had a plasma TV but on vacation those stay turned off...well, except for the Olympics). One afternoon while Alison was napping I got to nap with baby Kate out there and I have to say I think that was a highlight of the trip for me.



My parents with baby Kate and Alison at the dock where we spent most of our time.




This is a classic Alison picture. She has her escort Abby standing nearby to grab her hands at anytime to take her where she wants to go and she's made a pit stop at grandpa for some food. Alison learned pretty quickly that with a house full of people she had an endless supply of hands to walk around with and lots of laps to sit on and munch on whatever was on their plate. She made it look pretty cute but I knew I had better get my walkin' shoes ready for when we got home.





We had too many people for the house so several people had to sleep in the living rooms. My parents set up air mattresses in the main living room, which also created extra lounging space during the day. Alison loved being tossed around on them. Here she is hanging out with Aunt Beth.




Tracy and Abby McElmurry helped Alison run in the baby Olympics. They set up things around the living room and had her jump over them. She was so excited to be able to run. I forgot to mention one thing about this house...it was the picture perfect place of how NOT to baby proof. With no exaggeration (the kids actually counted), there were hundreds of large glass roosters, peanut sculptures, and jugs EVERYWHERE...everything glass. And to top it off, there were bookshelves filled with videos. There was no way to put everything up and I just knew something would be broken within the week. I don't know a baby who can resist hundreds of tapes to knock over. But, we made it through with nothing broken and I didn't spend the whole time saying, "Don't touch". I think we had enough things going on to distract her from the glass farm of roosters. Only at a lake house can you have such horrible decorating.


Back in Lawrence...
I think this picture will always make me laugh. We spent a couple of days at my parents house and tried to show Alison some our history in Lawrence. We took her to a couple of our favorite restaurants, by our old schools and houses and out to the farm. Taking her to the farm was definitely one of those times when we thought she would absolutely love it and she completely hated it. Apparently dogs and horses scare her to pieces and she screamed in terror most of the trip-good times, good times.
We walked around campus one afternoon and Alison wasn't too crazy about the heat. Ben treated us all to new KU T-shirts and Juice Stop. I got a chocolate juice stop and Alison quickly learned how to suck through a straw. Ben also taught her this week how to give kisses on the mouth instead of just making puckering noises. But you better watch out if she wants to give you one, they're pretty slobbery! I was not ready to come home and still wish I was sitting on the dock watching the sunset.