Lance Left for Japan

We drove down to Charleston today to see Lance off to Japan. Met him, Sarah and Sherri at the airport. It was sad, but hopefully he'll be able to come home this summer. He is so grown up now. I can't imagine not seeing him for over a year.

Went Shopping with Lance

Lance came up for a few days. We went to meet Jeff for lunch at the Thai restaurant then headed up to Gaffney to go shopping. We picked out a pair of tennis shoes for Jeff then got some new shirts and pants for Lance to take to Japan. We had a dinner at church this evening that we had planned a long time ago, so Lance went with us. Had a good evening just being able to talk.

Kids Here this Week-End

Lance, Sarah and two of their friends went to the Clemson game on Saturday then stopped back at our house today. I love having them and their friends around. We all sat out on the swing and chairs in the front. They are the greatest kids. We are so lucky!

No Chickens

Jeff said the one thing we can't get is chickens, but it seems they have gotten us. Down by the creek bank we have a family of orange and black chickens. They live in the trees and peck around on the ground when Sadie isn't in sight. Today I'm off to the feed store to get some cracked corn for them and the deer. I guess Jeff will be okay with that as long as they stay down by the creek and don't decide to take up residence in our front yard (like the neighbors down the road).

Yesterday an 8 point buck ran in front of us as we were on our way to dinner and last week I saw Skipper alertly eyeing something down near the creek. He's the leader of the herd (now 4 horses, I'm keeping two for a friend) and is on constant look out for anything that might endanger his entourage. With his companions unaware of the danger he watched the two deer and one spring baby make their way across the open area into the woods. I love horses...they fear everything that moves...and everything that doesn't.

Claytor Lake 10th Anniversary 2007

Lake Week is the end of summer vacation Jeff and I look forward to every year. And this year was the 10th anniversary of Lake Week with the Nuszkiwics’s. Every year Ray and Karen rent a house (Betty’s Folly) on Claytor Lake in western Virginia the week before Labor Day week-end. In that part of Virginia the kids are back at school and for the most part we have the lake to ourselves. It’s a wonderful place to relax for a week. The house is right on the lake with a boat dock in the back yard for the Joanie Belle. The house has three bedrooms, two baths, and a large screened in porch that overlooks the lake. The yard is huge with a patio that stretches the whole width of the house.

This year there a great crowd to celebrated the 10th anniversary. Ray, Karen, Brian and their doggie Keeshia. Colleen (Ray’s sister) and her partner Tina were able to come from Arizona. Susan and Tony brought their daughter Gina and her partner Kate and their doggie Connely. Jeff and I came of course with Sadie. Lance came up for a few days as he started his 30 day leave from the Navy.

Jeff and I brought our tent this year, we thought it would be no problem for us to sleep in the tent on blow up mattresses. We had barely gotten the tent up on Saturday afternoon when the most horrendous storm blew in across the lake. The wind must have been 40-50 miles/hours. For over an hour the rain and wind beat up the tent and eventually flattened it. We ended up putting our blow up mattresses on the screened in porch. We tried the tent the next evening and Sadie kept us up all night. She was certain the boogy man or some critter was outside and spent the whole night getting up and looking out the windows. At one point we thought she was actually going to go through the window. After that we opted for the screened in porch. It was a comfortable, cool place to sleep.

Sunday August 26th was the big family/friend get together. There were at least 40 people there. Karen’s dad Marcel and his wife Kathleen cook most of the food for the traditional gathering on Sunday. They live in a small town about 30 minutes from Claytor Lake. We had perfect weather and spent the day sitting in lawn chairs, eating, water skiing and visiting with people we hadn’t seen since last year.

Once the big get together is over the rest of the week is pretty quiet. Karen always brings a few puzzles and she, Susan, and I have a tendency to get totally focused on working them. All three of us love to read and so it is not unusual to find all of us sitting together out on the patio, noses in books, perfectly contented. Ray and Jeff are the boat/cruise directors. Their role is making sure everyone has a great time on the boat and they take their job seriously! They’re at everyone’s beck and call when it’s time to go for a dip in the lake, run to the marina grocery store, or take a turn water skiing. Brian is a born natural when it comes to water sports and every year he has some new wake board tricks in his repertoire.

This year Ray brought up this thing (that’s all I can call it, so a description is probably better). First off three adults can sit in it. It’s like a little blow up boat in the shape of a circle. The sides come up about two feet all the way around. He pulls it behind the big boat with a ski rope. You might think that sounds fun and relaxing to be pulled in a little boat behind a big one. It would be relaxing but the intent is to flip the riders out of the little boat into the bigger lake. Ray zigs and zags the big boat in an “S” shape and that sends the little boat flying across the waves from the wake. Karen, Susan and I decided to give it a try. It was going pretty good at first, actually I think Ray was being easier on us than he is on the teenagers. I don’t even think he saw this coming. It was one of those “in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe the right place at the right time”. We hit a high wake that shot us into the air. When we hit the water all I saw was four legs, spread eagle flying out the back of the little boat. The next wake was a repeat of the first one. One minute I was airborne in the little boat the next minute I joined the girls in the lake.

We played the usual card/board games: Golf, Domino’s, Cribbage, and Poker. This year Lance and Brian showed the adults some new card games. Mind you Lance is 22 and in the Navy, but Brian is still in high school. So we adults wondered how Brian knew the rules to these games so well, considering they were “drinking card games”!

Happy 10th anniversary to Ray and Karen, I hope we get to spend many more lake weeks together.