a week at the lake.

We’re happy to announce that CPC plans to resume in-person worship services at the end of this month. So before work picks back up for David, our friends gave us the gift of six nights at their lake house in Chapin.

It truly couldn’t have been a more perfect week, and it’s hard to beat a vacation that’s just 40 minutes away. David drove back to Columbia mid-week to get a few things done, and he could bring back the things we’d forgotten at home!

 

We’ve never taken a lake vacation before, but decided we might like it even more than the beach, simply because we could all come and go from indoors to outdoors as much as we liked. We also loved the sweeping porch and patio and hammock — lots of opportunities to relax outside without sitting and baking in the sun.

Here are some of our favorite moments:

 

David grilled us rib eye steak tacos the first night, for a belated Mother’s Day celebration. Other treats we enjoyed during the week were Cheetos, iced coffee, pimento cheese with crackers, ice cream at night, Higher Grounds burgers and hush puppies, and Chicken Butt donuts. Yes, that really is the name of the donut shop!

 

The week started with chilly weather, which allowed us to use the fireplaces in the living room and on the porch, much to Noah’s delight.

 

The cool weather did not deter the kids from swimming every single day. I think this yellow mat is probably for laying out in the sun, which I did once (but the water was pretty much always too cold for my liking!), but David and the kids turned it into a wrestling mat. It’s actually really funny to watch anybody stand up on it — it’s so hard to balance, it requires quite a leg and ab workout. And involves lots of giggling to trying to jostle other people off.

 

After those early-in-the-week swim sessions, the boys had to find places to warm up!

 

I spent a lot of time right in these beach chairs, right on the dock, relaxing, reading a book, hanging out with my family. The lake is the life for me!

 

We discovered that paddle-boarding is the life for David. We all learned how to do it, and once or twice daily, he took a kid or two on adventures to explore Lake Murray islands. They discovered all kinds of birds and a goose nest with babies.

 

 

 

 

 

One day, David and Judah rode to search for an island. They took water and their lunch, but got lost and were gone for four hours! They returned home sunburned and sore, but victorious from their manventure.

 

Pretty much the cutest sight ever was when Noah learned to paddle board, because he’s so little and the board is so big. He loved it as much as David did, and constantly asked for someone to sit outside with him so he could go paddle-boarding. The kids made friends with the grandkids next door, and Noah gave the little girl rides!

 

The kids and I are on a big Yahtzee kick these days, and played a couple times during the week. We brought lots of games and puzzles, but ended up spending so much time outside that we hardly used them. We did two family 5K runs during the week at nearby Crooked Creek trails, and David and I went once on our own.

 

We did make time for the puzzle David surprised us with during the week

 

We had a couple of family movie nights (Remember the Titans and Blank Check), the boys enjoyed watching The Mandalorian Season One, and of course we read lots and lots, as always.

 

Noah was happy as a clam, roaming outdoors from dawn ’til dusk, spotting osprey and herons and turtles, and trying to catch minnows. Gabe brought his South Carolina bird field guides and a dry erase marker to keep track of the different birds we spotted. Thankfully we only saw one snake, and it wasn’t poisonous!

 

On Saturday, the day before we packed up to come back home, Steve and Linda were able to join us for the day. They were as enchanted with the place as we were, and brought books and swimsuits. Steve even learned to paddle board.

 

They’ve treated us to a mid-week cocktail hour at their house all throughout quarantine, so it was fun for us to get to return the favor in front of an amazing view.

 

We thank God for giving our family a wonderful vacation. They’re all lovely in their unique ways, but this one was extra special for some reason. Part of it was the incredible location, but also I think it made such a difference that for perhaps the first time, we were rested going into vacation. It made such a difference.

We loved our week at the lake, and are so thankful to our friends who blessed us with it.