Big Sand 2009

Our fab family the night before we left...the matching shirts were from a surprise party we had earlier that week for Grandpa as he graduated from ISU Vet school 40 years ago and has worked/partnered all those years at Central Vet Clinic in Sioux Center. Evergreen Lodge was a sea of blue shirts with over 30 of us in royal blue!
Most of the grandkids in their celebration shirts. I think we were only missing 2 as they were sleepin'...quite a crew!
JC and Brooke enjoying the kayaks and nice weather. We had lot of sunshine with moderate temps. Personally, I wish it would have been hotter but the majority of the people decided it was a perfect week!
Our Reeser enjoying the sand...it was her first real experience with the beach as last year she was pretty little. She LOVED it and thankfully didn't eat it!
Doc showing JC the finer things in life...fishing, boating, BIG SAND!
Dayle was quite the fisher-lady! She was always asking to fish and did have pretty good luck.
Lauren and Reese being silly on the beach...we call these ladies "twins"...you can understand why!
Skipping rocks is always a hit after dinner and before bed...probably b/c no one is swimming and they are trying to kill all the mosquitoes! Hahahahaha
A great pic of Reese and her new look...no more barrettes as she pulls them out. So rubber bands and BAM! We have Pebbles! You are old enough to remember Bam-Bam and Pebbles, right?
Another tradition at Big Sand is the Pontoon ride/fishing morning...above is Doc with JC on his lap and Dayle sittin' close as they head out for some daddy-bonding time. This is a great tradition that has turned into a TWO session event. There is no way to fit almost 20 kids plus adults/chaperones on the pontoon at one time.
Brooke and Lauren getting their fishin-faces on! Both had success and looked cute doing it!
Here is the pontoon's second outing and as they came to a stop, I got a picture and wouldn't you know it Brooke is landing her first fish. Way to go, B!
Onto another favorite pasttime...tubing! Above is Caleb, Lauren, Caden and Brooke on the new tube that Grandpa found. It is really cool! And it does tip...just ask Jaron! His priceless quote after Greg dumped him on his FIRST tube ride ever..."Dad! That water ain't shallow!" We laughed and laughed and later he road the tubes again! YEAH JC!!
Dayle, Miah, and Anna standing on the tube...they did get dumped too!
Once again, blue shirts! Taking a break from the water for a puzzle with cousin Caleb...so fun to connect with the cousins again!
Then over to the toy area where Willow, Emily and Jaron are playing or should I say Jaron is showing off for the girls and the camera. Who does he get that from? I'd say Doc!
Yet another tradition that everyone gets to enjoy...the Friday noon fish fry! Doc is the chef as Grandma runs around getting his supplies. I ususally keep his drink cold and full! hahaha The fish gets a beer-breading and fried in oil over the charcoals...sooooooooooo yummy! Not sooooooooo healthy but, hey, we are on vacay!
Jaron deep in thought as he watches the action on the lake...by Friday he was tired out and seemed to be somewhat dazed all day. Hmmmmm...where does he get that from?
Had to add this pic as Brooke tried to ski on one ski and almost made it! You can see from the picture that she was up out of the water but couldn't hold the ski steady enough to stay up. Maybe next year!? She did wakeboard all week and even starting jumping. I'd say she could jump half the wake and stick the landing. She looked great...I just never got a pic as I was usually on land with kiddoes to watch. We will wake board again this summer and I will post pics then....you gotta see it!

All in all, a great week! The few things we were worried about seemed to be taken care of: Reese traveled in her carseat the whole time, both 7 hour drives! Jaron became the "boat natz"i -even trying to tell Uncle Bryan how to put his ski on-and never left the boat except to eat! Dayle played nice with her cousins and put down the DS! Lauren shared Brooke! Brooke (and mom) got enough sleep! Greg got to add 15 hours on the boat! Enough said!