Lake Trelipe

We spent this past weekend at our friend/neighbor Erika's parents' cabin up North on Lake Trelipe with her husband Eric and baby Alex (born a day after Isla). Wow, did we have fun! Unfortunately I accidentally deleted ALL of the great photos and video clips that I had taken from Friday through Saturday afternoon. I lost it all - the waterskiing, the fishing, the boat rides. I am still angry at myself. However, we were able to get a few shots of the rest of the weekend, and it definitely didn't stop us from having a good time.

The trip began with a 4 hour car ride, the Mazda packed to the GILLS! Does anyone (Jamie Shea, I know you do) know how much "stuff" a family of 4, that includes a toddler and an infant, needs to pack for a weekend at a cabin in the woods? Unreal - the Pak n Plays, the diapers, the wipes, the clothes, the toddler cups/utensils, the snacks, the toys, the towels, the baby toiletries, the toddler lifevest, the sunscreen, the bug repellant, the blankies, the binkies...I could go on and on, but I'll stop here, you get the picture. Thank God we also packed the little portable DVD player. We took off at noon, so after a good 90 minute nap Addison woke up and proceeded to switch between watching Elmo's Potty Time and Finding Nemo the rest of the drive. Isla slept the whole way until we stopped at a funky little shop called "Sweets and Such" to get a taste of some of the best ice cream I've ever had! Addison had chocolate peanut butter from head to toe, but it was worth it. Wish I could show you the pictures, but they're gone. :( After feeding Isla, we took off again and made it to the cabin in time to unpack, do some waterskiing and throw some burgers on the grill.

The next morning Addison woke up at the crack of dawn, so we headed down to the dock to throw rocks for what felt like hours while Eric and Erika slept in (and by sleeping in I mean until like 8:30 or something), taking advantage of Alex's first sleep-through-the-night. We hung out on the dock and on the boat that day, and Addison surprised us all by having absolutely NO fear of large, scaly, live, wriggling "fishies". She loved to hold them in her hands, clamp them to her chest and give them a big hug. Unbelievable! Eric, a very experienced fisherman, said he's never seen a 2 year old so unafraid of live fish. Isla was a super-sweetie, so calm and happy the whole time. She enjoyed a dip or two in the water as well. We all got up on the waterskis (adults, that is) as Addison cheered us on, yelling words of encouragement from the dock.

We had some great food and tons of laughs, and Eric and Erika were the consummate hosts. We headed home on Sunday, which was another easy car ride with lots of sleeping from the kids, and strategized the whole way about 5 year plans and how the hell could we figure out how to get ourselves a cabin on a lake! For now though, maybe we will see about renting something on a lake for a week each summer. Between that and our annual trips with my family to Faria Beach in Ventura and to Palm Springs that we hope to continue as tradition, there should be lots of good family vacation memories for all.

Isla's first boat ride

Alex and Isla - best buds already

Fishing with Isla

Addison and her "fishie"!

Erika and Alex
Good Daddies

Huge dork

The dock and steps up to the cabin

Isla's first dip in the lake

Skinny dipping together already? Scandalous!

My little fisherwoman - Eric gave her a Dora the Explorer plastic fishing pole

Throwing rocks

Notice the rock in hand
DJ gathering rocks to throw
and Addison thanking him for it

This was Addison before Eric and DJ took her out on the boat Saturday evening to go fishing. Eric had given her a fake fishing lure, which she called a dolphin - she's looking for her dolphin in this clip

Smiley Isla

On the ride home Addison fell asleep with her "snake" in hand - a fake worm used as fish bate that Eric gave her