Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia- August 2012

Ok, I am going to spend the afternoon catching up on the DeEsch blog! After our extremely eventful trip to Ireland, we were ready for a REAL vacation (basically, a vacation that involved no drama, no hospitals, no sickness, no injuries, and no flying/airports) at Smith Mountain Lake. To be honest, we weren't sure if it was the "smart" thing to do by taking another vacation so soon after Doug had returned to work, but I am so glad that we decided to go. It was such a relaxing, easy vacation. The house was perfect for us to share with Brian, Melissa, Rylee, and Brooke. It was basically 2 houses in 1, so Brian and Melissa settled in on the first floor, and we took over the second floor. We spent our days swimming, bobbing, fishing, and relaxing in the hot tub. The boys made us dinner most nights (one night Melissa and I stepped up and cooked, and we went out another night- for my birthday), and the kids got along great. Trey caught his very first fish in the lake, all by himself, and the kids loved swimming and jumping in the lake (with their life vests on). And, I absolutely, totally, fell head over heels in love with Baby Brooke. She is just a sweetheart, and she loves being held and spending time outside- other than that, she is super easy going and the most precious thing I've ever seen. The other event to note is that we attempted to take some "family pictures". I would say this went ok... not great, not terrible, but definitely not AWESOME. :) We did the best we could, and I'm glad we tried. The kids looked adorable, the men looked handsome (in their shirts from Goodwill), and Melissa and I always look great, so it was a really good try. All in all- the vacation was a total success!!!!