And so summer begins...

Welcoming in our 3rd season at the lake, we invited my cousin, Zac, not to be confused with my big 5-year old, Zach, to join us.  My cousin, Zac, and I haven't seen each other in 20+ years.  What a great way to catch up with each other!  Zach and Olivia loved having a fun cousin around and luckily, Zac is great with kids.  He brought 'gifts' of water guns, tons of bubbles, Hot Wheels and a squishy bear (for Olivia).  I think my kids were thinking "you had me at the bubbles'....  water gun fights ensued, led by the older Zac.

A huge congrats goes out to Zac for graduating medical school at Medical College of Georgia.  He's heading to North Carolina to complete his residency.  So, here's to you Dr. Zac Lane!  Thanks for joining us; we had an awesome time!

My friends, Liz and Allyson, kicked their summer off at the lake as well.  We had 6 kids and 4 adults (thanks for hanging in there with us Zac to entertain the small people).  At one point, Liz said, "they all sound like the pelicans on Finding Nemo....'Mine, Mine, Mine..."  And guess what - they really did!  It was a bit chaotic at times, but chaos can be fun, so that's what we made it into.  Along the way, we had HVAC failure 4 times, a flat tire on Liz's minivan and dead headlights on Zac's car.  On the plus side, Sophie caught her first fish and Zach continued to bring them in, we boated around, roasted marshmallows, ate wonderful dinners, traded babysitting so we could get a run/walk in and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Dave was out to an almost quiet house for Memorial Day weekend.  The rain threatened for hours before it actually rained.  We still were able to boat before the flood gates opened.  The lake is nice when it's sunny and nice when it's stormy.  You just take it as it comes. Take a look at the crane that hung out on our dock; it's stunning.

We headed back to Atlanta for Memorial Day.  Military helicopters, hummers and firetrucks were on display in downtown Smyrna, but our kids were more interested in the dogs.  Olivia asked no more than 7 times "can I get a dog?"  She needs a dog.... We played in the pool and also watched 'How to Train Your Dragon' in 3-D.  I liked this movie!  We missed grilling for dinner, so Waffle House had to suffice.  Yes, I wasn't pleased with this scenario, but we missed our opportunity.  Luckily, we were able to hang out at our neighbor's house for some homemade ice cream and a small gathering.  That tidbit helped me.  Happy Memorial Day!