I'm BAAAaaack!

It is going to be SO nice to sleep in my normal bed tonight! The four nights I slept on a dorm-room bed were not as comfortable as I remember from my college days, and our bed at the lake is comfy, but it just isn't MY bed. We hated leaving the lake, though.

We had such a great time. We did exactly what we wanted to do--pretty much nothing! That's the kind of week I wanted for John. There was one day that I'm not really even sure he left the recliner. :) That was perfectly okay, though, because he works so hard during the week, and then he does so much in the afternoons and on weekends around home that he doesn't usually have much free time. There are very few weekends when we're at the lake that we just can do nothing. Even this week, we still had a couple of things that needed to be done, but we got them done early.

A lot of people would probably go stark-raving mad at the thoughts of spending a week doing nothing but staring at the water and not having tons of places to go and hundreds of things to do. Some people have to surround themselves with others and have to be busy all the time. (I have a friend who would go into DTs if she had to live more than about 10 minutes from Wal-Mart. And the idea of living somewhere so far out...forget it! hahaha) We love it though. This is just one of the ways that John and I are so much alike. We love the quiet, the peacefulness, the solitude--it's good for the soul. True, you don't just run to the store to grab a loaf of bread, but that's fine with me.

We did go out to eat Saturday night with Roger, a friend of John's from high school. He and his wife have built a gorgeous home on the Jasper side of the lake. From what Roger said, I think Amy is a lot like me--she'd rather stay at the lake than at home.

We took the boat out almost every day. We rode down to visit with Ron and Cindy and their grandsons (Will and John) one afternoon, and then we all took a late afternoon ride. It was SO nice!! I read three more books. That's a total of six so far this summer. I'll probably get another one or two in before school starts back. John grilled every night, so the few pounds l lost the week I lived on ham sandwiches are back. (Thanks, Honey.)

I guess the best part of the entire week was Friday and Saturday when Jessi, Katy, Phillip, Sam, and the pups all came up. We'd been planning on them coming up for about three weeks, but last Saturday Jessi called and said something was wrong with her car. We didn't know until Thursday that she'd be able to come at all. She has a friend who must be awesome--Audrey let her borrow her car so she could come up! Audrey, I'm quite sure you will never read this, but THANKS!! You made Jess's dad's day (and mine, too.)

They got to the lake about 1ish, I guess. After they grabbed a bite to eat, we headed to the water. Sam had his first taste of being a lake baby. :) He did pretty well. Once he'd had enough, I took him back to the trailer, changed him out of his wet stuff, and snuggled with him. In about two minutes, he was out like a light. On Saturday, he got to take his first boat ride. He seemed to enjoy it--it only took him about five minutes to conk out. After we got back to the dock and he woke up, John took Katy, Jessi, and Phillip back out to tube, and Sam, Linda, and I relaxed in the shade. I don't want to rush Sam's life, but I can't wait for next summer when he can REALLY enjoy playing in the water. Of course, when he's five and wanting to learn to ski, we'll be wishing to be back to this summer. Poppa John had him laughing so hard before they left Saturday. I have never known a kid of any age who didn't just love John. He just has a way of connecting with them. I guess it's because he's really still a kid a heart. I still look at John looking at Sam and just get all teary-eyed. He loves this child so much!


We got up early this morning so we could go to Hartselle to see Billie for a bit. The Alzheimer's seems to be progressing faster than any of us want. Of course, any progression is too fast. Because of us being three hours away, everything falls on Danny, Linda, Tim, Tisha, and Connie, and we hate that. We know it isn't easy on them.

Ali and Bama had a great time, too, but they are both worn out--just like their momma! One thing they aren't going to like is NOT being able to sleep in the bed with us. I'm sure that's another reason I'll be so glad to get back into my bed. :) They are both conked out by my feet, but as soon as I move, they'll be in my lap.

Speaking of moving--I'm going to move on and close out this post. I'm barely holding my eyes open as it is.