Our Week at Lake Almanor

I figured I might as well get the belly shot out of the way. I was going to save it until last, but I know how obsessive you all can get;) I tried my best to rock the bikini at my 27 weeks...what the hell....why not?!

Okay, so back to the grind (well for Shane at least..I still have 1 1/2 weeks to go). We returned from our trip to Lake Almanor Saturday, after a weeks stay at a beautiful lakefront home. The house or "cabin" as we like to call it, slept 11 people and throughout the week we had full occupancy, thanks to the waves of friends and family we had staying with us. Here's a picture of Hagen with his towel ready and waiting on us as usual to take him swimming or for a ride on the boat. Be sure to take a glimpse at the retro material that covered the couch he's laying on...that should give you an idea as to when this house was built and to its' decor.

Our first night was spent with The Carter's (Don, Liz, Jordan and Jenna) and The Truss' (Pam and Steve) and of course The Billau's (Shane, myself, baby Lane in my belly, Dave, Carole and Hagen too) Oh. And how could I forget Cameron? My nephew, 10 yrs. of age, was able to spend the entire week with us (lots of energy). The pictures that follow are from an extremely competitive, trash talking, eye rolling, game of Cranium. It was quite the "humdinger" of a game:) Okay, so have you guessed what it is Liz, Pam and I are trying to get our guys to say??? Come on...it's sooooo obvious!

Lava Lamp!!! Yeah...the guys didn't get it either:( We may have lost that one, but trailing from behind at the beginning, Shane and I were crowned the Cranium Champs!

On Monday afternoon, our good friends The Duc's (Beau, Cris and Matthew) joined us for the rest of the week. And we also had The Housley's (Carole's family) in and out of the cabin, though mostly out, being that their grandmother had come down with an illness and was advised to not spend too much time around me, being the large bellied, hormonal pregnant woman that I am. It was a sad situation, but we all made the best of it and she is well into her healing process.

Here is a typical view from our balcony each morning. Shane swimming out on the tube to fetch the boat, and the clan waiting to climb aboard. Cameron took his first shot at wake boarding (because his Uncle Shane does it).

He was a natural!

Our Lake Almanor getaway was kinda like the movie "Groundhogs Day"...You know, how Bill Murray woke each day the same time, same music, same scene...that was our trip. We woke. We made breakfast. We went out on the boat. We ate lunch. We swam (after digestion ran it's course of course). We ate dinner. We played games. We slept. Oh...and XBox was played on a daily basis too (it kept the 10 year old busy, and a few 30 +'s too:)

Oh yeah. Before I forget. I am sure you would all be surprised to hear (then again it is me we are talking about, so you shouldn't be all that surprised) I went tubing! Beau was a bit hesitant...no wait, what am I saying...he was scared to death to pull me, but he did a fine job...too fine of a job. I actually got a little too comfortable and had to request a few turns and waves:) Cris and Matthew (age 4) had a blast on the tub, but I think Cris got a better ride after Matt decided he was through...I get to take credit for her booty soreness that resulted from this ride, being that I was behind the wheel:) Immediately after this shot was taken, Cris was bounced out of the tube about 5 feet into the air, with her body molded as though she was still sitting in that cumphy, air filled tube. Can we say booty smackin' fun!

Here are some other action shots I was able to snap of everyone showing off their water sport skills (my brother and his girlfriend, Hazel, showed up on Thursday eve, as did my folks and grandma). First we have Shane on the wake board & my brother and Hazel on the knee board.

Okay...what else went on...Oh yeah squirt gun war between dad and Cameron (10 minute rejuvenation session soon followed...with squirt gun still within reach).

Nani relaxing on the dock with a good book and mom the bathing beauty. Before our daily boating adventure would come to an end, we would sit out on the lake with the music on and wear ourselves out swimming and enjoy mother nature and the man-made lake we were on. And we will never forget Carole's talent on the piano! She could play one hell of a Silent Night:)

Shane and I also decided that Hagen should be trained as a rescue dog. He had such a great time swimming, that is at least if Shane or I was in the water. He proved to be one loyal companion.

And lastly (because I've been composing this blog for 2 hours now)...I give you...

"Scuba Shane".

Shane had such a great time playing with Cameron's snorkeling gear, that we decided we needed to take a trip into the nearest town (10 minutes away) to hunt down some snorkeling gear in an adult size:)

All in all, our first and last summer getaway was a blast.

We just wish it could have lasted longer!