Last year we weren't able to attend the annual fourth of July "blastoff" celebration at Lake Oconee because we had just been given the precious bundle of joy, Harper. We had been to the lake a couple times this year already with Harper, but when everyone is there for the the 4th, funny things / stories tend to happen so we were excited to take her for her first experience of the fun, and to meet Wes, Renee, Matthew, Jesica, and Fran.
Harper got to meet and hang out with a new canine friend Scruffy, in addition to Maggie and Jack. While she was happy to meet Scruffy, Wes & Renee's dog, we're pretty sure the feeling was not always mutual. There were occasions of friendliness though and lounging by a beautiful lake on a hot summer's day creates a strong sense of camaraderie (yes its French, but it sounds Russian, so here's a shout out to Matthew, our Russian expert) that no baby or dog can resist. Good times.
Harper even went "tubing" for the first time! Hopefully, this was in preparation for many years of laughable fun when she gets older and wants to partake of the real deal. Needless to say though, there was some nervousness amongst all the women when this this redneck tubing operation was hatched with a one year old. It did go off without a hitch and Harps loved it!
With so many floating options at her disposal, during the heat of the day, she often chose the covered "barge" for her floating adventures.
Harps loves her Nonni!
Of course, the Long Shoals Junior/Senior Professional Golf Tournament was a big hit, even with the canine caddies. The dogs hate for the guys to hit golf balls into the water (as you can see from the snarling Jack). Maybe they are sad that a perfectly good ball is being dropped into the water, never to be heard from again. It is funny to watch them go nuts though.
The new boat lift = Sandbar Jr.? At least we don't need to go very far to lounge!
Harps even liked riding in her boat inside the boat lift too. It was shady and she could let her hair "up".
Ryan had the fun idea to see if the giraffe baby pool would float in the lake when we were dumping out the old water and he was successful. Is this thing towable?
Fran cooked a delicious low country boil for everyone one night on the dock. Good eats, good friends, good times...this is the life!
Even Harps got to participate! No shrimp for her, but she devoured the rest.
"GIMME SOME MORE SAUSAGE!" - Harper
Riding in a boat is fun, even if you do have to wear this awful, bulky life preserver.
We made our usual fun trip to the sandbar hangout area in the lake, but then a storm quickly arose forcing us to leave soon after we got there. We tried heading back to the house to beat the storm, but it caught us, as can happen when you are motoring in a pontoon boat, and we had to "abandon ship" at the Ritz Carlton on the lake. No doubt, there are worse places we could have had to wait things out. We hung out at the little lakeside bar area waiting on the lightning to subside. It was a pretty neat little part of the resort, very much like a lodge type setting. Unfortunately, we did not get the treatment that Carrie Underwood or President Bush did when they visited the Ritz, but it was nice nonetheless. Dan determined that we needed to make another addition to our "lake emergency kit" on the boat, a debit card or emergency cash.
I don't have any photos of the fireworks of course, but they were great this year as always. Ryan and I made our usual stop at Stateline Fireworks before we crossed the Alabama border into Georgia so we could get "real fireworks" instead of the dinky Georgia ones. After all, what is fun about fireworks without an element of danger, as Dan can attest to. No doubt, we put on the best show in the slew and possibly even the lake (at least we might complete with the Ritz or Reynolds Plantation for five minutes or so). I think I have a video of some of the show, and I'll try to post it later.