Life With Our Little Ladies: Lake Bluff 2015

We took our last trip of the summer (and our last trip as a family of four) to Lake Bluff. We spent lots of time on the water, boating and tubing. Ollie kept a really pregnant mommy company on the dock while the gang kayaked, swam and had fun on the paddle board. He also kept his watchdog eye on Joe the whole time.

Ella tried tubing for the first time. She wasn't afraid of the water at all, but made sure G-Diddy understood that she did not want to go any faster than "very slow". Speed is NOT Ella's thing. Unfortunately, she went so slow and weighed so little that the tube tipped right over. We got her right back on the horse with Daddy, but she was done for the weekend. There's always next year!

We spent time lots of time with Uncle Brad and Aunt Alex.

with my girl

Ella hopped right in the lake and started swimming in it just like it was a pool. My favorite memory was hearing her talk, completely unaffected, to the seaweed like she was the boss.
"Go away seaweed. Leave me alone." She handles it much better than me. Seaweed wrapping around my ankles totally freaks me out.

I was impressed by Lauren's kayaking skills. She took Abby out all by herself. Look at these big girls!

cousins: Abby, Ella and Lauren

The girls set up a lemonade and snack stand and spent the morning ~~giving away~~ eating their product. It was a lot of fun to watch them develop an idea they had and use their imaginations to play together.

These two kept us on our toes. They loved to chat and play with each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo_psu87HFk

Sunny days call for sunny shades!

We went on a boat ride for lunch and ice cream.

The Iamaio's don't live far from Lake Bluff, so we were thankful for a chance to visit and have dinner with them before picking Nana up and bringing her back with us. We love love love spending time with them. If only we lived a few hours closer...

Morning story times with Grammy and G-Diddy are the best. I think G-Diddy read Hansel and Gretal multiple times this weekend.

I woke up and came downstairs to find the girls curled up with Grammy and her kindle listening to Charlotte's Web. I love the way both girls are watching Grammy and listening intently.

And then there's "jump all over Uncle Brad and make sure he doesn't have a chance to fall back to sleep" time...

Nana is Oliver's favorite. He finds lots of comfort in her lap, as everyone comes and goes from the cottage throughout the day.

These two are the sweetest together. Ella considers herself Nana's best helper and she takes the role very seriously. If she sees Nana getting up from her chair, Ella runs over to get Nana's purse/knitting bag/pillow to carry and bring where they are going. If Nana sits down for a meal, Ella runs to get her drink. Then, they spend meal time helping each other eat. Ella offers Nana a bite of everything on her plate and Nana has a magical way of getting Ella to finish her lunch. Ella spent the weekend singing, "I have the best Nana in the world..."

The girls were excited to help G-Diddy cook on pancake morning.

By the end of the day, we are always pretty wiped. Bedtime looked like this.

We enjoyed some beautiful sunsets. The girls love joining everyone gathered at the top of the Bluff. I love sitting in the cottage with Nana and watching the sunset together from the porch, while Nana tells me all kind of fun stories about her life.

On our last morning, we had a mini photo shoot on top of the Bluff. The girls insisted on using my phone to take pictures of their kids too. Of course, Glitter, Amelia, Lily and Greeley had to go first.