Lake Murray 2012

 We lugged our crew up to Lake Murray for, yet another, AWESOME time with great friends!  We wanted to stay longer so badly, but we had other obligations and a little baby in tow. 

I had such a great time that I didn't take any pictures.  Luckily, Jess is ALWAYS prepared and snapping away with her camera.

Masyn and Baby Taylor (as she calls her) were BEST friends the whole time

 The girls

 Reagan wanted to see the newest member to our crew, Maven.

 ...And, so did Syd.

Surfer CK always helping a sista' out.

 Hola!  We have arrived! (With my feet gloves and all)

 Nick and CK looking for stuff in the mud.  All the kids love Nick!

Taylor Rose and Jess (the other Jess... I told her I will call her "Icca")

She had a hard time with her lifejacket.  It did what it was supposed to do and kept flipping her over to her back.  She was like a turtle stuck on its back!  Haha!

 Shanda got all of the girls a surprise... Booby Scarves!!  

Wow. We had a little TOO much fun with those!

CK and the kiddos loved the massive tube!

 Woo-hoo!

 Tay loved the tube, too.  They had to show off their tricks.

Isn't this the coolest pic?!  I love how clear the water is out there.

Well, hello there stud muffin!

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 I looooove me some baby hiney!  Lil ol' tiny hiney Maven.  (She loved the water.)

 Check out Josh and Emily's way cool little sailboat!

CK LOVED it!  What a cool experience.

CK surfing.

You can barely see him past the wake... cute little guy.  He made so many rounds around the cove (5, I think) without falling!  Even the camping neighbors came out to watch.  When he finally fell (a boat came by and made a bunch of huge waves), his audience all went "aaaaahhhh" in unisom. 

 Lake Murray chicas

So sad to leave...

Until next year, Lake Murray.

Knee-boarding munchkin

I now have those pictures I previously "typed" about... Little Christian knee-boarding it up!

I have been water skiing since I was 7 or 8 - maybe younger.  Water sports are a huge part of my family.  My mom spent every summer at her parents' lake house when she was growing up.  Each of her cousins and uncles have a lake house or two.  A lot of them (and there are A LOT!)  run ski schools or own boat shops.  My grandpa owned a boat shop, my uncle owned a boat shop, and both built custom boats.  There are many trophies throughout my family for water sports and snow sports.  We spent almost every weekend of my childhood and teenage years at the lake on my Mom's boat.  Tubing, wakeboarding, skiing, and knee-boarding were always part of the fun (my shoulders have the spots to prove it).  We recently added wake surfing to the repertoire.  I am really so glad that Christian is picking up on one of my favorite past-times. 

Look at all the little kiddos watching CK tear it up! 

 I had Ryan wear the Bjorn carrier so I could help CK. 

'The Hangover' flashbacks!  hahaha! 

Ryan had to, um, relieve himself.  Since Taylor was sleeping so soundly, we didn't want to take her out of the carrier.  Ryan tried to go off the end of the boat, but thought he would fall in.  So I held onto him as the rest of the crew watched...

Lake Murray Round 3

Ryan, Christian, Taylor, Shane and I all went up to Lake Murray last weekend.  The usual super fun group was out there, only times 10!  We had a huge turn-out this year!  I think Jess counted 35 people all together.  I am still waiting on a few more pictures to come through.  I thought I had my camera, but didn't, so I had to use my iphone.  iPhone pictures are not of great quality.  Luckily, I was the only one that didn't have a camera... so I need to gather up the ones of Christian doing his newest trick.  Still working on that part, though.

Little baby Christian has defeated the age limit on, yet, another sport! He has conquered knee boarding like a pro. He sat out there up on his knees on the board all by himself while being pulled behind the boat. He has such good balance! He tried to surf on it, but fell. He could've done it, I am sure, because he was standing on the board while it wasn't being pulled by the boat and balanced just fine. We just ran out of time for him to try again.  There were lots of kids that wanted a turn, of course!

Taylor would NOT take a nap out there.  I think she was enjoying the water and the people way too much to sleep.  So, I stripped her down to her birthday suit and took her for a dip.  I figured it would probably be too chilly for her, but nope... she loved it!  She is going to be a water baby just like her brother and momma.

Christian and Meagan taking a little row in the boat

 Shane is probably noticing something to make fun of me, Ryan or Christian about.

 The Melton's pups... Max and Daisy (Ryan was pretty giddy about cute lil' Daisy)

 Naked baby alert!

 Cute hiney alert!

 Buddha belly alert!

Christian played with this board for hours!

Christian practicing his surfing skills (he did wear a life jacket for the real thing) 

Shanda took this picture for baby Reagan.  She had a little crush on Shane.

Look at all these cute little booties!

Taylor took a nap in her sling.

And she's out...

The newest additions to the Lake Murray crew... Reagan, Taylor, and Mayson.