Okoboji Fun!

Hey everyone!  I am still trying to get back to normal after a fun-filled vacation to the Iowa Great Lakes.
We headed out to Iowa to hang out with Mom's family on August 11th.  Before that we were busy entertaining some friends and getting the house ready for house guests.

This is me and Sabrie... Sabrie is my mom's friend Val's baby - I wasn't quite sure how to hold a real baby!

Val and Sabrie came to hang out with us while Jer had some meetings in Denver.  We had a super fun day with them - Sabrie gave me lots of smiles!

I took some time while Mom was packing to "help" and go through and try on all my clothes.

I thought this would be a good beach look for Lake Okoboji.

After we left for Iowa, Todd, Gena and Koen came to stay at our house while they got their new house move in ready... it was nice to have someone around to watch the house and collect the veggies from the garden.  I haven't really enjoyed the produce, but Mom and Dad have (I'm a little on the picky side).

Just before leaving for Iowa, we got word that Auntie Julie and Trent got engaged!!  What big news!  Congratulations, Julie and Trent!

Here's Julie showing off her new 'bling' good pick Trent!

Once we got to Okoboji, we got to spend time with Mom's whole family for one day.  When we all get together, we tend to take over any space: the pool, the condo, the dock, you name it!

Here are some of the many photos taken during our trip, enjoy:

Grandma always needs a 'girls' picture whenever we're together - here's the most recent one!  Left to Right - Aunt Jenness, Aunt Joni, Grandma, Mommy, and Aunt Julie.

We also need to have a family photo, but I just don't like to make that as simple as it should be.

Here we are taking over the pool - Mom is a such a brute... poor grandpa

I really enjoyed the pool with Dad and the cousins!

To wrap up our day all together, we got to celebrate Maddie's birthday!

We spent so much time at the pool during the rest of the week - thanks to Erin, I never wore the same swimsuit during the week!

This was my first experience with a beach - I was reluctant to leave my towel.

Dad coaxed me out to the water with promises of throwing rocks.

This is as far as I ever ventured into the lake water via the beach - I managed to get my clothes wet.

Mom persuaded me to add this photo because it's one of few that turned out well of the two of us.

Three of my cousins ended up staying at the resort with us for the week.  Max, Maggie and Maddie helped keep me entertained for the week - it was a great decision - thanks Mom and Dad!

Here are my cousins getting ready to go canoeing - Grandpa was a big help... most of the time, right Maddie and Jenness!  We didn't rent a boat or anything, but we were able to use the canoes and paddle boats from the resort.

I loved watching the action from the dock - Mom and Dad didn't trust me though - notice Mom's grip on my pants.

Dad and Max enjoying a ride on the lake.

Fortunately, Auntie Jenness had a life jacket that fit me so that I could enjoy the paddle boat too - I rode twice and was lulled to sleep by the waves both times.

There were two paddle boats, notice we have family members on both! 

One of my favorite activities at the lake was 'pushing' my cousins into the lake... off you go, Maddie!

After teetering over the edge of the dock, making my parents and grandparents nervous, mom lowered me into the lake to swim with the cousins.  I was not terribly fond of swimming in the lake - I prefer the pool, but the lake is quite pretty!

One day we went for a litle hike - we had such a beautiful week to explore at the lake.

This was a bit precarious - I can't believe my parents let me on the canoe without a lifejacket!

This is a typical sunset at Lake Okoboji - great way to end a beautiful day at the lake!

There's a jacuzzi at each of the units at the resort, here I got to share my bathtime with the cousins... nice form Ken!

On our last day at the lake, the cousins left and I tried my hand at the beach one more time with just Grandma, Grandpa and Mom and Dad.

Here's a pretty good family photo taken at Terrace Beach - it was another beautiful day!

This photo, I felt, really summed up the way I felt about my vacation at the lake!

When the week at the lake came to a close, we spent one more day in Iowa at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We spent some more time with grandma and grandpa and we also got to see Trey - he's a great friend who we like to keep up with.  After seeing Trey, Mom and Dad decided they needed a double date with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jenness. I got to have a babysitter from Iowa - Emily was awesome, we played with my babies, yay!  Then we took our second trip to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream store in LeMars, IA.  Love that place!

Here's Trey and I are hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's

Well, I guess you should feel pretty up to date on our trip... now back to everyday life.  I've started preschool again already and the next exciting thing on the books is the Step Up Walk on Sept. 25th.  Go to our team page to see more details at:  http://www.stepupdenver.org/fr/MHDSA/2011StepUp/LilLydia

Okie-dokie, hope you enjoyed the many pictures.... thanks for reading,
Lydia