The Last Lakecation

Last week we had our last Brown Family Lakecation in Bonney Lake, WA. My parents have had a house on Lake Tapps for the past five years, and they put it up for sale this summer, so this was our last lakecation. Our next family gathering will not be at a lake. This is more momentous than it seems at first glance because for my entire life, our big family summer trip nearly every year was to rent a house on a lake with our friends the Coopers and do lots of lake activities. When us kids started getting married, the lakecation with friends morphed into a yearly family reunion at a lake. So even though my parents have only owned a house on a lake for five years, it really is the end of a bigger 30-ish year family tradition. In honor of the family lakecation era ending, I must share a few vintage pictures:

 The original lake crew, circa 1991: the Brown family (mine) and the Cooper family (my dad’s best buddy). I’m the kid on the right. Kids, left to right: my sister Em, my brother Brad, Michael Cooper behind Kim Cooper, Wende Cooper, and Shaina.

The original crazies: Ron and my dad, Charley, holding up a Ski Hawk (an old school behind-the-boat inflatable) that they killed with their high-speed motor boat antics. That yellow blob in Ron’s hand is the football they practiced throwing to each other between boat and ski hawk while driving the boat at top speed.

Me in a lake: childhood.

My sister Em and me, wearing our McDonald’s Happy Meal prize hats (or trying to), all ready for a lake swim. I remember that the zipper on the front of my bathing suit was really itchy. I don’t remember if the zipper made it easier to get my swimsuit on.

Fast forward a few years: loading up the bow with kids as usual. (Ron’s wild shirts are also part of the tradition.)

 “Ski hawking” with Em (I’m on the right, waving and dreading the next ten minutes deep in the pit of my stomach). I never actually enjoyed riding behind the boat, but that’s what we did at the lake. I never questioned it. I just gritted my teeth and held on tight. (my favorite childhood lake activity was a bit slower paced: strapping on a life jacket and bobbing in the waves from passing boats)

One more “framily” lake cabin picture from 1997. Seriously, so many good times, so many fears faced, so many worrisome wipe-outs, so many laughs and card games.

Fast forward a dozen more years (literally) to baby Jay’s first lakecation, 2009, in Wenatchee at Lake Entiat. Brad was on his mission that year, Kyle was a teenager, and Mel wasn’t even in high school yet! Incidentally, this was the last time I went water skiing.

FYI, this post has 91 pictures and 4100 words, so grab a snack and get comfy!

The name lakecation is a more recent creation. During my childhood, we called our week at the lake “Deep Creek,” after Deep Creek Lake in Maryland, which we visited most often. It took us nearly the entire five years at Lake Tapps to agree on a spelling and pronunciation of lakecation (lake + vacation). Since our next family gathering will be decidedly lake-less, we will probably spend the next few years drafting new potential names for the gathering before finally selecting one.

Ah, that was a fun stroll down memory lane. Now onto the modern version of this childhood excursion: the Brown Family Lakecation! I did my very very best to slim down the photo-overload, but I simply could not get the phototal below 90. I considered covering the lakecation in two or three posts, but I could not figure out how to divide it up. So after a quick outline, I’ll just paste in clips from my journal alongside the pictures to tell the tale.

This year we had everyone in my immediate family attend except 5 people:

My sister Mel and her husband Braxton are in central India heading up a chapter of HELP International and building toilets, etc. all summer. We are proud of them for their useful, meaningful service, but we sure missed them! Especially since none of us have had more than a 5 minute conversation with Braxton (they just got married last October).

My sister-in-law, Dani and her newborn TWINS, Connor and Christine. Seriously, the twins were born 4 days before the lakecation. So obviously they stayed home. Thankfully, my brother Brad and their other son Derek were able to stop in for three days to say hi.

TWO BABIES! Dani is a champion and those babies are adorable. I have to include pictures of the people who weren’t with us in person, because they are still part of this family.

Mel and Braxton (stolen from their blog), in front of a wall they helped paint. It says Gandhi’s famous “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Braxton and Mel are doing just that in Hyderabad, India. It felt so selfish to wish they were relaxing at the lake with us instead of bettering the lives of impoverished women and children in central India, but we still wished.

Since we had extra bedroom space, my mom’s parents, my dear Grama and Grampa Gwynn, came for 4 days. And as a fitting finale to the lakecation era, our beloved family friend Ron Cooper made a 2.5 day appearance as well. His broad laugh and mesmerizing stories filled that big lakehouse to the brim. With all of these people coming and going, I think there were only two days during the entire week that someone did not drive to the airport. Here’s the travel schedule, filed under the “boring, but important” section (feel free to scroll past it):

·        Saturday afternoon (June 30th): I arrived with Jay, Rose, and Amber, straight from our beach camping adventure.

·        Saturday night, late (I was asleep): my mom dropped Jeff plus a bunch of gear off at the lakehouse (Mom picked Jeff up from the airport after his education conference)

·        Sunday evening after dinner: Mom, Dad, my brother Kyle and his wife Alivia, plus their cute baby Ezra arrived.

·        Sunday night late (around 11pm): the Broadbent family flew in. The Broadbent family includes my sister Em, her husband Jesse, and their four kids Steve, Dan, Chase, and AmyJane.

·        Monday, midday: my brother Brad and his son Derek flew in.

·        Monday night, 9:30pm: Grama and Grampa Gwynn flew in.

·        Tuesday evening: Ron Cooper flew in.

·        Thursday morning: Brad and Derek flew home.

·        Thursday evening: Ron flew home.

·        Friday morning, 4am: Grama and Grampa Gwynn flew home.

·        Friday morning, 6am: Kyle, Alivia, and Ezra flew home.

·        Sunday afternoon, 1pm: the Whites (us) drove home

·        Sunday afternoon, 3pm: the Broadbents flew home.

During eight days, we made TEN trips to the airport. It was quite the hodgepodge week, but we still enjoyed seeing everyone while we could. Now, onto the pictures and journals:

They planted lavender to spruce up the lakehouse’s curb appeal.

Monday, July 2, 2018. Lakecation day 1! The kids played the day away. It was so fun to see that gang of cousins trooping around all over outside, with costumes and scooters and all kinds of games. I barely saw Jay and Rose up close today! Brad and little Derek got here today and it is so fun to have 4/5 of us sibs together. We talked and talked today.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018. 10:01pm. Lakecation day 2: 7am 6 mile run for me, then shower and breakfast. After breakfast, we all went outside. Brad and I rode Razor scooters up and down the driveway with the kids, trying to see how far we could glide and also how fast we could go, using our GPS watches to measure it. We scootered 1.5 miles with a maximum speed of 4:50 per mile (that only lasted briefly on the downhill).

After the scooter-a-thon, we all headed to the lake and I took Amber out on the kayak for a bit. Then, LUNCH and several rounds of Pick Two! [Pick Two is a family favorite speedy crossword building game similar to Bananagrams–Pick Two was around long before Bananagrams]

We did a lot of talking and hanging out today, and it was nice. I love being around my family, and it’s especially nice to have Grama and Grampa Gywnn here. I just love them so much. They have such interesting stories and experiences, and I love listening to them! We had so many fun conversations and story telling exchanges today.

Amber, Jay, and Rose love Grama Gwynn because she is so kind and listens carefully to everything they say. She gently held Rose and rubbed her back when she was aching after falling off the edge of the hot tub today. She admired and sympathized with Amber’s various scrapes and owies. Amber found her Great Grama in the kitchen full of people and asked her “come play with me!” So sweet Grama went outside and watched Amber roar down the driveway on the plasma car.

This evening, Ron Cooper came and he is such a beloved family friend. His hearty laugh fills the room with mirth and memories. We feasted on pulled pork sandwiches and mint brownies for dinner tonight, then cleaned up and talked more. After a late game of pickle ball, wherein Em and Jesse completely shut us out 11-0, Jeff and I retired to bed.

Photos:

• The epic scooter-a-thon.
• Steve in the lead.
• Rose, Dan, and Jay. We had to stagger the starts due to the sharp curve at the beginning of the downhill.
• We scootered for an hour until Brad and I started to feel sore, mostly because the little Razor scooter handlebars were not made for people over 6 feet tall.
• Next up: paddling in the lake! Jay mastered the kneel-and-stroke on the paddle board.
• Jesse and AJ. I took my camera out in a kayak to get up close, water-level pictures of people.
• Brad and Derek
• Kayaking with Amby
• Jay, warming up in the sun after a swim.
• I love wet kids in towels.
• Amber adored her Great Grama Gwynn, or “Grama Julie”.
• Counting Amber’s toes to make sure they’re all still there after her many scrapes. LOVE.
• Cousins sneaking in some screen time. I didn’t stop them because the down time helped them rest up between athletic adventures. Sort of.
• Dinner! Amber, AJ, Dan, and Derek (clockwise)
• Evening audience watching pickle ball rotations: Jesse, Jeff, Ron, and Dad.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018. 11:16pm. We are snuggled into bed at the lakehouse with all of our curtains open, watching the endless, loud fireworks out the windows. They’ve been exploding for nearly 2 hours now and still seem to be going strong. For the main hour-to-90 minutes of the fireworks, we all sat outside at the fire pit and talked, took pictures, and sang songs with Dad and Ron. Good good times. It brought back so many good memories. This was the first year that Jay and Rose actually stayed up to watch the fireworks. Tomorrow might be tough. Jay went in to bed pretty quick, but Rose stayed outside and danced around with glowsticks and sparklers with Steve and Dan for a while before falling asleep in the grass. Jeff carried her inside.

I ran 4.4 miles on the 4th of July, then showered and donned my new flag dress. It was a success and I enjoyed being extra patriotic today. The girls (Mom, Em, Alivia, and me) went shopping at the outlet mall at lunchtime today, per tradition and we shopped till we dropped. We were gone for nearly 4 hours! I found adorable tiny clothes to send home with Brad for Connor and Christine and also (surprisingly) 2 shirts for myself. It was very satisfying.

Amber and Rose had violent hit-a-thons today and both landed themselves in time out. The kids are all getting tired and a bit high strung. I had to give myself a timeout after dealing with Amber’s outburst! I walked down to the lakeside and sat with Dad for half an hour. We had a calming chat, and it helped.

Photos:

• We had burgers and brats for dinner, with a side of Ron Cooper’s excellent conversation and stories. Happy birthday, USA!
• Ready to embark on my annual Independence Day run in my star spangled shorts.
• Mom made a massive batch of chunky monkey pancakes for breakfast on the 4th of July. They disappeared like lightning.
• Derek loved pushing and giving people rides. It was very cute and manly all at once.
• Dr. Brown cured our various skeletal misalignments. It gets handier to have a brother in med school the closer he gets to finishing up–he has one more year of rotations. He saved my trick rib, putting it back in its place like a pro. Derek will probably be able to adjust a spine by the time he turns five, watchful little apprentice.
• Amby on the basket swing
• Archery with Grama Meri is another Lake Tapps tradition.
• Feeling patriotic!
• The speed boat was having power issues, so the traditional football toss happened off the dock. Kyle ran and jumped, Ron threw the ball. Success on the second try!
• Independence day was cloudy and the lake was choppy from the heavy holiday recreational use.
• Two cute three year olds in the hot tub. The kids LOVED the hot tub, but since it was so hot, we only let them stay in for 5 minutes at a time. They lived it up in there while they could!
• Dan and his cute little smirk, popped up in the middle of the hot tub while I was taking pictures of the little girls.
• When Brad was taking a picture of Em and I, he kept saying “wait…hang on…smile…wait, ok…smile!” FAKER! After he handed Em her phone back, we realized that Brad was just giving Dad and Ron time to sneak up behind us for an epic photo bomb. We had no clue! As Jeff later observed (accurately), “Ron brings out a whole different side of your dad.” In a good, goofy-fun way!
• Patriotic picture time was quite possibly just as rebellious as 1776.
• Em used her professional camera to help me out with our patriotic picture.
• We are Americans! I saw this flag dress on Amazon a few weeks ago and could not resist the patriotic pull of it.
• For the first year ever, the kids were still awake after 9pm when the first fireworks started, so we let them out onto the grass with their blankets and pillows to watch the show(s). Rose was so tired, huddled up there on the right. The lakehouse is on its own mini-peninsula, and the panorama of fireworks there has been my favorite way to spend the 4th of July for the past 5 years.
• Fire pit, fireworks, and Ron-and-Charley duets. They sang everything from Cat Stevens to Rocky Top, with songs in the middle that they’ve been singing my whole life which I still don’t know the names of. We all joined in on songs we recognized.
• Grama Meri lit some sparklers.
• Firework glow on the lake with kids dancing in the foreground. It was a great 4th of July.

Thursday, July 5, 2018. 10:57pm. We took our big group picture this morning, and then said goodbye to Brad and Derek. They flew home to Dani and the twins. The rest of us played on/near the lake with the kids until lunchtime. It was a beautiful warm sunny day. I paddle boarded a little and it was harder than I remember, probably because the lake water looked extra gross up close today and I was even more averse to falling in it than usual (I managed not to fall in–barely). After lunch, Dad and Ron took the boat in for a quick fix-up, then did skiing and boating stuff all afternoon. Then Dad drove Ron to the airport. It was good to see Ron for his short 2 night stay–such a cozy childhood memory type of feeling. We moved often enough during my childhood that there are very few adults that have known me for my entire life, but Ron Cooper is one of them.

I have just loved talking with Grama and Grampa a ton while they’ve been here this week! I feel inspired to be better and keep trying and I just love them so much. They fly home early tomorrow morning. Kyle, Alivia, and Ezra also leave bright and early tomorrow morning. So five more people will be gone when I wake up! It’ll be down to the Broadbents and the Whites with Mom and Dad. I hate when people have to leave! Families really are meant to be together.

• The sunset was so beautifully peachy and glowy over the lake tonight.
• We went simple for our group picture, balancing my little camera in a tree and setting the timer on it.
• Tree tripods work! This was the first picture we took! We took a second one just for good measure, but everyone cooperated so well that we didn’t even need it! Unprecedented. Amber seemed extra pleased that she got to sit on Grama Julie’s lap for the picture while holding Grama Meri’s hand. Amby-grama heaven!
• This was the one and only cousin picture we could manage. Derek was exhausted and so totally outtathere.
• We did manage this posterity picture-o-gold, though! Nine of their 12 great grandchildren. This is the stuff of family history books! Missing: tiny newborn Connor and Christine, plus my cousin Brooke and Mike’s little baby Emmett. I wonder if all 12 great grandkids will ever be in the same place together.
• I always try to get a picture with my dear grandparents when we’re together, because I don’t see enough of them. I should have put my arm around Grampa too. It’s amazing how hard it is to pose yourself for a picture until after the picture is taken.
• Jeff let Amber in the kayak by herself while he swam behind her. I didn’t see him swimming and pushing her from behind at first and I was wondering what on earth was going on! (and how Amber was making her kayak move forward so straight and smooth)
• Playing in the water at the dock.
• Rose, jumping in!
• These two frenemies, six weeks apart in age, both curly headed, both A’s: Amber and AJ.
• Towing the boat over to the ramp to drive it to the shop. It was so dead, but they revived it enough for the last day and a half of the week. Dad and Ron got in one last waterskiing session together.
• 1, 2, 3, JUMP!
• I bribed them with 30 extra seconds in the hot tub if they all looked and smiled for a picture.
• Sunset on July 5th, through all of the residual firework smoke.
• The fiery sunset even bathed Mt. Rainier in PINK–it’s that little pink snowy tip peeking out in the dip in the trees.

Friday, July 6, 2018. 10:32pm. Short and sweet tonight:

--Run

--Boat ride (anxious Shaina and Jay, screaming Broadbent kids, happy Rose and Amber, laughing Jesse and Jeff)

--Gwynns and Kyle/Alivia/Ezra left early

--Afternoon kid dance party

--Dinner at BJ’S pizza

--Phase Ten and Pick Two games with  the parentals.

Photos:

• Loading the bow with kids…and Jeff.
• Dan and Jay
• AJ and Amby
• Jay and Rose
• I love Jay’s thumb down on the tube in the background. The way he feels about tubing is similar to how I felt as a kid/still feel.
• I swallowed my speedboat anxiety over and over to go on two boat rides with all of the tubing children. I felt ridiculous for stressing so much in the boat, but…it’s not like I could just stop!
• Jeff and his two daredevil daughters. Every time I see Rose and now Amber and their big grins behind a boat, I wonder how on earth 50% of their DNA comes from me.
• Lake tramp: Jay jumped straight toward me and splashed my clothes and camera in the kayak, stinker.
• Feeling the hot tub vibes.
• The kids stayed up too late playing and talking in their room every night, and by Friday, everyone was a little crazy. We cranked some Greatest Showman music and had a dance party–by far the best use we’ve ever made of the lakehouse’s giant main room.
• Amber dressed up in a glittery boa and a red bow/headband and felt beautiful while singing and dancing to some of her favorite songs.
• Rose is doing the zombie (?) in the middle, Steve is shaking his booty up on the round ottoman, and Jay is raising the roof.

Saturday, July 7, 2018. 10:28pm. Em took our family pictures tonight and they turned out so well!! I also did my amateur best and took a couple for her family. Today was our last full day at the lake house. We will drive home tomorrow after lunch. I ran 8 miles this morning, bringing my weekly mileage total up to 31. Not too shabby for vacation time! We all piled into the boat (4 adults and 7 kids) for a finale kids’ tubing ride. Two kids at a time rode the big red tube, and Grampa Charley used his 30+ years of experience to give them the perfect tube rides: just fast and curvy enough to keep their adrenaline pumping, but not fast enough to scare them too bad. He is a true master. I was an emotional wreck sitting in the boat during all of the curves and speed-ups. It was exhausting and the strain was hard to bear, especially when Jeff and Amber rode the tube and went out of the wake back and forth at high speeds. I was so anxious!! When we drove back to the dock to switch tubes (finally), I got out of the boat to go kayaking while Jay swam. Half an hour of quiet time floating in the calm water soothed me enough to return to shore with my sanity intact.

This morning Amber found a pencil and scribbled all over the doors to the lakehouse playroom. I used an entire Magic Eraser and 30 solid minutes of scrubbing to get it all off. It was frustrating and I felt peeved that Amber seems to be the only kid misbehaving noticeably. She pooped her pants yesterday and today. She hits her siblings and cousins. She runs away when we call her. She is a messy eater. Sigh. It’s hard having the “hard kid,” aka the only one whose behavior is vastly different from the rest of the crew.

[can you tell I was feeling worn out and tired by this point too?]

Photos:

• The sky was extra expressive and I loved its many moods.
• The girls, swingin’
• Those moody broody grey clouds were nice and shady on my run Saturday morning, and I thought they made for a nifty backdrop to this rustic barn I jogged past. Mid-stride cell phone photography at its best.
• Sunday, July 8, 2018. 9:11pm. We are home! We pulled into our driveway sometime between 4 and 5pm today. We stopped at Tipsoo Lake in Chinook pass on our way home, just like always, and it was beautiful, just like always. I am going to miss having a reason to drive through Chinook Pass every summer once the lakehouse is sold. I didn’t realize that the lakehouse had wormed its way into my heart so effectively over the past 5 years! But I found myself feeling nostalgic right and left all last week.
• This morning the kids were so overtired from staying up way too late every night for ten days in a row (first camping, then lakecation). We piled all 6 Broadbents with us into our van (13 people in one 7-seat minivan) and drove to church (sacrament meeting only) at the Bonney Lake Wardat 9am, then went back to the lakehouse to clean up and pack. We left at 1pm and the kids were all very sad about it. Their sadness was magnified by their overtiredness. Jay was especially weepy and tragic with his tear-filled eyes. He said “don’t blame me if I cry for the whole drive home.” I don’t think he cried the entire way…
• Jeff and I had to work hard to stay awake on the drive home, even with Jim Dale’s help. All in all, it was a good trip. The week starts up again tomorrow, ready or not!
• Tipsoo Lake at the top of Chinook Pass, with Mt. Rainier in the background.
• We about went snow blind while walking around admiring the views. That fresh snow-cooled mountain air is absolutely delicious and so restorative. I wish I could bottle some up to bring back to our hot dusty valley.
• We threw snowballs into Tipsoo Lake and they didn’t melt, the water was that cold.
• On the other side of the pass, about 3 miles from Tipsoo Lake, heading down towards the Yakima Valley. It’s looking warmer and drier already.
• We arrived home to our first major tomato harvest of the year! (currently, a major harvest means any time I can’t fit everything I pick into one hand–amateur gardener, right here.) These beauties are better than candy.