I love vacation

This year we did not think we would get any vacation because John doesn't get any time off for the first six months of his job. Then my sweet brother and sister in-law helped us work it out so I could drive up with them for some time with all the Thompson family at Dickey lake, MT. After that John would fly up to Kalispell on the evening July 2nd and spend two days at the cabin with us and then drive home all together. It definitely isn't as fun vacationing without him and I know he was really sad to miss seeing his family but it was great to have a little family vacation together. Being pregnant does take away some of the fun of vacationing at a lake (no waterskiing or jetskiing), but I had a good time with the girls and John's family. I actually spent a lot of time with Lucy since Esther was so busy playing with her cousins. Lucy, not being old enough to know that cousins are more fun then Mommy, told me one evening that I was her "best friend." Sorry, no pregnant swimsuit pictures of me (Cori), but I promise that's all I wore. I packed a lot of clothes for the girls and I and we didn't wear half of them. We just changed from our pajamas to our swimsuits, and back to our pajamas. It was heavenly. Here's some photo highlights of our great vacation.

I tried to get Esther on this tube and she said, "No way, no way!!" I almost didn't think of offering it to Lucy but then I thought it might help convince Esther to give it a try. Lucy liked it so much she didn't want to get off. She cried the second time she had to get off. And, no, Esther still didn't give the tube a try.


Here's John wakeboarding!! I was really proud of him--he didn't grow up doing many watersports but he go out there in the semi-cold water and skiied and wakeboarded quite well!

This is pretty much how I looked most of the vacation--lounging in a chair with my book and a drink plus a big belly, of course. Esther tried it a couple times but didn't last very long. It was amazing how long the little kids can play by the shore--with rocks, waterguns, buckets, or looking for crawdads (or crocodiles as Lucy calls them).

My girls LOVED all the non-motorized watercraft, which, worked out since that was all I could do. Lucy even tried to push this boat out and do some kayaking on her own--there was a water toy that needed rescuing and she was quite concerned. Mommy was more concerned about Lucy's lack of rowing skills.

Here's one of the only three pictures of me on vacation. Being the Mommy, sometimes you just forget that you should be in the pictures too--and sometimes you purposely avoid the pictures.


I cant' tell you how nice it was to have John there to help with the girls--playing with them, feeding them, and putting them to bed. You forget how much your spouse helps out!


This is the boat Lucy called the "Duck." I think she got it mixed up with the dock. This was Esther's favorite activity--nice and slow. By the end of the vacation she got a little brave and learned how to swim, a.k.a. float on her own with the life jacket. She was especially proud that she could paddle this boat. My legs were a little long for this boat plus the big belly made pedaling a bit uncomfortable, so once again, I was very happy when John came to take his turn on the paddle boat. Lucy just LOVED sitting in the back with a shovel and scooping the water.


We spent the 4th of July at the cabin so there were some fireworks. This was after the second firework the boys set off. There were tears and running for safety.

We're so glad we got to spend more time at the beautiful Dickey lake this summer--big thanks to the Spackmans and Stu and Beth.