What. a. weekend. So crazy in fact that it’s Wednesday and I’m just now recapping our trip. We didn’t get home until Monday night and yesterday was a day to recover so here we are, better late than never!
We left later than expected Friday morning but we wanted the kids to wake up, use the potty, and get changed. Lady has been using the potty more regularly (woo) so I was worried about stopping 800 times for her to use the bathroom. But to my surprise she only asked once and went twice when we stopped for me. We had to stop THREE times because I had to use the restroom. Felt like pregnancy all over again (and no, I’m not pregnant) but hey, we were in no rush. Just enjoying the road trip.
When we finally got there we said our hellos and then hit the dock to catch some rays! The kids had a blast swimming and spending time catching up with my family. And I enjoyed an ice cold Summer Shandy and soaking up the sunshine. We had some delicious local pizza for dinner and then headed to bed early… we had a big day planned the next day!
It’s a tradition that all of the guys go golfing Saturday morning so of course the girls had to create a little tradition of their own. And clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because that tradition is shopping! My mom had to head to the store to get groceries so my future sister-in-law and I took the kids to get Starbucks and Target… #basic. Target was having a crazy sale; 30% off their clearance items. I picked up some fab pieces and had I had more time, I probably could have done some more damage. So it’s probably better I didn’t. We headed back and waited for the guys to get done golfing so we could go out on the boat.
If you follow me on Snapchat (and if you don’t, why aren’t you? @samantha_show) you saw that our ride for the day was a double decker pontoon boat… with a slide! The kids (and adults) could hardly contain their excitement and we couldn’t wait to hit the lake.
We spent four hours anchored in a little cove just floating around, going down the slide, and spending quality time together. We’ve been going down (now up) there for years so we’ve really gotten to know the same group of people. I don’t think I stopped laughing once all weekend. But I’ll get into that later…
We headed in for the night, bathed the kids and prepped for dinner. There were 20+ people staying in the house and some stragglers here and there, so there was seriously so much food. Enough to feed an army! Once the kids were in bed for the night, Z and I were able to spend some adult time outside. The youngins introduced us to the game “Boom” and let’s just say it was chaotic but wicked fun. We watched a little bit of the Warriors/Thunder game (don’t get me started on that nonsense) and then headed to bed.
It rained/was cloudy on Sunday morning…boo. But since we didn’t get to do much shopping Saturday, that was the plan for Sunday morning. We headed to a few local boutiques and did as much shopping as we could before Miss P decided she’d had enough. She was a trooper though! We headed back to the house, had lunch, and just hung around until the skies cleared up. We spent the rest of the day on the dock while the kids swam and then had our own little water gun fight. If you think you wouldn’t enjoy an old fashioned water gun fight, you’re sadly mistaken. It was a blast.
We ended the night with a taco bar (my idea… and a grand one at that) and some more Boom. Let’s just say there were some crazy things happening in the hours following but what happens at Lake Norman stays at Lake Norman. And unless you want to hear about dizzy bat, projectile vomiting, and naked laps, you wouldn’t be interested. Disclaimer: I did not do any of those things.
We woke up Monday morning, packed our belongings, and set out on the drive. I had a gift card from the Tanger Outlets so we stopped a few hours into our trip so we could use it. Word to the wise, don’t ever get an e-gift card there. Pain the in ass. But I spent all of it (and got some great deals) and was on my merry way (two hours later…woof). The kids couldn’t wait to get out of the car (either could I) and our pets were happy to see us.
It’s always great to get away but honestly, it wasn’t a vacation. I didn’t relax more than a few minutes we were there because I still had work to do and deadlines to meet. My husband always yells at me and tells me I need to put on an out-of-office and leave my computer at home but I can’t do that. I didn’t have time to prep before we left and didn’t have a choice. I also had mad anxiety with my kids near the lake and was a little paranoid. But you can never be too careful; accidents happen in a split second and I don’t even care if I was being a helicopter mom. In that situation, I needed to be.
But regardless of the fact that I didn’t get to relax, I had such a great time seeing my family and friends and getting away for a little while. We’re currently planning our next trip, back to Ohio, and I can’t wait for that. Now if only I knew what was going on with Z and the next steps for his new job. Gotta love the army.
I hope you all had a great long weekend and spent it with family and friends. Despite all the fun we were having, the great deals I scored and the extra day off, we didn’t forget the real reason for the “holiday”. I hope everyone else took a few minutes to do the same.
Thank you to all of those who have served; we will never forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
And to all of you crazies at the lake this past weekend, we can’t wait until next time.