Mark's mom, Nancy, has started a tradition of renting a vacation house every other year for a vacation with her 2 son's families. It's a great chance for us to see Mike and Camille and for Ryan (8) and Lauren (5) to spend time with their cousins, Nathan, (15) Jack (13) and Sami (9).
We've gone to Destin, FL, Sunset Beach, NC and Lake Grandby, CO. This year we went to Lake Travis, a lake outside of Austin. We towed our boat and the house had a dock, and we had a true lake vacation for a week, filled with boating, fishing, swimming.
Mike and Camille flew into Houston and were able to spend one night at our house and see where we live. The kids had fun swimming in the pool and fishing. The next morning we all drove the 4 1/2 hours to the lake.
The kids had a great time on the dock and on the boat. Jack, Nathan and Sami all learned how to knee board or wakeboard for the first time! And Lauren also learned how to knee board on this trip! Ryan was very proud that he was able to "teach" everyone! Nathan became quite good at the wakeboard, and Mark wowed the kids with his big jumps on the wakeboard and showed that he's still "got it"!
That's really all we did, plus play pool and fooseball, cook, eat, walk up and down the long walkway to the lake, apply sunscreen, prepare boat and dock bags with drinks, shoes, bait, goggles, etc. and read the occasional magazine. Also, I have to mention the animals... we saw lots of deer, which would drink from the lake in the afternoon, and we also saw 2 water snakes, (one of which Jack caught), a skunk, and many, many fish that were caught, including the elusive large carp that Mike finally caught on our last night! Nancy and Gary were able to golf a few times also, which I'm sure was a nice break! It was hot, which is normal for Texas in the summer, but we are also in a drought, and the lake was down 24 feet! Fortunately the house we rented had a floating dock and a walkway long enough to accommodate it, and we were on the main part of the lake. So, it didn't impact our boating. But you can see the water level in soem of the pictures.
Our one outing was out to dinner at the Oasis restaurant, which is known for its sunset views of Lake Travis. (complete with islands...due to the low lake water).
It was a successful vacation!
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| Deck |
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| Sunset view from deck. Dock at bottom of hill. |
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| Lauren, Sami, Grandma Nancy |
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| The dock was the hub of activity for the week, followed by the kitchen! |
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| Lake Travis from Oasis, with islands to left |
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| Famous shot of umbellas at the Oasis |
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| The kids were selected to ring a bell at the Oasis at sundown! |
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| Jumping backwards. (they played on this jetski lift for many hours!) |
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| Lauren and Sami |
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| One of Ryan's fish! |
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| The Bonniwell Cousins....5, 8. 9. 13, 15 |
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| Relaxing |
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| View of deck from boat dock |
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| Nightly fishing and play at the dock! |
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| Watching America's Got Talent! |
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| The familiar boat scenario....Mark driving, 3 people on the tube! |
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| The Oasis |
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| Lauren's first time knee boarding....she's a natural! |
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| Mark jumping the wake |
