It’s never fun returning from vacation, but this one was a bit crummier than normal. We had had a water heater issue while I was gone that had to be addressed first thing the Sunday night of my return. Namely, we had no hot water. Ashleigh only had to deal with it for the first part of the week, before taking off on her own road trip to Chicago and Denver. She had her friend Jamey come to take care of the cats. So on Monday, June 21, 2010, I had to be late to work on my first day back while getting Korrect Plumbing to replace the thermocouple. And would you believe that I had another water heater issue later in the week? They had to return on Thursday to replace the expansion tank that was causing water to constantly run into the overspill pan. Short version: I was $245 poorer after the first week home.
So I arrived back into the rainy, hot, and humid Ohio weather and got to work at 1:20pm on my first day back. When I got to work, I found that the power was out, so we got sent home at 2pm. Quite a productive day, I must say. On Wednesday of that week, I met up with my Mom, Denise, and the kiddies for a nice Chinese dinner at the Golden Dragon, and then on Thursday, I got my oil and car battery changed. By Friday, I was ready for a quiet weekend which began with a viewing of Vertigo to check out all of those film locations I had just visited the week before.
I hadn’t had a free weekend since May 15 (which followed nine weekends of activity) and I would haven’t another one until July 24, so the temptation to stay home and do nothing was strong. Then I decided that I can rest when I die. Or when I’m old. Or simply when I run out of things to do.
Mom & Bob and Denise & Aaron and the kids had went up to Indian Lake for the weekend for one of those great getaways to my Uncle Tom & Aunt Diana’s cabin, so I decided to head up there as well. I did take my own sweet time getting there though. But it wasn’t due to laziness, it was due to having to work from 8am-noon, and then go home and cut the grass. Ashleigh arrived home that day as well after her trip, so I saw her for the fist time in two weeks. Besides the normal mischief, she had also decided to attend Ohio State in the fall and had set those wheels in motion.
I headed out about 4:30 that afternoon for the lake and got there just in time for the cookout of hotdogs, hamburgers, and other traditional cookout eats – including some baked beans apparently laced with pepper spray. Two of Aaron’s friends from the area – named Keith and Carol – were there enjoying the lake, the food, and the beer as well. They got a speeding ticket on the way home. Whoops.
Diana shows off the toxic baked beans that made her eyes water when she opened up the can
Carol, Keith, Denise, Aaron, and I enjoy the foods and beers
Synchronized burger munching on this episode of The Bob and Tom Show
Denise seems skeptical of Mom’s eating practices
Megan is ready to make use of these bubbles
Megan decides how to best tackle this watermelon
Mom illustrates the best way…under the watchful eye of Denise
Megan kisses the neighborhood fake dog
We played some of the traditional games like cornhole and ladderball. Diana and I were victorious in cornhole over Mom and Denise. Mom destroyed me in ladderball. She also beat Diana although it was a closer match. It was only after some good-natured, intense arguing over the rules that she came out on top. All the while, Megan looked adorable in her lifejacket, throwing pebbles from a Styrofoam cup into the lake
Mom puts the oomph in cornhole
Megan is eager to join our team
Megan observes how best to intimidate a ladderball opponent
The best way to handle ladderball defeat
There is nothing Megan would rather do than toss a cupful of pebbles into the lake
Adam shows us how to use the bubble gun
Megan joins the legion of kids who have hung out in this boat at the dock
We had a nice comforting bonfire over which I roasted s’mores and enjoyed the beautiful heat lightening over the lake. The rest of the crew played a card game called ‘Oh Hell’, but I just relaxed on the sofa where I would sleep, listening to the iPod and reading through some old Entertainment Weekly magazines. So even though I was out doing something, I was being quite lazy.
The sun goes down on Indian Lake
Mom and Bob snuggle by the bonfire
On my way to creating a s’more
Aaron, Mom, Bob, Denise, and Diana play the family card game “Oh Hell”
Adam finds his own amusement playing with jugs – a kid after my own heart
On Sunday morning the 27th, I awoke to the sounds of the children and the smell of eggs, sausage, and bacon coming from the kitchen. We had a great breakfast over a game of Farkle, which Diana won. We were no sooner done withbreakfast that Tom was frying up a batch of crappie and blue gill (in addition to some mac and cheese) for lunch. He prepared bothbaked and deep fried. As much as I liked both, I preferred the baked, probably due to his excellent knowledge of seasoning. It was a great lunch, but that didn’t seem to make any difference to Adam who threw up all over the living room. I watched the clean-up detail whilst listening to my iPod.
Megan is ready for a new day of wetness
Megan stays in the shallow end
Megan requests a listen to some Blue October
Tom deep fries some crappie. I just like typing that.
Denise and me loving the fishies
Adam displays the ultimate Cheeto hand
It was risky to go out on the lake under the grey skies, but Tom, Bob, and I did it anyway. We paid for it though, as not long after getting out there it began to sprinkle and then, as we headed home, pour down on us. It didn’t take too terribly long to dry off, before heading out at about 3:30 that afternoon.
Tom and me on the open lake, not long before the rain began
Bob indicates the location of ‘Bob’s Island’, where once he had to make an unscheduled pit stop
Since I had been heading home from California on Father’s Day the weekend before, I went straight to O’Charley’s to treat my Dad to lunch. Vicki joined us as well and I had a great chicken panini.
Belated Father’s Day dinner with Dad and Vicki
I had put a raincheck on the resting that weekend, so did plenty of it the following week…along with the packing and preparations for my next trip, which would begin on Friday, July 2.
2010 will continue…
Once again, we had a great time! Great pictures and I always love your captions that go along with the pictures.
Diana
August 12th, 2010