Blue Lake; a Vacation in Un-Edited, Over Exposed Pictures

This weekend we made the trek to Blue Lake near Ephrata, Washington to go boating, eat good food, you know the deal. Ali and I took the kids on Thursday and the boys met up with us on Friday night. I was seriously looking forward to a mini-vacation and the drive was totally worth it. 

Zane got to hang out with his favorite little ladies and he was in heaven!!! If we could have trusted them to go to bed, we would have left them all to have a little sleepover, eating their grapes, drinking their drinks, sometimes wrestling and biting over a toy, the works. But some sweet people at Blue Lake let us use their extra trailer for free so we each got our own little spaces. Dreamboat!

Zane quickly warmed up to the vacationing life. And apparently bows. He's got to use his little goblin teeth somehow. 

Zane loved going out on the water and was a little tiffed with us if we brought him back on the boat. He didn't mind his life vest at all and even took a nap with it on! Thank you, Costco!!! When we went out on the water, we had two party barges that we anchored together and could move between. We tied up floaties to the boats and got to lounge out in the water. It was honestly the perfect set up. Enough space for the kiddos to sleep, for everyone to get some sun, and still have some breathing space. You didn't have to be in the water to feel like you had your own little space, ya know?

This cliffside is where we went diving. You can see some people sitting up on the rock, but we jumped out of the caves. I made Mitch go with me at first and I probably peed the entire way down. It was honestly thrilling and scary at the same time. I am Klutz #1, so I was terrified of slipping and rolling down the side of the cliff straight into the water, but I made it! I decided to face my fears and jump a second time completely alone. Who knew I enjoyed torture?

Here, we see Zane enjoying the vacationing life. He is probably thinking, "What the flip have we been doing with our lives when we could have been on a boat this whole time?!" Grandpa John would be very proud to know that he has another little sailor in the family. Also, Zane was extremely protective over this empty capris sun, which he fondly held onto for a good 30 minutes to play with the straw. For his birthday, just send us some straws and laundry baskets and he will be entertained for life.

We let Zane take a dip in the water and he loved it! Heaven forbid we try to wash his hair during bath time, let's just throw him in the lake because he definitely would prefer that. 

Feel free to call us bad parents, we don't really care, but we took Zane tubing. And by tubing, I mean we sat on a tube, being pulled by a party barge that can't really pull a tube. And Zane loved it. He spent the entire time on the tube waving to everyone in the boat and laughing. I was born to tube, so seeing that Zane was starting early made me feel especially proud.

Being forced to return to land (and home) after experiencing boating for your first time can be pretty traumatic. I get it, Zane. Just wait until you have to leave to start working, pay bills, and do laundry. I probably would have looked like this if it wasn't for the knowledge that we could come back out at some point. 

This mini-vacation was perfect. It rejuvenated my love for the water, which I often took for granted as a kid when my family went sailing every weekend. Going out with Zane was so much more fun because I got to experience all of it from fresh eyes. Seeing him light up with excitement and eagerly put his hands in the water to test it all out was so fun. 

Thanks for letting us crash your party, and a special thank you for letting me sing and dance Baby Got Back in it's entirety.