Clear Lake

 We made our annual trip to Clear Lake with my awesome girl friends and their families.  We became friends in college participating in SWE together, so we have been friends for over 15 years.  Wow!  I feel SO blessed to have these girls in my life!  We have been going to Clear Lake for the past 15 years, too.  Our parties have changed substantially with all the kiddos, but we always have a super fun weekend.  This year it was COLD!  We met the last weekend in July, and look at everyone wearing sweatshirts!












We all went on a walk through a restored prairie.  It was so beautiful!  The best thing was all the time talking with my girls.













We lined all the kids up from oldest to youngest.  We are missing 3 kiddos in this picture.  There are 19 total.  Between the nine of us ladies, someone was constantly pregnant for the last 7 years.  Not too bad.  I am sure we will add a few more to the lineup yet.  It was a big feat getting this picture taken.  The little girls just wanted their mommies.  We made the kids line themselves up in order as a teambuilding activity.

 And they're off!

The kids spent the entire weekend in the hot tub.  They would sit in there for a while, then run down the dock and jump in the lake for a little bit, then hop back in the tub to warm up.  The adults did have to kick them out for an afternoon and do the same thing.  We like to have fun, too!  At least they were easy to keep an eye on this way.

Elizabeth's husband works for 3M and he is working marketing for their decorated tape line.  They brought a whole bunch of tape for the kids to make crafts with.  At least that was the plan.  They decided it was more fun to tie each other up with the tape.  Then someone put the bug in their ear to tie Tricia up.  She is such a good sport!

I think Scott may have been the one to put the bug in their ear, so he had to get tied up, too.  I like the pink polka dots.

Scott and I made a traditional Brazilian barbecue, churrasco, for everyone.  Here is Scott putting the meat on the skewers.  I made beans, rice, salad and sagu for dessert.  Everyone LOVED it!  I loved sharing some of our Brazilian experience with our friends.

Here are a few random shots of us hanging out.  We stayed at Angie's cabin.  (Angie is wearing the white sweater.)  Her husband built the house.  It is beautiful.  Even though we could not swim or boat, we had an amazing time.  It is so fun to connect, share stories, and love my friends even though we live far apart.

The boys bonded over a game of pong.  Ahhh.  Some things never change.