Three Kids and a Dog: Vacation Time! (Part 2)

We woke early on Thursday morning to pick Sadie up from the boarding facility. When I got there, they said she was a bit anxious and did not like being placed in a pen. She barked a lot and I knew this was true because when I left her I heard her doing much of the same. They said she enjoyed her extra special VIP care and her nature walks but since I didn't really let her play in the yard with the other dogs, she had to stay in her pen a lot of the time. I thought she would prefer this actually but then when I board her at home she actually is boarded with the older dogs so they have a lot of community play time together and then they are crated. So I may have to just allow this next time. But it all worked out. The facility was great and they gave her a few CBD cookies which seemed to calm her down a bit and they said after that she was great! I even bought a few of those CBD treats for anxiety and some for joint/mobility. Maybe they will do the trick for both her anxiousness and her walking.

After picking up Sadie, we ran a few errands and then met some friends at their nearby lake house to enjoy the afternoon and their boat. The kids and Tom all got to tube and our friends had an amazing house and water toys including a floating dock, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, lily pad and more! A lot of fun was packed in in just a short amount of time. We needed to get home to prepare for our guests the next day so after a dinner of leftovers, we headed to the store and made a few dishes for the weekend.

We woke up on Friday morning to gray skies that quickly turned angry and dumped buckets of water on our day. We were supposed to rent our own pontoon boat for a few hours that day but there was no way we could even go out that day. Luckily they easily refunded our money and we spent the day playing board games on our front porch and just relaxing until our first group of friends arrived after dinner. We made S'Mores and the kids all went to bed late but it was just the start to a fun and packed weekend.

On Saturday, our second set of friends arrived. We are all bound by our first borns who had been soccer teammates since 1st grade. They haven't played on the same teams for a few years but the kids and us families have all stayed friends. With everyone there, we had a big breakfast followed by a trip to Lake Arvesta (my kids favorite) with inflatables in the water and knee boards and volleyball courts, waterslides and many other fun things to do. We played a kids vs. adults volleyball game and some of the older kids knee boarded. Austen got it on the second try and even "rode the rails" on his second time around. We had to drag the kids out of there after 5 hours as they were having so much fun. Back home for lots of yard games, a huge dinner and even more desserts before we all retired for the night.

Sunday we were up for more eating and then hit the public beach with our big group. The kids challenged the adults to another volleyball rematch (we kept beating them) and we had a great time enjoying the weather and each other's company. No one wanted to leave but the kids were starving so we put our name in at a brewery for 16 people and raced home for all of us to shower in one hour. Miraculously we made it back just in time for our reservation. The food was good, the drinks were better and the time with friends was just what we all needed. We ended the night with one family heading back to IL and the other staying for a night of games and all of us leaving very early on Monday morning ( a day later than we all planned but well worth it!). We can't wait to do it all again!