Dani got us all packed up in as few suitcases as possible. She is very efficient! We hitched the boat up the new Expedition for the drive - it was amazing to drive!
The biggest draw was, of course, Lake Lanier, so we spent a lot of time on the lake on the boats.
We had experienced skiers, new skiers (Nolan gave it a shot), and everything in between. A few days we needed to boat a long ways to find smooth water, but there were a few times we had some decent water near the dock.
The wavy water meant some exciting rides for those in a tube. The jet ski puled a lot of tubers, and there were lots of laughs and giggles behind the jet ski.
We spent lake time in a lot of ways - Jared, of course, spent a lot of time on a paddle board.
Matt and Camie brought their jet skis, and they pulled tubes, and had a great time.
Right next to the dock there was a huge floating pad. We had so much fun laying on it, rolling around on it, and wrestling on it.
There was a paddle boat and a plastic paddle board that the littler kids used all over our private little area of the lake. They would paddle over to another little shore line, build with rocks, and come back. One day, they made a little mud snowman and put it on the railing.
The girls loved taking long morning walks around the lake.
The lake wasn't the only place to find fun in the water, - we had plenty of pool time! One day, while we were at the dock, Papa fell into the pool and Nana had to come to his rescue. That was pretty scary for us. We always had someone keeping an eye on Papa from then on. We had one day that we did a pool Olympics led by Taylor and Hayley.
The cousins one night packed into the boys room for a movie - everyone squished all together.
There were lots of games played throughout the week. One day, there were a series of cousins competitions.
At one point, Papa got really excited about blowing the marshmallows off the table - it was pretty funny.
Of course, we made time one day for a candybar game - a Jensen family classic!
Nana brought a bunch of pool noodle crafts to do with the grandkids. There were lots of funny creations, including a little shooter and a little boat.
We got a fun picture of the cousins.
We were sad to have Amber, Matt, and their kids not with us for the majority of the reunion. Unfortunately, Amber came down with COVID, and after some tense conversations, she decided to bring her family back to Alpharetta, and after the rest of her family came down with COVID, they ended up going back to Nana's. No one else at the reunion got sick, fortunately, including Caitlin, who was pregnant.
We had some meaningful family time while we were there. Sunday we went to church at Camie and Matt's ward. That afternoon snack featured an incredible charcuterie board that we snacked on over the course of most of the afternoon.
Later that evening, we all sat together, and the cousins took turns asking questions about Nana and Papa. Papa was more able to express himself than he often is, and we felt lucky to hear those memories.
After story time, we partnered up and made drawings about our partners and used them as artwork in the kitchen. Conner spent a few minutes one day studying them.
One of the days, a few of went north on a hike and to go rappelling. It was a beautiful day for a hike, and the trail was beautiful.
Andrew brought ropes, and we did some rappelling. Claire even did it too!
Later in the day, after a brief rainstorm, we went to "Shoot the Hooch," tubing down the Chattahochee. It was SO much fun! Each of the adults and teenagers were partnered - Matt was partnered with Papa, and we think that Papa had the best time of anyone! There were lots of little drops and fast water.
After a few days on our boat, it stopped starting. We tried a few things, including flushing the fuel filter, but it didn't start again. We had to pull it back to the dock and eventually back onto the trailer. The homeowner had a boat at the dock that we rented for the last 2 days, so we continued our boating!
Jared noticed that he was having to run the bilge pretty consistently. After the first day, there was a pretty big storm that blew in towards our dock. In the morning, when we were getting up early to take advantage of calm waters, we opened the hatch and saw that the boat was filled with water. We spent over 30 minutes with buckets, pulling water out of the hull.
Fortunately, it worked again and we got more boating in! At the end of the day, the homeowner came back to pick up the boat, and it turned out that there was a sizeable crack in the transom! We were lucky it was still floating!
We all enjoyed having some Papa time. There were certainly times where Papa was pretty confused, but we enjoyed the time we got to have together with him.
We had a few storms that blew threw while we were there. They popped up on the 4th of July and a few other evenings. Fortunately, we were off the lake each time.
Jared went down to the dock to take a "storm captain" picture.
It was a memorable, wonderful trip! There were highs and lows - but we loved the trip with our family.
