never before have i put those two things together:  vacation and relaxation.  ok, before kids and vacays without kids i have, but definitely not with kids.  vacations with kids have always been fun, but its basically doing the same ol’ same ol’ in another place, with other people.

but this time things were different!  maybe it was the older kids helping out with my littles.  maybe it was my kids getting a little easier.  maybe it was something in the water ;)

we relaxed all day long.

i woke up, ate yummy breakfasts, threw on my suit and layed out by the waters edge while the kids played for hours, maybe went out on the boat a bit, swam to cool off, ate yummy dinners, threw on my jammies, got the kids to bed, and played card games until the wee hours of the nights.  that is my kind of vacation!

i grew up in bass lake (about an hour south of yosemite national park).  age 5 to 18 in a teeny resort community.  sure there weren’t too many kids around when i was little, but it was a wonderful place to grow up.  and even better, its a wonderful place to bring my family back to!

sean also grew up coming here for vacations, long long before we ever met.  that was actually our first connection on the night we met, and where sean proposed to me on this very same weekend 12 years ago.  so, yeah, bass lake is pretty special to us.

we went with 2 families we have known since before we were married.

it had been years since we’d connected with one of the families and it was so fun to be reunited!

on the boat in front of the house. the kids found the purple zinc, as evidenced on their faces.  my kids are the ones with light eyes and an extreme sensitivity to light.  you’re welcome kids, you got that one from me.

my biggest.  a joy.

i asked lily (jokingly) if she wanted to go wake boarding.  she said yes (!!!!).  trying not to look surprised (she is my most cautious one), i quickly jumped in the water with her.

this picture doesn’t show it completely, but she got up!  and by “up” i mean she was actually riding the wakeboard, but in a squat position.  i forgot to tell her to stand up – oops!

not to be outdone by her little sister, gracie tried, too.

and she got up, too!

and yes i did bribe them both while in the water with candy.

silas the charmer with kristen.

he wasn’t the biggest fan of the knee board.  i truly think he could’ve gotten up on the wake board, but his stubbornness won.  he didn’t stop crying on the knee board until they were going super fast – crazy kid.

new friendships were made.

sean got a little time on the board.

show off ;)

6 adults (plus my parents = 8), 11 kids.  who knew it would all go so smoothly?  the kids played in the water all.day.long.

and the dads played horse shoes all.day.long.  really, they were just smart.  the horseshoes were mostly in the shade.

see this big girl?  i was her baby sitter since she was 8 months old.  she’s 14 now.  and basically baby sitting my kids.  so trippy and such a joy at the same time.

this is the view out the cove.  not too bad.

and here’s our humble abode for the weekend.  still feels like home.

the banana boat was a huge hit.

see this big girl.  she is the sister of the other big girl.  and i also watched her from infancy.  i learned how to be a mom from these girls.

and now she’s teaching my kids how to make crepes.  she is going to be a chef one day.

the crepes that took a couple hours to make were devoured within minutes.  my favorite: lemon juice, whip cream, and powdered sugar.  mmmmmmm!

the whole slew of kiddos.  out for a yummy dinner at one of the best burger joints en todo el mundo.  for reals.

so obviously i have a hard time paring down my pictures.  i still have at least 2 vacations from the summer that i can’t seem to edit!