Lake Okoboji

We just got back from Lake Okoboji in Iowa and it was such a fun filled family vacation. This lake house has been in Jason's family since the 1950's. It is a quaint little place surrounded by green hills, huge trees and the most amazing view of the lake. We were there with his parents and some cousins as well. There is so much to do there and so much not to do. You can be lazy in the hammock listening to the lake and birds or out in the lake jet skiing, getting the ride of your life on the big inner tube, boat rides, beach, fishing, paddle boats....... Once we were there, we went almost every where by boat. There were certain traditions that you have to do when you go to Lake Okoboji. We went to an amusement park called Arnolds Park. It was a blast. They have a wooden roller coaster that kicked my butt. Madelyn went on it with all of us and then again with Jason and she sat the front car first seat! She LOVED it! She is a little dare devil. Jason said this was one of his favorite days because he got to do all the rides with the girls and had all of their attention. I ofcourse was the one behind the scenes taking pictures. We went to an old fashioned "nutty bar stand" that is known for their square ice cream bars that are chocolate covered with nuts on a stick. They were so good.

Madelyn fit right in wanting to do everything right away. Sara took some encouraging but by the time we left she wanted to be right up in front of the boat for the "bumpy" ride. It was so neat to see in just one week all of the firsts we got to share with them. Their vocabulary grew alot too. Sara would go and get her life jacket like it was a part of her everyday clothing. The weather was perfect! Only one rainy day ( we used that as our shopping day :) The kids just loved being able to run around and play and not have any fences. They never asked to watch tv and that is pretty amazing. They made friends with other kids and just kept busy exploring. We even met up with a friend of mine who until this year I did not even know she went to Lake Okoboji every year. Turns out they were just around the corner from where we were. The lake is HUGE and the odds of that is crazy. Anyway, they took Madelyn for an afternoon of fun on their boat to ride on this cool blow up two seater that she had a blast in.

We had a big 4th of July barbecue too! Fireworks are legal in Iowa and we bought some to set off at the end of the dock. Jason had too much fun doing this. Madelyn was yelling "fire in the hole" every time they would light one and run. She cracks me up. We took the boat out on the lake to watch the fireworks show that is put on by Arnolds Park. It was timed to music and was awesome. Seeing the reflections off the lake was so neat.

We were sad to come home, but home is good too! Back to life!