Family Fun at The Ozarks

It was a foggy, mysterious morning... ha. Not really, it was blazing hot and suffocatingly humid, and my camera went into shock and fogged over. Perfect weather for a mini-vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks. No, really! The water is readily available for boating or swimming until you are exhausted and then you can collapse in the air-conditioning of the cabin.


My father has a cabin at the Lake. I was surprised when my brother pointed out that this is the fourteenth summer! As I thought back on those first getaways to the cabin, I remembered my oldest, now fourteen, swinging in a bear swing hung from a branch of a stately oak growing up through the middle of the deck. Yep, fourteen years.

We had the pleasure of traveling to the cabin this past Thursday. We were joined on Friday by my brother, Marty and his family. We did, however, face a few challenges at the beginning and end of this trip. We started with a boat that refused to run and an attack on my sister-in-law of a chigger army and ended with a blown-out tire on I-70 in east KC and lost keys that found their way to the inside bowels of the boat under the engine. I'm pleased to say, we managed to pack some fun into the middle.

The chigger bites may have had something to do with the two furry characters in this photo. Leslie and I were the usual escorts when these girls needed to go outside. She's definitely sweeter than me, as her doctor told her it's the worst case of chigger bites she has ever seen. Itch, scratch, groan...

We have a double-decker dock and the kids love to jump off the top deck... love, love, love it. They endlessly entertained themselves making up different ways to jump. I supervised...well, I read my book and sort of supervised.

Saturday brought boating fun...knee boarding, wake boarding and tubing (in my brother's boat). Saturday evening brought a boat cruise.

Boating is such a wonderful experience.






Not only does it style your hair...

It brings out your children's desire for world peace.






Talk about styling hair.

On Sunday we piled in the boat and traveled to Ha Ha Tonka State Park. On a bluff overlooking the lake, a man built a stone castle for his new bride. As these stories go, the man died before he was ever able to live in the mansion and the house later burned leaving only a partial stone shell. Park visitors may climb 316 steps or follow a meandering path to reach the castle. Bart and I climbed the steps, something we did years ago. Funny how it seemed as though they had added 150 steps and somehow thinned the air.




At the base of the bluffs is a frigid spring. How do I know? My nephew took us all to a spot where the water from the spring rushes by out into the big Lake. The adventure is to jump into this water and float out. Say what??? Not wanting to be a wuss or a sissy, I jumped in. Suppressing a scream as thousands of needles pricked my body, I floated out. Refreshing was how my sister-in-law described it! Refreshing? All the boys jumped in over and over and over...can you explain that to me?



It was a wonderful mini-vacation filled with moments of contemplation...

and silliness...



Thanks, Dad, for having the cabin, taking care of it and letting us come visit!