Lake Chelan...Again!

We were soooo excited to be invited back to Lake Chelan again this year.
Our wonderful friends Bill and Bette had friends and family in and out of their lake house all summer and I really appreciated that they had us as their guests as well.
I imagine that it gets exhausting having people around all the time.

The lake was so beautiful and the weather so perfect that we were never in the house...always on the water...or in the hot tub!

We were also able to bring Daniel this year.
He managed to fit a trip to Yakima in between one to China and another to California.
Bill and Bette invited him along as well and he had a great time too!

There were "old" favorites...

The rowboat.

This year they were able to un anchor the boat and take it out for some paddling.

I think that they spent hours doing this...being pirates and terrorizing the shoreline!

We had ice cream at Kelly's again this year.
Twice.
Yum!

Just swimming out to the floats was fun.

The water was not ice cold - but cold enough that each time you jumped in, you had to talk yourself into it.

Much easier to do it as a group on the count of three!

And then there was always the heavenly hot tub for a reward!

In addition, this year there was a paddle board and a kayak to mess about with.
The paddle board was awesome!
Everyone gave it a try and got the hang of it.

The kayak was Ivan's favorite...
Must be some Texas Water Safari in his blood!

And of course there was tubing!!
As I sorted through these pictures, I was laughing out loud!
I know it's probably not very nice to laugh at pictures of your kids (and brother-in-law) being thrown out into the water...and I didn't at the time it was happening...but thank goodness for cameras!
The expressions are AWESOME!!

The kids went on the hot dog shaped tube at first and were thrown off pretty quickly...

So we decided to try something different.
It starts out innocent enough...
happy and carefree faces...

Now the faces are a little more concentrated...
Holding on...

For dear life!!

This picture KILLS me! 

I laugh hard each time I see it - sorry Jenelle and Ivan!

I wish so badly that I could know what Jenelle is thinking or saying or about to say!

And now I think we're about done.

This is probably the point where we decided to let them off!

I think they were begging so it seemed only right.

Hannah was next and Daniel decided to go with her!

 I love how he has a big smile for the whole time!

 He was probably even smiling here...but I just can't be sure!

They got back on, switched sides and went again.
And he's still smiling...

 ...but Hannah's not.
I think she knows what could be coming.

Let's see if we can wipe that smile off Daniel's face!

Going...

 going...

 Gone!

But a good time was had by all! 

Right Daniel?
:)

For some reason Ivan and Jenelle wanted to have another go...

This is pretty much how they looked the whole time.

One day, while on the water, we saw the strangest thing!

Daniel noticed something odd on the lake and so we all set sail to investigate...

It's a water jet pack and the wildest thing I've ever seen on the water!

On our last day at the lake, Bill and Bette took us to a vineyard that they like nearby.
It's called Nefarious Cellars.
A small winery owned by a couple named Dean and Heather Neff.
Lovely place and a nice afternoon on a gorgeous day with a gorgeous view!

Afterwards we ate the most delicious burgers at a little place called Alpenhorn Cafe, then prepared to head back to Yakima and back-to-school preparations.

So that's the end of that!
If you are tired of looking at pictures, this is where you log off!
If you would like to see more, then hang around and enjoy!

LOVE these three!

 I'm keeping my eyes on him because he did this in the last picture...

Lovely lake in the evening...

 and the morning...

And a beautiful home that our friends shared with us...