After work on Friday we quickly packed up the car and were on our way to “the lake.” Doni and Phil were already there when we arrived and before too long we were firing up the grills and making a fire in the pit. The first night we had grilled chicken and fish along with potatoes and asparagus. Afterward we drank a few beers around the fire and even roasted some marshmallows.

Saturday we all woke up pretty early to get a head start on the day. Doni’s mom and dad stopped by for a bit to check out our setup. Todd came down just as they were leaving. Soon after it was time to pick up our pontoon boat. I wasn’t feeling all that well so I stayed behind with Phil and Gabe (the doggie). I think I was suffering from a combination of the returned humidity, my allergies and maybe a slight cold. I wasn’t going to let that stop me from having fun though. And besides we had to sneak the dog onto the pontoon after the girls picked it up. The Martins met up with us in their boat and we headed off to a couple of different coves in the lake. It’s almost like Lake Cumberland on a smaller scale. My family used to go to Lake Cumberland yearly, but we haven’t been back for a couple of years now. We floated around in the water for a few hours, relaxing with a few beers. It was really nice! For dinner we headed back to camp and while I took a little nap some fajitas were cooked up on the fire pit. The Martins and The Schmidts (co-owners of the boat) also joined in for the fireside activity.

Sunday was another early morning. It started off with some crappy weather, but that eventually gave way to another great day. Besides Todd, the same group as before all piled onto the SS Schmartin (Phil’s name for the boat). We headed back to “party cove” which was not as crowded as the day before. We soon realized it was because we were just a little too early, and before we knew it there were boats all around. We pretty much followed the same itinerary as the day before, float in the lake with a beer in hand. That was until I was attacked by one of the local fish. At first I thought it was someone in the water messing with me, but the second time the fish bit me I saw it. Guess where I was bitten? No, not my toes. Right on the nipple! The little sucker got me good enough to draw a couple drops of blood. From that point on, the water was avoided or at least we would wear protection when using the facilities if you know what I mean. As another storm began rolling in, we decided it best to call it a day. We spent the rest of the night inside the RV as the storms got worse and worse.

The weather never really got any better, so Kim and I left the lake area fairly early on Monday. It did seem like the weather cleared up later in the afternoon, but by that point we were clean and mostly unpacked. We spent the rest of the day at the driving range then at the grocery store. Finally we ended up on the roof over at Mike’s place with Amanda and Christie (one of the new trainees at Kim’s office) to watch any fireworks in the area. If only we were a few stories higher we could have seen it all but still not a bad place to watch from, especially without driving anywhere. Speaking of trainees, Christie and Ashley both started work today. It was just brought to my attention that Ashley knows some of the hockey guys a few grades below me, including my brother. It’s a small world. I’m just happy that we will have even more people to play cornhole and euchre with!

As I mentioned earlier, my boss is on vacation for the rest of this week and Raji is gone. They are already throwing some stuff my way to get done asap, so I better get busy on that…