Anticipation

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Our annual Lake Anna week starts this coming Sunday.  

Most people definitely look forward to their vacation week with great anticipation!  They pack their clothes, maybe some snacks, possibly some fishing gear if that is an activity they enjoy, maybe a kayak or SUP, load the car, and off they go. Well, Linda has to make everything complicated, so yeah, not so simple with us!

So about 6 weeks ago, I started my planning.  I pulled up my lake spreadsheets...yes plural.  There's the menu to make, and assign the proper person to cook each meal. Then there's the list of items to pack. Every year there are staples, but every year it changes by what meals we are making, so there's a lot of planning that goes into that list!  Sleeping arrangements are on the next one.  Then the list of what has to be done before we leave...stop the mail, find a cat sitter, etc.  Why all this fuss for a week at the lake?  I will tell you...

We cook every meal but one at the lake house.  Remember, I have a son who is a trained and very talented chef, and the other son is an incredible cook and fabulous baker as well. The hubby is pretty awesome in the kitchen also!  Pretty much all of the Punkins are great cooks as well, so it's not a problem to find someone to cook!  There are around 15 of us, so that is a lot of planning and a lot of food!  Thankfully there is a grocery store near by, so I do have to take advantage of that often while there!  We cook together, and we do a lot of laundry (beach towels, swim suits, beach towels, bath towels, oh, and have I mentioned beach towels???  And we go through about 1 case of water a day. That's a LOT of water in a week!

But in addition to all of that, Crazy Mimi does some other things.  My Punkins get a special snack every afternoon.  I love spoiling them...even the big ones!  And they get pretty, fruity, fun drinks with dinner most nights. All of these things take planning! Can you say Pinterest?  And let's not forget the afternoon we decorate cupcakes!  Oh my is that a mess!  But so much fun!

We have a pretty awesome fire pit this year, so you know s'mores are happening several nights, so that requires marshmallow sticks, and supplies. 

And let's not forget the playlist.  We have a lake playlist that everyone contributes to.  If they don't contribute they have to listen to what Mimi likes!  So that takes time to update every year.

So the Boothe Family lake vacation is not a simple operation!  Yes, I make it this complicated, but I do very much enjoy getting there knowing I have everything I need, knowing I have a plan in place, unpack, and then just enjoy! 

I stay so busy once I get there, I want to be sure everything is ready!  There's kayaking to watch the sun rise with my Emily Punkin, there's evening kayaking to watch the sun set with Taylor Punkin or others, and then I have to get my running in several mornings during the week, because, well, I like to eat.  We usually try to sneak in a yoga session while there also.  Nothing better than doing yoga on the deck overlooking the lake early in the morning!  So relaxing, and it sets us up for a great day after that nice stretch!

So there you have it.  My spreadsheets are pretty much complete now, so I can start to relax a bit and let that anticipation build!  I'm pretty excited!  This will be the first year that we have a full week with Great Punkin Raylynn!  She is our Little Tornado, and I can't wait to spend a whole week with her!  She will be two in November, so she is so much fun right now! 

So basically, we are ready.  Just have to wait for Sunday to get here. We will load the car, load the kayaks, and off we go.  I. Can't. Wait!



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