The weekend before July 4th, I took my boys to Lake Tenkiller to stay in a lake house there for the weekend. I needed a recharge, a getaway and some time with my two. We hooked the boat up to the truck, loaded groceries and our weekend bags and off we went to enjoy the water, the quiet and each other.
I could not have asked for a better weekend. It was a bit windy in parts, but we took the boat down into some coves and were able to catch some fish. It was overcast and spit rain one time, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Cody and I were in love with the fact we were able to 'unplug'. No texts. No social media. No email. We took card games, Legos and fireworks for our evening activities. Noah is so good at putting Legos together! We cooked our own meals there at the lake house. And my favorite part was we cooked together.
Cody caught his first-ever small mouth bass! It wasn't a big one, but still a first! He's always caught perch or large mouth bass, so that was pretty cool!
I ended up taking over fishing for the boy. He preferred to swim. So we put on his life jacket and tied a rope to him and the boat. As we trolled along down the banks, Noah floated behind. It was much like the kids on the leashes in Walmart...except with water.
I hadn't been fishing in years. And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, regardless whether I actually caught something. It is a lot more fun when you are bringing in fish, but I found it to be more relaxing and joyful this time than it ever has been before. Maybe I'm more mature these days compared to when Cody took me fishing during our dating years.
Cody caught a good sized bass within the first five minutes of the very first cast of the trip! The fish weighed 6 pounds! We put it in the live well, hoping we'd catch more for a nice fish fry, but only caught little ones the rest of the day, so we threw this big one back into the lake.
Just a short walk from the lake house was a pebbled beach where the water was calm and clear. We walked down to it a few times to wade out in the water and pop a few firecrackers for fun. The sunsets there were absolutely gorgeous.
Our pastor's family happened to be at their lake house during the same time, so we met them for dinner and took a ride on their boat. Noah fell asleep on the ride back to the dock. Long day. That picture above makes my heart skip a beat. There is something so incredibly wonderful about a father and his son. That protective, yet gentle hand on Noah's chest. I'm lucky to be married to a man who is such a good father to our son.
For the 4th of July, we headed to Seminole to hang with Cody's parents and his brother, Dwayne. So to bring a little festiveness to our cookout, I managed to nail some patriotic desserts found on Pinterest.
Watermelon Stars
Red, White and Brownie Kabobs
(and those brownies were the healthy kind, made with applesauce instead of oil. YUM!)
The family headed to a few ponds on the 500 acreage to catch some fish. Cody walked the bank while I helped Noah cast his line. I think Cody walked off on purpose so I'd have to reel in, unhook the fish and re-bait the hook all on my own. Well I'm happy to say this city girl by birth has some country in her now!
All of us caught a handful of fish each. One pond had several little sun perch ready to eat. We were reeling these in left and right! It was really fun!
And I caught a decent sized bass all by myself! That one there is the biggest I've caught to date!
But Masha takes the cake. She caught a doozie of a bass!
Then we enjoyed a little fireworks show to celebrate our freedom in this great country. Being together was a very good thing for our family.
Hope your 4th was full of fun and freedom!
