The Saturday Six

 

One.

Our temps have cooled off here JUST enough that I am ready to start thinking about decorating for fall.
Are you? And this post is the JACKPOT of fall decor ideas!

Two.

I read about this on Facebook, and though I've never heard of any of the people involved, it's a pretty cool story. And it takes place in Kokomo - where we used to live! 

Three.

You know how cool I think it would be to live in an old school or church, right? The Fort Wayne news did a story on an old school house here in our area that just sold. It's BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

Four.

Okay, baking friends...help me! I need to make a carrot cake for next weekend. (One of our tenants has a birthday and this is the request.) I've never made one and found this Paula Deen recipe. I kind of feel like I can't go wrong with Paula Deen...but do any of you have a best ever carrot cake recipe? Tell me if you do! 

Five.

Gateway has a 5K coming up this fall, and I really want to do it. But goodness...I haven't run regularly forever! So I found this month-long training plan to follow. I'm sharing it in case ay of you want to head out for a run of your own this fall! (Even if it's not an organized race.) 

Six.

I'm in love with way too many of these shirts. :) 

A Day of Bliss

It's hard to be upset about not sleeping in when this is your sunrise view:

And so began our Tuesday! Ryan bounded out of bed (per usual) and hurried outside to build a fire and start making breakfast (not per usual).

Eventually, Phoebe and I joined him and we all had a nice, quiet morning together. And breakfast? DELISH!!!

After a walk around the campground, we decided to head out on the kayak for a bit! 

We were not far from the boat launch, so hauling the kayak down wasn't too much of a pain. The day was gorgeous, but I'm telling you...we went against the current EVERY DIRECTION! The lake isn't huge, but we enjoyed exploring it.

We'd had such a big breakfast, we didn't want to make a proper lunch, really. But we were a little hungry, so when we returned to shore, we biked to the camp store and had a treat for lunch!

It was SO GOOD. Coffee with chocolate chunks for me, thank you! Raspberry chip and mint chip for Ryan.

Then it was naptime for everyone!! We slept HARD for a couple of hours - Phoebe too!

We noticed we were under a storm warning so as it got closer to dinner time, we began tearing down the parts of our campsite that could be damaged: awning, lights, chairs, rug, kayak. We put all that away, which was kind of sad for that night, but it sure made the last morning a lot easier!

Ryan wanted to try the inflatable obstacle course floating in the water by the beach, and he had SO MUCH FUN on it!

We had JUST enough time to cook dinner before the rain started - and we ate inside the RV. 

We played a few rounds of Dutch Blitz and then watched TV while it stormed!

It was a great day - storm and all. We were so grateful. 

Lake Livin' is the Life for Us!

We are home and my pictures uploaded successfully at last! Thought I would show you some of our latest Abby adventures!

This time we went to the KOA Holiday in Angola, which is just about a 45 minute drive from our house. I really love being able to go some places that are close, because we don't spend half our day driving! This was the place we had reserved for early August, but we ended up canceling after Ryan's ankle injury. He didn't think it was wise to be up and around on it so soon, And he was right! So we decided to try again this time, and it was perfect. 

One of the best things was that we arrived on Labor Day after everyone else went home. The whole time we were there, there were never more than two other RVs in our row. It was blissfully quiet and empty and beautiful! I am sure it is MUCH more of a madhouse during the regular season, but not this time! (In case my pictures make me look like a liar...there was a whole row of empty campers across from us. We were next to the seasonal lot, so those RVs and trailers stay year-round. But all their inhabitants had gone home!)

Anyway! Let's back up.

Phoebe went with us on this trip, and since it was her first ever camping trip, we thought we should document that. Sarah so kindly took this before we left WillowBridge on Monday.

She was SO EXCITED! She loves that RV so much. (Took this one while we were packing up.)

Funny story: We could check in at 1 p.m. so we decided to leave around noon. I had packed up all our food, so we decided to  eat our lunch in the RV in the WillowBridge parking lot before we left so I didn't have to drag a bunch of stuff back into the apartment. Ha!

We had a gorgeous day to drive, and it felt like no time at all before we arrived at our destination! One thing I do love about KOA campgrounds is the golf cart escort to the camping site. Ryan had requested a spot on the lake, and we seriously got the best spot!! I found out that since we aren't KOA members, we can't request a specific slot, but they sure picked a good one for us! I stood right behind the RV to take this picture:

We were able to set up our site fairly quickly, with a little help from Pheebs:

We put Phoebe's bed in the front seat after we parked, and she thought that was so cool. I thought it looked like she was driving! LOL!

But this is really what she was doing. :) 

We took it easy that first afternoon. Smoothies. Naps. Rest. So needed.

Toward evening, we pulled down the bikes and took a quick spin around the campground, and then it was time to make dinner! Campfire nachos and s'mores.

We enjoyed a GORGEOUS sunset from our perch, and we had another walk with Phoebe. 

And when it got dark, we moved inside. Ryan prepped breakfast for the next day, and I scrapbooked. 

Eventually, Ryan went out and brought back the campfire, and we sat out there together, watching the stars and listening to the fish flop in the water.

Just delightful.

Lake life is indeed the best ever.