Vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks

When we kids were growing up, my family would take an annual week-long vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We spent nearly every hour of every day boating, swimming, skiing, and tubing on the Lake. After my dad died, we ended up selling the boat, and our trips to the Lake were just great memories. Then, this summer, Jason & Julia came up with the idea of all of us renting a condo down there for a weekend! So, this past Thursday, we packed up our little family and headed to the good ol' Lake of the Ozarks!

The condo we stayed at was really nice. We had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, four TVs, and a screened-in porch with a great view of the Lake. We spent three nights there. It was so fun and relaxing!

Seri and I both love our Moby wrap. It came in handy for walks by the Lake.

Enjoying the evening by the pool

Mom got this little bikini for Serena. So cute!!

The ruffles on the bottom are adorable!

We rented a boat on Friday. I stayed at the condo with Serena for the most part, but I did take advantage of one of her naps and left her with Grammie so I could go out on the boat for about an hour and a half. :)

Jordan driving the boat. He gave out the wildest tube rides!!

Jason took Kaden out on the tube! (This is the ONE tube ride that Jordan gave that was NOT wild, heehee!!)

Jess waving and smiling bravely before Jordan gave her a crazy ride that sent her flying and knocked the wind out of her!!!

The ShamWows came in handy for Jordan and Jason :)

Kaden was SO tired after spending so much time on the Lake! He's such a cute little cuddler when he's tired!

Some of our cousins live in Missouri and we used to get to see them and play with them when we took our vacations down there. However, it had been a few years since we had seen them, so it was really special to be reunited with them! We met at a restaurant called Baxter's Lakeside Grille. Their special that night was all-you-can-eat ribs. Jordan was super hungry after spending the day on the Lake, so he ordered the ribs. About half-way through his first plateful (which consisted of two large racks of ribs), Jordan asked the waitress how long it would take to get another plateful. She said it took a little while, so he asked her to go ahead and put the order in for him. A couple minutes later, she was back and said that her boss had said that if Jordan could eat that second plateful, he would buy his dinner and give him a T-shirt! Of course, Jordan's always up for a challenge! However, it took so long for the second plate to get there, that he started to feel really full (we were pretty sure that long wait was by design!)! He made it almost halfway through the second plateful. They gave him the T-shirt after all, so that was pretty cool. :)

Rabe cousins - Melissa and Maddie, Jason and Kaden, Me and Serena, Meghan, and Jessica

Saturday morning, we met Aunt Pat, Maddie, and Meghan at the outlets for some shopping! We found great deals at Carter's and Baby Gap! :D

Shoppers - Me & Serena, Jess, Mom, and Julia

Jess & I after going swimming at the pool on Saturday

Saturday evening, Melissa, Maddie, and Melissa's husband Brad came over for supper. They are such a cute and fun family! :)

Melissa and I with our girls!

Saturday night the boys went into town to go mini-golfing and go-karting, so we girls watched a chick-flick together. Arguably the dumbest movie I've ever seen, but we had fun anyway! :)

Serena & I - I love being a mommy!!

Kaden looking cool while waiting for it to be time to leave on Sunday morning

Mom and I with Serena before we said our goodbyes on Sunday (Serena thought it was pretty bright out!!)

The three of us (and, yes, we really missed Macy all weekend!)