24x24: Saturday, July 20, 2011

Smith Lake with Lisa, Honor and their families

Saturday the big boys and I got up really early and headed up to the lake. Shortly thereafter, we were out on the boats!

Lisa, Honor and I headed out on the pontoon boat with a couple of the kids so we could watch all the "action" on the ski boat -- the other kids were with Mike and Doug on the ski boat. Doug tried surfing behind the boat and did a great job.

We chilled out on the pontoon and enjoyed the boat. Including Gates the Wonderdog.

There was a LOT of tubing going on.

The kids were great about taking turns.

After a few hours on the boat, we came back for lunch and some swimming off the dock.

My boys couldn't wait to practice flipping and diving off the float.

Josh and DJ get a lot of practice, and they are very accomplished and enthusiastic flippers!

Nathaniel got more comfortable flipping the more he practiced.

Smiles were in plentiful supply all day.

After lunch we headed back out on the pontoon boat and rode about half an hour to a cliff-jumping point we'd been to several times before. Nathaniel wasted no time jumping off from the highest point.

DJ followed suit.

Nicholas started off on the lower side.

He jumped off that point several times, eventually moving up to the highest point.

When we'd finished there, we moved just around the bend to a place we'd never been before. Some friends had told Lisa about a 35- to 40-foot cliff that people were jumping off of, so we headed over there. Daredevil Doug was the first to take the plunge.

And THEN, Nathaniel followed suit. I was nervous, but we'd checked the depth and it was plenty deep. Still, I was holding my breath.

It was a long,

long, long, LONG way down!

DJ, Josh and Hannah all took turns, too!

But I think Nathaniel took more turns than anyone else. He didn't want to quit!

Such a fun, fun day, and I was completely exhausted at the end of it. We headed back to Birmingham around 10:00 that night, and I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Fun with friends FTW!


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