Just as memorable, fewer tears,

Some of you may remember our camping disaster just over a year ago. We finally worked up our courage to give the Lake Mead camping another try, and we're so glad we did. We got a little earlier start out to the lake this year and put our boat in. While we waited for our friends, Mike and the kiddos took a little swim. Dane has become such a little fish, completely unafraid of the lake. He just paddles away in his life jacket. Nora enjoyed standing in the tube and watching the boys. We are so glad that Dane has outgrown his horrible fear of boating and the lake. In fact, he was so excited to go on Friday that he had told his entire preschool class.

Little captains.
Hanging out in the boat.
Bryan, Anna, Bre, and Willie all arrived, so we headed across the lake to find our camping spot for the night. Nora almost fell alseep in Daddy's arms.

Dane enjoyed the ride with Momma.

Sunset on the lake.

This praying mantis was quite friendly and intrigued by the lantern.

Sadly, it turns out she was suicidal. Shortly after this photo, she jumped into our campfire.

As the sun set, Dane started getting a bit tearful and asking to go home. We were hoping that we would not begin a repeat performance of last year. However, after getting a tummy full of yummy camp food, and airing up the mattress for the tent, he settled in very well.

Both kiddos had a great time on the air mattress before bedtime.

I don't think any of us slept extremely well, but we made it through the night. For a few hours, we had all four of us on our full air matress, which was not so conducive to sleeping! It wasn't too awful to lie awake and look at the millions of beautiful stars in the clear sky. Before long, it was morning.

Trying to wake up over his morning chocolate milk.

Sunrise over the water.

We all climbed into Bryan and Anna's boat for some incredible wakeboarding. I forgot our camera back in our tent, so I stole some of Bre's pictures. There was no wind and no other boat traffic, so the water was incredible. We spent about 4 hours on the boat, and the kids were so good!

Dane loved to sit on the back of the boat and watch the boarders.

Nora just took it all in, too.

So much fun!

After a while, sleep overtook both kiddos.

Dane curled up all cozy.

Mike's mad boarding skills!