"The Lake"

It has been almost a year exactly since we had gone to Lake Barkley as a family. Keenan's parents have had a home down there for the past 20 years, he practically grew up down there--it's where his love for fishing began!!
This makes trip number 3 for us! The previous 2 trips were a disaster: 1st trip, 6 months old: up all night screaming...2 days later we found out she had her 1st ear infection and we had those for the next few months to deal with, NEARLY ending in her having to get tubes....THANKFULLY, that did not happen. Trip 2: 9 months old: Very poor sleep habits, HATED and screamed in her life jacket = very short boat ride, miserable trip, not a lot to do down there unless you are out on the water.
Trip 3: 21 months old: Very happy Bailey, Loving in her words, "Going for ride in daddy's boat!"..& "Be nice to bass fish"...:) we heard it a million times!
Bailey has had a rough spring/summer with super crankiness, not sleeping well due to the teething. The past 2 weeks have been wonderful which prompted us to try the little get a way! :) My goal was to be able to stay out on the water for at least 2 hrs. Friday evening, it was 2 hours exactly! The only reason we came in was because it was getting dark, and we all know that the bats start flying around the boat eating all the skeeters, and I didn't want to deal with that with Bailey. They can get a little close. :)
Saturday, after our little hike and a WONDERFUL lunch at Patti's, post Bailey's nap we got out on the water about 4:30 and didn't get back in until 8! She did AMAZING!!! We were both shocked just because there is very little room for her to move around on the fishing boat. I had brought the dvd player to use as a bribe if she got fussy...I didn't even need it, so I decided to let her watch Elmo as a reward for being such a good girl!

Keenan got to fish the entire time and even caught a couple keepers! He didn't even plan on getting to fish at all! He was thrilled, so was I! :)



These past 2 weeks have been wonderful, and almost liberating...we've been able to be somewhat normal! Our baby girl BY FAR EXCEEDED our expectations....we had an AWESOME time!