Lake LBJ

I am now the final member of the Midway Class of 1996 (and honorary Plano Panther) to post about our Lake LBJ trip. And what a trip it turned out to be. Not for it's lack of activities, or the much needed sleep, the chance to ski for the first time in over a decade, or the excessive eating that occurred. It was the intimacy that a group of females have accrued over many years of friendships that still remains to be present. A group of ladies that continues to challenge me as a believer, encourage me as a wife and mother, and enables me to be a better friend. A sweetness that remains to be a blessing that many yearn for. The Lord has been faithful to this group of 7 - as it should be, being the biblical number of perfection.

Every year we manage to get together without children and hubbies and have a good ole girlie time. This time we went back to an old stomping ground - Lake LBJ. The place I ventured in junior high and high school with the Purdy family. A place where you only ate 2 meals a days - brunch and lupper (or insert your own contraction here). A place where after a patient number of times I learned to finally ski in fresh water. A place of dressing up in Granny Liz's clothes, running to the gas station to blow up our 99 cent floats, and a group car crash ending up with Shannon Brown driving us the rest of the way. Someone had to be the oldest around here.

We started off the weekend right with a bite into everyone's friend at a function - cookie cake.


After a tour of the house I had not seen in almost 12 years, we settled in for a wonderful 48 hours of fun.


We went to dinner at Lost Creek Vineyards that first night. Never knew there was a vineyard in Kingsland. Such a pleasant surprise to see grapes in that neck of the woods.


Once I realized not only how many cameras were on this trip but also how many were fully capable of taking a good photo, I uncharacteristically put my camera down for most of the weekend. Not to mention the rest of this summer. It was pure freedom. Many thanks to the collaboration of the following photos.


Our waitress was loving all of us coming in and not a single one of us ordered a glass of wine. But our food was delicious and the conversation uninterrupted with the absence of the 16 total kids that could have been present.


We tried out the ole timer for a group photo after dinner. Shannon, Katy, Shannon, Lauren, Ann, Wendi, & Caryn.


But what goes on to get that photo? Well, Caryn and I were both using our cameras since neither could quite remember at first how to get the timer to work. But we eventually did.

So I tried to get my meter to balance while these girls were deep in convo.


Then they decided to sass it up for the trial run. Lauren, don't get too crazy now, you hear?


A zoomed in blurriness of Ann & Wendi working it.


After staying up too late as always, we all slept in and then geared up for a day on the lake. We got together during the week, so it was wonderful that there wasn't a lot of boat traffic.


The man of the hour - Gerald Purdy. Caryn's dad drove all the way from Waco to drive us lazy women around all day and basically serve us wholeheartedly. This acts-of-service-love-language girl was truly blessed by his generosity.


The man was just as patient as when we were tweens. He let all of us ski. Except for Caryn, who has two babies in her belly to take care of. I am one of the many that stole this collage of us skiing. If you see a slalom photo then that would not be me. :-) I had a hard enough time going across the wake on my two skis.
We got to hang out at a shallow bank of water for awhile, cruise around for hours just looking at the new houses popping up, get some shameless sun, and just catch up on everything. Once again, Mr. Purdy was such a servant trying to please this group of ladies. Forever grateful!

Wendi & Katy & I went and tried out the neighbors cobwebbed slide. Once we managed to get the slide wet, we had a few runs going down like 3 year olds. A nameless friend kept scaring me with snake talks. Make that more than one friend. For all you lake bumpkins out there, we beach brats are still skittish about anything that moves at the lake. I didn't even like the mossy steps with my bare feet. But I managed to have a great time in spite of the "snake bites".


Katy and I wrapping up in a certain three year old's towel. Notice the monogram doesn't match my name exactly. Katy, who managed to be my bunk buddy for the weekend, pleasantly surprised me by saying that she now sleeps with an overhead fan at night. It's the little things that helps us high maintenance sleepers at night.


On Friday, after SB impressively woke up early to run, the two Shannons, Katy, & Wendi went to San Marcos for a rather uneventful shopping trip. Uneventful in the spending department that is. I was able to battle my shopping disease by not going into stores that would tempt me. And thankfully for all, Pottery Barn Outlet didn't suit my fancy that particular day. But it was a great way to end a wonderful time with this group of ladies. And a huge thanks to my parents for taking JT to Galveston for a brief stint of fun at the beachhouse. Photos from Papa's i-phone on another post...