I grew up in North Carolina, so I’m a bit partial to the beauty of this state. It doesn’t get enough credit I don’t think, and I think I’ve convinced a few friends in Colorado and Texas to come check it out.

Anyway, my mom has a close friend with a really gorgeous piece of property on Hyco Lake, which is about an hour and a half from our house. This past weekend, our whole family went out there with all the puppies and a big group of friends, and it was an absolute blast.

We all brought food, tons of different dips and a big ol’ bowl of guac and these amazing rice chips from Costco (which I’m thoroughly enjoying going to since I’m in suburbia).

After we’d all stuffed ourselves silly, we had a very intense diving competition. We threw several noodles (and a donut float!) out into the water, and tried to dive over them. Jeremy had never dived before, we so taught him how to do it!

After we’d tired ourselves out, most of us hopped on the boat, and shoved a few people on Big Mable, which is essentially just a giant inflatable chair with handles.

The boat plowed through the water, throwing us all over the place. Every single person fell off Big Mable, except for Nadia, the 7 year old daughter of one of our family friends. She managed to hold on!

We’re still in NC for several weeks, so I’m hoping for a lot more lake days in our future.

xx katie