Chilling at Lake of the Ozarks

After work I headed strait home and got coolers packed. Stooks showed up and helped me pack the coolers and then pack all our stuff in his car. Then we went to pick up Pumpkin from daycare and took her to my moms house. We left Pumpkin and rushed home. On the way Heath called and said she was running late at work so we didn’t need to rush anymore. We were hungry so picked up some gyros and other greek food and headed home. Stooks and I ate dinner. Heath came home quickly packed her stuff then we hit the road. Stooks drove, I navigated and Heath ate.

We drove a couple hours and got to Felicia’s dads work in progress cabin.

He has a few acres in the woods about 15 minutes from the lake and it is full of toys. We met up with Tony, Felicia and Jon and had a few beers and checked out the place. It was 2 stories and all framed up and had some drywall in but otherwise pretty open. Tony and Felicia had a tent set up on one end of the deck so Heath and I set up ours on the other.

Then we headed to the lake and found the party barge.

It was getting dark and there were no lights we could find at first but we decided to take the boat out for a quick trip. Once oout there it was really nice so we looked more and found the lights and got them hooked up.

We cruised around the lake or just floated around for quite a while. Jon tried to convince the rest of us to sleep on the boat but it seemed like it would be too crowded. Once we were done we headed back to the dock and tied up the boat and stowed everything away for the night.

We headed back to the cabin and got out the golf cart and fireworks.

We had a good time screwing around and once all the fountains were gone we all went to sleep. In the morning it was hot and bright in our tent. We all got up pretty early. We had a crock pot breakfast that Jon had made. Then we packed up some stuff and picked up more beer and headed to the lake. It went from hot and sunny to dark and rainy pretty quick. It rained on us while driving but was not raining when we got to the boat so we took it out.

The water was calm and everything but the clouds in the distance were moving fast and did not look good.

Then we decided if we were going to swim we had better do it so we cruised out to the middle, turned off the boat and hopped in. A few minutes after we were in the water it started to rain, the wind picked up and then it started to pour. We all quickly scrambled back in the boat and pointed it at the dock.

It rained harder and harder, the drops were big and stung our skin. The wind got stronger and started to pull off the awning.

We took it off compleatly and stowed it then continued on to the dock as the rain poured on us. 

Matt had the wheel and drove us through the sideways rain.

The girls took cover under a towel behind a seat, on top of our lunch.

The trip back to the dock seemed a lot longer then the one out there but eventually we made it to cover and parked the boat. We relaxed, dried off and joked around with other boaters taking cover.

The view of the sky off the dock got better and better and the rain went away. We got out the grill and fired it up then cruised back out to the lake. Once out in the middle we cooked two rounds of burgers with cheese, mushrooms onions, tomatoes and pickles.

We cruised around for a bit after lunch then headed back to the dock again. This time was quick and we just dropped Jon off so he could head home. Then we headed back out to the middle and broke out the tube. Heath and I went first and Felicia took the wheel. 

We cruised around for a few minutes then the engine died. We tried for a while but could not get it to start again. Then we resorted to the trolling motor. We had to move batteries around and stuff but eventually got it running and pointed towards the dock but we were a long ways away and would probably not make it before the battery died. 

Luckily another boat saw us pretty quick and came over and offered to tow us. They towed untill we were pretty close to the dock then left us and we dropped anchor. We spent the rest of the afternoon floating around and relaxing on the lake.

It was a great afternoon we had beers and music and great weather.

I’m pretty sure Stooks got a good nap in. Eventually it was getting close to dinner time so climbed back in the boat and trolled over to the dock. We cleaned up the boat and packed all our stuff off then headed back to the cabin. We had left a crockpot of pulled pork, taco seasoning, corn, beans, cilantro and salsa cooking and when we got back it smelled awsome. We scooped it into tortillas with cheese and gobbled it up.

After dinner we napped and showered and relaxed a bit. Then we headed to a huge lakeside bar.

It was really big and open on the side with just a roof over most of it. They had a beach and a stage and dance floor. We hung out for a while and had some drinks then the band started and the dance floor filled up. The new King of Funk was playing all sorts of fun covers.

We were pretty exhausted but stayed for several hours before heading back to the cabin. We took a big water jug on the deck and sat around re-hydrating for a while before heading to bed.  The sun started dominating us at like 6:30 so it was another early morning. We packed up and cleaned up everything then got on the road. We stopped for breakfast at the nearest town.

We drove the rest of the way home and Stooks drooped us off and headed out. Heath’s Aunt brought Pumpkin over and we played for a while working on puzzles and summer saults and other fun things. Then the girls got dressed up nice and headed to my moms for Kelly’s baby shower.

While they were gone I headed outside and in the garage and started beam building part 2. It was crazy hot out and I was really sweating but otherwise things went great. I got 3 sections that will come together to make a 21ft beam in the attic.

This beam will T off the middle of the big beam according to our plans. It took me all afternoon to get them made but it turned out great and I was happy to have it all made in one day. Heath and Pumpkin came home and took quick naps as I finished up and then cooled off. Then we all headed to dinner at my Grandmas for some BBQ and to see my uncle from Chicago. Then we headed home and all of us went to bed.