I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Discover Boating. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.”

I don’t normally “Share my day” on here- its more tips & ideas, but today I wanted to share a few pictures from our weekend, because it was so much fun.

Summer is FINALLY here!   Our family lives near Lake Norman in North Carolina, so when summer comes, we have a blast!    I am more of a beach girl, myself, thanks to spending time at my late grandparent’s home in Hilton Head, SC, but we save the beach for our vacations and we spend our day to day life at the lake.

More & more people are boating these days.  According to DiscoverBoating, Americans are heading into the water more than ever.  Of the 241.9 million adults in the US in 2013, 36.6%, or 88.5 million people went boating for fun!   This is one of the highest percentages on record.  We were certainly in that percentage!

My parents have a house on the lake, so in the summer, we spend a lot of time there.   Here is the view from their back deck:

We do a lot of boating & boating activities like jet-skiing, tubing & swimming in the lake (plus, they have a beautiful clubhouse with a pool that overlooks the lake.)   The kids have a blast and we do this at least once a week in the summer (& then my Mom makes dinner for all 6 of us plus my brother (Tim), his wife (Jill) & their two kids (Dylan & Lia).

How we spent our Sunday:

We went to Church on Sunday morning and heard a great sermon about the Holy Trinity & how God lives in each one of us, and then we ate a quick snack with our family & friends (my friend, Hillary was there- she is the friend that shared this no-gift birthday post with us- you can read it here!)

We went home, changed into our swimsuits & headed up to the lake!   We played a little while we waited for the rain to stop and then we ate the dinner prepared by my mom (BBQ pulled pork, sweet potato casserole, this zucchini pie, two kinds of cole slaw & we had ice cream cake for dessert).

By the time that we were done eating our early dinner, the rain had cleared up.

The older boys went jet-skiing with my husband and my brother while we got the girls & our youngest son ready to go boating.

My Dad had the boat uncovered & it ready to go when we got down there…

Here are a few pictures from our day…

‘Aunt’ Jill (my sister in law) & Allie Beth

Mickey & Ethan

My Dad (Pap) & Beau driving…

The kids & I looking over the water (Beau)…

Allie Beth watching her brothers swim…

My Mom (Gi), Allie & I…

Lia Bailey (niece)

My Mom & Allie singing “Patti-cake”

Jack, our oldest, jumping in

My Dad jumping in!

Jack climbing aboard

Uncle Tim, Aunt Jill, Beau & Lia

Dylan (nephew) in the water:

Cousins: Lia & Ethan (cousins & best friends!)

My husband & Jack

(my brother) Tim & Dylan (nephew)

Dylan bringing us in for the day.

Now off to the pool!

We love boating!!  I hope that this inspired you to hit the water… If you want more info on boating, DiscoverBoating.com is a nonprofit website that offers a boat selector guide, cost comparison tool, renting options, favorite boating destinations, links to education courses – even nautical lingo and how-to videos.  Plus, you can find more boating activities on their website.