Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Day At The Lake With The Roden’s

As I’ve posted previously our daughter, Kathy, and her three girls were here for their annual visit from the San Antonio, TX area.  The typical visit includes playing at the lake, a trip to Pigeon Forge for a fun day (Wonderworks this time), and a picnic in Cades Cove.  After discussing it with her kids, Kathy realized that what they really wanted from the picnic was a hamburger cookout with the special potatoes fried in a big cast iron pot so we decided it would be a lot easier to do this at the lake than haul everything up to the mountains.

Kathy invited some local friends (used to be our neighbors) who have a pontoon boat and two teenage boys (their son and nephew) for the day and they used both the pontoon and our jet ski to pull the seven kids on tubes. This is Kathy’s group coming into the dock for gas.






The pontoon is actually a tri-toon with a 250hp motor and it will perform almost like a regular boat when it comes to pulling tubes, skiers, etc. so they were able to give the kids some pretty good thrill rides and here are some shots of them.




And the shots of the day were from a video as the tube went across the wake from a big cruiser - teenage boys live for this.




This is the pontoon group coming in for supper.


Needless to say, the kids were pretty tired and plenty hungry - this is the potatoes cooking (they get crispier) and the kids eating the burgers, dogs, and melon we had with the potatoes. 


Besides the potatoes, the other special request was for real lemonade and I used the recipe for The Best Lemonade Ever from Allrecipes.

Ingredients:
1¾ cups white sugar
8 cups water
1½ cups lemon juice

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Notes: 
1. I made double this recipe and made it a little stronger by only adding enough water to fill a one gallon jug.   
2. I added 1-2 lemons worth of slices to it.

Riley, who had requested it said it was indeed the best lemonade ever.  It was a fun day on the lake at Almost Heaven South.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/2/14 meal date

15 comments:

  1. What more can you ask for - a fun day on the lake and good eats and lemonade afterwards. Great photos of the kids at the lake and I can see why they wanted those potatoes.
    Sam

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  2. Gotta love those kind of days, they make for wonderful memories.

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  3. Looks like the kids had a BLAST tubing! Love how you got the shot of them 'flying' out of the water! Brings back so many fun teen-age years! I'm sure that they look forward to their annual visit every year!

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  4. I remember when Jim used to take the scouts tubing on Flathead Lake. I'm not sure who had more fun, the scouts or Jim. Hamburgers, those fabulous potatoes and homemade lemonade - wow what a great way to end a day on the lake.

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  5. Family, fun & food - it doesn't get any better!

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  6. Would that I were young again :-) It sounds like a perfect day.

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  7. Oh my this was a wonderful visit! You really aim to please - they all look thrilled with the food and fun. I would sleep good after a day like that. Nice one!

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  8. Larry, Looks like a great family outing! The kids must have had a great time for sure... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  9. Oh how fun. There are times I miss our boat and wave runners, but alas we had to make some tough choices. I'm sure everyone enjoyed the visit and time on the water.

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  10. Where is the picture of you on the tube?

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  11. Growing up in Kansas and spending vacations on big lakes in Missouri/Arkansas, this brings back so many memories. You've seen our ponds in Colorado (Chatfield). :) Great photos and looks like everyone had great Summer fun.

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  12. WE go tubing at our friend's lake cottage sometimes - or, more precisely, the kids (his and ours) do. It's always a blast. Your lemonade sounds terrific! Glad you are having such a great time with Kathy's family.

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  13. Love the shot of them catching air on the tube. It's always a good day out on the lake, right?

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  14. Your post reminds me of how much fun kids have when visiting families that live on the water. It looks like a great day.

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