Vacation Part III - Twin Lakes

Twin Lakes is a beautiful piece of property my aunt and uncle own about an hour and half east of Columbus, Ohio. They so graciously allow friends and family to visit and use their property throughout the year. I've only been twice, both in the summer time, and it is beautiful. I'm sure it's nice in the winter too...but it's pretty much taken over by the men in our family trying to get "the big buck". Well...I take that back, I think the women are out there hunting too...I know my Aunt Susan and my mom are often camouflaged in the woods trying to out do the guys:-)


The view over one of the lakes


Twin Lakes - early morning


Twin Lakes - Early morning, a different view

Anyway, we were excited about going to Twin Lakes this year, because our timing was perfectly lined up with our family reunion. Unfortunately, we only got one full day out there. Hopefully next time we can stay a few days and enjoy the peace and quiet, the animals and the oh so nice weather.

We got in on Friday night, pretty late, but super excited to see my aunts and uncles AND.....JUSTIN!!!!!! Yes ladies and gentleman, my little brother was there, with his sweet fiance, Erica. We were very excited to see Justin. He moved to Ohio about 6 weeks earlier for a job, so we missed him. He is doing very well, and seemed incredibly happy. I know he'll be happier in a few months when he finally gets hitched....then he'll have all he's been waiting for:-) But, we spent Friday night hanging out by the bonfire enjoying our time with the family.

Justin and Erica

Saturday, the reunion kicked off with nothing other than the Ohio State Football game vs. Navy. Really....nothing happened until the game was over because they are all die hard buckeyes. We were the only family not wearing OSU clothes, but that was just because I forgot to pack them...sorry guys. Iactually missed most of the game because I took a much needed nap with the girls.


Nicole playing baseball with daddy and Uncle Justin

Riding on the paddle boat before the game.

After the game, the competition began, Corn hole and horseshoes. Aunt Susan set up the games, single elimination style. Now...my family takes these games pretty seriously. They play corn hole quote often, or so it seems. However, they didn't realize these Floridians also know how to toss a corn bag, and surprisingly a horseshoe too. Jeremy quietly took his competition out....until low and behold, he was in the final game of BOTH corn hole AND horseshoes against my cousin Matt. And, would you believe it....he won both of those games. He became the corn hole AND Horseshoe champion for the 2009 family reunion.

Uncle Wayne officiating Matt & Jeremy's final corn hole game.

He was even awarded these trophies.


They also had plans to have a father/child fishing competition (of which I'm sure Jeremy and Nicole would have won, haha), but those never happened. However, of much greater importance...Nicole caught her first ever fish! In all honesty, she was pretty freaked out, but it was a moment of pride and joy for Jeremy to be there with her, catching her first fish.

Holding up the big catch
The day began to wind down with a delicious potluck dinner, yummy dessert, and even a visit from Uncle Harold and Aunt Marlyn (who were actually AT the OSU game earlier in the day) Does anyone know her recipe for those rocky road bars? yummy!

Again we had another camp fire and enjoyed a beautiful night listening to my cousin's son practice guitar, hearing stories from high school days, and enjoying yet another night of conversation with Justin and Erica.

Hannah and her buddy, Uncle Wayne. I've got more than one picture of those two together...they really had fun together.

We loved our time at Twin Lakes. It was fun to see so much family at once, to play with the kids all day in the fields, to eat lots of good food and to sit by the fire at night.

I put together a slide show of most of the pictures we took at Twin Lakes. If you want one or several in particular, e-mail me and I'll get them to you:-)