Lots of Action and other fun Stuff

International airfare $$$ ...
Gas for the boat $4.59/gal. ...
New bikini $50 ...
A week on the lake with friends... Priceless. :)

So a friend here in Geneva, who is originally from California asked me before I left, "Let me get this straight... You are living in Europe and are vacationing in REDDING?!?"

Yup, that's right!!!

This is my 9th year on our annual house boat trip and I'm thrilled that I was able to make it. To me, this is the perfect vacation; hanging out with friends, relaxing, spending endless hours wake boarding, and trying new things (like the Wake Float & Wake Surf -- I'm a big fan!)

There's just something about turning down Estrellita Road and driving down that final mile to the lake, past the little store and then seeing the marina through the trees, opening out onto the big blue lake beyond!

This year, Mrs. Mingle and I drove up together on Sunday (thanks for sharing the long ride up!) We were quick to catch up with the rest of the crew. After all of 5 minutes we were in the water, Corona & noodles in hand, basking in the sun!

So the week was a blast as always. Some of my favorite memories of the week are of the back flips, guitar playing under the stars, fabulous glasses, and of course all that boarding! Mrs. Mingle & Chica have both documented the festivities brilliantly in their respected blogs. (I tried not to read them before I wrote this, but it was too hard to resist!!) Not to recreate the wheel, but here is a brief summary and a few pics from me:

In keeping with tradition, there are always a lot of games being played on the boat. Hearts, Scrabble, Backgammon, Dominoes, and board games of every kind. This year I was introduced to a new game that I really love called SayGo. If you like Scrabble, you will like this too! Fun stuff. Oh, and nice job by my husband, G, who is the reigning, undefeated house boat hearts champion... until next year when I'm sure he will be dethroned... by me. ;)

I would also like to mention what great sports the girls were! Not only did we all achieve (or at least attempt) a back flip, but in our sudden and unforeseen loss in "Girls vs. Boys Pictionary", we all jumped into the lake in the middle of the night. In addition, no man wanted to challenge us in the great, "Who can swim the furthest underwater?" contest. Congrats Mrs. Mingle!

In addition to the vast amounts of alcohol, we had some great food (including Swiss Alplermagrone) on the boat this year too, even fresh made brownies. The only problem was, we didn't have any oil to cook it with. So a couple of us putted over to the neighbor’s boat to ask for oil. A very nice man, proudly wearing a Speedo, shared his vegetable oil with us in exchange for taking him & his son wake boarding on our boat. Oh, it's always fun to meet the locals!

We did have a few other bumps in the road here and there. It rained on us two nights, Mr. Mingle ran into a bear on his hike (although after he returned safely we all though it was pretty cool), my camera ended up in the lake, and we almost ran out of Diet Pepsi (just kidding Chica!). But the highlights were all worth it, like the 6+ hour lightning show and the hoards of butterflies that hung out with us all week.

And my absolute favorite thing of the week? Boarding. I rode my trusty wake board pretty well, but I was tempted with other fun stuff like the Wake Surf (a smaller version of a surf board that you can ride behind a boat... no rope!) and the Wake Float which is a wake board that is perfectly flat on the bottom. Both were a little scary at first, but I soon fell in love. I'm thrilled to say I pulled off my first 360 degree turn (after a few failed attempts and some pretty nasty falls), although the trick of the week was T with his 720 degree turn on the last day! Sweet. I can't wait to try it again!! :)

As always, nothing can compare (not even wake boarding) with the great memories and good times spent with my house boat crew. You guys are the reason I count down the weeks every year and why I love this trip so much! Thanks for another great year! :)

The undefeated hearts champion.


Cards anyone?


W & K at the marina.


Relaxing


Muscles.


The blogging beauties!


Surfer girl


Ready to ski?


Let's go!


Home sweet home.


Another beautiful day in paradise.