twin lakes

One of the Croney family's favorite places is Twin Lakes, Idaho.  We grew up going there every year with the Rupp family, and we now find ourselves there with our own kids every few years.  The kids love it for the same reasons we did.  Camping, swimming, and playing all day in the sand and sun with your best friends.  There is nothing better. 

Claire has never even been to Twin Lakes, but she knows all about boating.  And she loves it.  We are the only ones out of my brothers and sisters that don't own a boat, and you can bet our girls our girls take every chance they can to be on the lake.  The day we were packing to go, Claire was so excited to go boating that she wore her life jacket all afternoon long while we packed.  As soon as we got to the lake that evening, she had to put it right back on!  "Go boating?  Lake?" she asked all day long!

Of course, we had to take the opportunity to celebrate Uncle Chris' 40th birthday!  My goodness!  Forty?  My siblings are getting old. . .

Since Chris has a little bit different look than the rest of us (dark skin, hair, and eyes), it's always been a family joke that we adopted him from Mexico after he swam across the Rio Grande river.  In fact, his kids still believe he is adopted. 

 

The kids made up lots of little skits to tell his life story, and we decorated his trailer for the occasion. 

The days were spent doing a lot of this ( I don't look quite so fancy when I'm behind the boat).

Everyone loves surfing, and of course the kids live for the tubes.  (There may have been a few uncles who threatened to cut a slit in the tubes.)  The best day was when the kids stayed behind on the beach (with the big kids babysitting, of course) for a few hours while all the adults went out on the boats (we're good parents like that).  I was trying to surf, and AJ and Courtney were coaching from the back of the boat.  When I fell, they encouraged me by yelling "UNO MAS!"  ("one more time!").  Pretty soon it became apparent that uno mas really means one hundred more times.  As soon as the boat would get close, they would throw me the rope and yell "uno mas!", and then laugh their heads off while I tried yet another time.  Boys will be boys, eh?

Ryenne started skiing last year, and was quick to pop again this year.  Once up, she would hang on forever, amazing her boy cousins by her longevity.  She reminds me a bit of how I skied as a kid- not too daring, but man, could I tour the lake!

Kate also reached her goal of skiing this year!

 

Of course, Emmy couldn't be left out.  She gave it a good run, and took AJ's counsel to "hang on, no matter what" to heart.  Alas, we decided that she might ought to wait til she got her cast off until she tried again.  (We didn't tell Dr. Murray about that one).

Each evening we gathered around the campfire, singing campfire songs, roasting marshmallows, and even doing a little dancing on the beach. 

After a full day of sun, you can bet the kids were exhausted.  Pretty soon, it was carnage everywhere.

When all was said and done, everyone went home with another bunch of great memories of Twin Lakes. 

At the end of every Croney reunion, regardless of the place, we always leave knowing one thing for sure. 

There's nothing better than having your family as your best friends.