Vacation...

I'm lucky to have worked the same job long enough to have earned five weeks of vacation a year. I tend to forget what a luxury this is until I take a couple of weeks off together. I'm just at the tail end of a two week break and it has been great! My boys took of for a couple of days of water park mayhem leaving me at home to get caught up around the house and, with the help of a friend, get two rooms painted! Then we met up with my side of the family in Leavenworth (WA) for a nice and hot weekend before the three of us headed over to Lake Chelan (WA) for a few more days of fun in the sun!
In Chelan, we met up with some new friends. The wives took the day of from mommy duty and hopped in a limo for a tour of the wineries in the area. This was totally decadent and fun. I've never been to a winery before so I learned a lot and would recommend this to anyone interested at all in wine.
The next day we all spent on the lake. We are lucky that these friends had boats and jet-skis so we really enjoyed the water.
I'm home now feeling a little tired, a little sunburned, but relaxed and so thankful for some wonderful family time!
Some photos from the trip:

1) The boys heading out 2) My mom and her sisters with my cousin and I 3) My son Alex introducing his cousin to bubbles  4) Alex rapping in the pool in Leavenworth 5) Alex at the skate park in Lake Chelan 6) A photo-op during our wine tasting adventure* 7) The ladies of the limo 8) Willow taking Mark out on a jet-ski** 9) Gaye, Barb and me on the 'tube' 10) Alex with the girls on the tube

*I spotted this wine barrel when we were pulling into the third or fourth winery. I said something like "Oh, I have to come get a photo of that!" and two of the ladies I was with asked if I was a scrapbooker! So funny.
**Mark took me on a jet-ski ride in Puerto Vallarta in 2001. It felt like he was trying to rearrange my organs; he was jumping waves, driving super fast. I tried to convince Willow to give him an equally crazy ride, but I'm not sure it happened.