This was the view outside our little cabin. Not too shabby, right?And this was the view inside. Not too shabby, right?
One cool thing about the Naswa resort is that kids eat free in the main restaurant, the Blue Bistro. And it’s not like a Denny’s Kids Eat Free, it’s a legit restaurant.
Another cool thing about the Naswa is this lounge singer. He invited dinner guests to come dance while he sang, and one person took him up on it FOR EVERY SINGLE SONG.With an occasional guest appearance by Georgie Burgles.
The first night, we were pretty tired from all those rides and then all that dancing at dinner, so after some jumping on the bed, we were probably all asleep by 9:00. In the morning, the kids experienced something they never had before…
Saturday morning cartoons! They literally L’ed O L. Can you remember when Saturday morning was the best time of the week?
Naswa is kind of like the Dirty Dancing resort, as Matty put it, “just the right amount of cheese.” They have lots of quaint, cute things like free boat rides, paddle boat rentals, and corn hole. I never carried a watermelon, but I did carry a pina colada, if that counts.
Take a picture, trick, I’m on a boatThe sea was angry that day, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli, but the lake was surprisingly calm, like me the moment I realized the kids had destroyed my mix tapes.Throwback to the day before, when George was thrilled to be on this boat.Paddleboat = the worst kind of boat, in my opinion. It’s like being on a stationary bike. In the water. (Luckily, this is our buddy Paul pedaling, more on him later.) [Side note: Shouldn’t it be called a pedal boat? Discuss amongst yourselves.]Check the technique (and Hazy’s look of competitive concern).Hazy won, but it’s pretty easy to win when your opponent doesn’t know how to count.
Then it was beach time.
Fun fact: it’s beer o’clock around 11 am when you’re on lake time.
Then, we had some very special guests: Auntie Dita, Uncle Matt, Grammy, RyRy, and Sean-O! The kids couldnt’ have been any more excited if all of One Direction reunited and showed up at the lake. (Seriously, I don’t think they even know who One Direction is.)
Shenanigans is not just the name of a cheap wine I used to enjoy with my friend ElyseGeorge told anyone who would listen (thank you for being one of them, Uncle Matt) his revelation that, “if you take wet sand and spread it really thin and wait a long, long time, it will turn into dry sand!”. Suck it, Bill Nye. Who’s the science guy now?Lake Shark!Meet Sean, aka, Blender Guy. He will pour his mystery pina colada drink (that he whipped up in his cabin) in your mouth, even if you say, “Nah, I’m good” several times and attempt to get up off your lounge chair. He is saving you $8! Ask Matty!
Running away from lake sharks, building sand cities, and trying to avoid getting roofied took a lot out of all of us.
George + sun + water = me + day + drinkingTo be fair, he wasn’t the only one ready for a nap.
Then, we rallied for dinner on the beach.
Dinner on the water with these two? Hazy & George’s idea of heaven.You know when you’re so tired that you get kind of manic, and then your mom asks you if you’re tired and you’re all, “I’M NOT TIRED!” and start crying? That’s totally not what’s happening here.
Even though Matty “accidentally” tackled her in the water earlier, Grammy was nice enough to treat us to dinner. We repaid her by making her take goofy family photos on the ground.
Pretending to be normal (My self-timer game is a little off.)Embracing our real selves
I’d like to say we rallied to stay up drinking wine on our porch, but once again, we went to bed right after the kids.
I know I said I can’t handle day drinking, but mimosas are different, especially complimentary mimosas.Hazy asked me if I would buy her this hat. I stumbled on my reasons why not.
You don’t just hang out on the beach on vacation when you could hang out on the beach on vacation with the Steinhausers! You might remember them from when we went peach picking blueberry picking tortoise feeding with them. But we didn’t settle for just hanging out on the beach. Oh no.
We got nachos, otherwise known as the most perfect food known to man.We did…whatever this is.We told our girls repeatedly to stop talking to these random old men at the bar. (Are we supposed to be having to do this already?)
And then, we went to the arcade (or, the “arcave” if you’re Hazy), where George rode this hog, I blew through $3 trying to win him a minion (one was because George pressed the button before my shot was lined up!), Hazy went old skool, we attempted to score a 1970’s shish kabob but didn’t win the necessary 8,000 tickets, Matty played “wuacamole”, and Leslie gave a master course in skee.
Of course, we’ve already established that George doesn’t go anywhere with the Steinhausers without one of them pulling him around in a wagon.
Thanks, Paul!We did get him out of the wagon for one team picture though. HRH was not pleased.
After the very tired Steinhausers hit the road, we headed back to our “local”, the good old Blue Bistro.
On the first night, we had befriended our waiter, Coy. He won over the kids with his ability to carry dishes on his head and his gifts of multiple coloring pages (which is, frankly, all it takes to win them over). Well, friends of Coy get not one, not two, but three beverages.Besides balancing dishes on his head, Coy also has some dance skills.We miss you already, man.I wasn’t gonna let Coy be the only one who got to dance with the prettiest girl in the place.And neither was Georgie.
I’m proud to say we stayed up a teensy bit later than the kids, and enjoyed some beers on our porch.
Maybe too many beers. This was my attempt at a picture of the Channel Marine sign across the lake. #naileditI woke up to this the next morning. Knew I should’ve gone to bed at 9.
For our last morning, we soaked up a few more bennies (beneficial rays of the sun – phrase credit goes to our family friend, Chuck).
George attempted to dump the entire contents of the Naswa beach into the lake.And we took this tasteful nude family photo.
At this point, we were desperately clutching to the cliff that is the last day of vacation. so we went for broke and had ice cream sundaes for lunch at a little time warp called Kellerhaus.
You know those dogs who will just eat and eat until they barf if you don’t take their food away? That would be George’s spirit animal.Professionals.I ate this for America.George ate this for George.
Quick break for glasses photo shoot:
After this, we reluctantly headed home to reality. On Tuesday, Hazy started first grade, George started pre-K, and I had my first day back at work after 10 weeks. We were all psyched to see our friends and a little (okay, a lot) sad to say goodbye to our fantastic summer together. Thank you to everyone who hosted us, went on adventures with us, read this blog, and commented on it.
p.s. Matty made me promise to dedicate at least two paragraphs or 500 words to him in my last post, so stay tuned for an epilogue.
Thanks for sharing the play by play of your awesome summer Natasha! It is your fault I stay up until 1:30am every other night (time stamp: 1:27am) bc I always find myself unable to put your damn blog down. Reading your stuff makes me very excited for the next few years to come with my little ankle-biters!
SRSLY, yeah, they should be called “pedal boats”. I never understood that. I love Hazy’s hat. I want one. How come they never watched Saturday morning cartoons before? “Just the right amount of cheese”. Sounds super fun to me! 🙂
I am SO going to miss these posts. They definitely made summer more enjoyable! Your recaps are humorous and your captions are the perfect ‘sound bite.’ They’re just hilarious. I felt the love behind every word. You are a born writer. Happily awaiting your next adventures 🙂
Thanks for sharing the play by play of your awesome summer Natasha! It is your fault I stay up until 1:30am every other night (time stamp: 1:27am) bc I always find myself unable to put your damn blog down. Reading your stuff makes me very excited for the next few years to come with my little ankle-biters!
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Hmm why does it say I posted this at 5:29am? Good thing I time stamped it myself.
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Aww, best comment ever. Thank you for this. If you take a summer off with your guys someday, I might have to join you, they’re so damn cute.
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Sounds like you had a ball!
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Good times
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SRSLY, yeah, they should be called “pedal boats”. I never understood that. I love Hazy’s hat. I want one. How come they never watched Saturday morning cartoons before? “Just the right amount of cheese”. Sounds super fun to me! 🙂
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Right? Thank you!
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Awesome! Doesn’t get any better than this! (Well, it could only have been better if the Ostrom Clan was there with y’all. Just sayin’.)
Thanks for inspiring wonderful summers all over America! Love the blog, love you.
Xo
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Aw, man, that would have been awesome! Love you too. xoxo
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I am SO going to miss these posts. They definitely made summer more enjoyable! Your recaps are humorous and your captions are the perfect ‘sound bite.’ They’re just hilarious. I felt the love behind every word. You are a born writer. Happily awaiting your next adventures 🙂
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Looking forward to One Fall At Work and School!
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Ha!
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