Wasa 2011

I completely slacked on taking pictures at Wasa this year. Luckily, Sherylee and Michelle got some great shots. They also about nailed the analysis of how the holiday went on their respective blogs. Michelle's post was titled "Wasa 2011: the year of the bloodsuckers." The mosquitoes were really bad this year. I always took for granted that there were very few mosquitoes at Wasa Lake, but I found out this year, from talking to the campground host, that they pay a mosquito tax to pay for helicopter delivered larvicide programs. However, this year, something went wrong and the larvicide didn't work.

Also, the weather wasn't ideal this year. It was cool for a couple of days and there was some rain each day, too. However, looking at the forecast in advance, I thought there was no way it would be nice enough to boat on at least 2 days. In reality, though, we got the boat out each day and even on the cool days, it was warm when the sun came out in the afternoon.

Everyone was in good spirits regardless of weather and mosquitoes. In addition to boating, we played lawn darts and made crafts. Granny nailed the food as usual and it was fun just being together.

I really enjoyed biking and running with Sherylee. I also loved how Kayden hung out with the girls and made them feel special. It was really neat that Chad learned to ski and wakeboard and that Keston learned to kneeboard and also got up on the wakeboard. Although I missed it myself, I also heard Tylissa skiied. It was fun to see Alyssa and Kaylene double kneeboard too. Of course there was also lots of tubing, and Monte rocks when it comes to dumping kids off the tube. On one occasion, Alyssa, Kaylene and Keston got dumped in sensational fashion. The tube flipped and they all went tumbling in respective summersaults over top of each other. Alyssa also had a pretty spectacular landing after a slolam ski. Rob was dropping her off at the shore, and apparently she was coming in too hard. She landed on the beach and sommersaulted over her ski. She got pretty bruised up, but miraculously was not badly hurt. Unfortunately, no one recorded it on video for America's Funniest.

We missed those of the family who couldn't be at Wasa this year...it seems the family continues to grow up and spread to the wind. On Tuesday, it turned out Paul had the day off work, so he drove out just for the day with a friend. As he arrived, he ran down to the beach and jumped straight in the water. It was sure nice to have him there, if only for the day. One really nice touch also, was from Kendall who is on a mission in the Phillipines. He wrote individual Wasa letters to everyone in the family. Looking forward to Wasa 2012!