Lake Weekend

We spent last weekend up at Aaron's parent's house, who live on a lake in Northern Indiana. The area they live in is Amish-Mennonite country and very relaxing. Ava has been up a few times before, but was a little fussy at night. After that behind her belt, she's become comfortable in her new surroundings. After living at the Lake for 27+ years, the Berkey's are a fixture in the community. The summer is the best season, but all seasons are fun to enjoy the lake house.

First Campfire: On Saturday, I took the baby to Shipshewana with Aaron's mom to my favorite stops - an Amish bulk store called E&S Sales and Yoder's Meat Shop for hormone-free meat, cheese, and local honey. We hosted our family friends for lunch while Aaron golfed in the afternoon with his two best friends. We ended the night with a relaxing campfire under a near-full moon. I walked Ava a few houses down the Lake in the sling with Aaron holding onto Bena to enjoy the campfire. Ava loved watching the moon's reflection on the water. I nursed her by the campfire and she fell into deep sleep. Aaron grew up having campfires at the Lake so it was fun to introduce that to her.

Family Swim: On Sunday morning, we had the house to ourselves since Aaron's parents were at church. I could tell Ava wanted to go outside because she was playing on the rug in the living room staring outside talking and even yelling (check out her picture above). So we decided to go for a swim since the water was warm and the day was warming quickly. We got into our bathing suits and got the baby into her Little Swimmer diaper and we were off. Bena is a major water dog at the Lake so she had fun swimming and jumping in to get her ball that we threw for her. Aaron and I took turns holding Ava in the water, letting her feet dangle and move. She shocked herself by splashing water on her own face! That was funny!

After the swim, I wrapped up the baby in a towel and she was ready to nurse. I sat in a comfortable chair under the shade of a tree and nursed her and looked out at the lake thinking about how life would be so different next summer. Ava will be running around at the lake next year, but this year, I'm cherishing these moments while she's still a baby. She fell asleep in my arms so I carried her in, wrapped her up in the towel and she slept for a little bit. IWhat a fun memory we made that morning.

Aaron and I were trying to take our own picture. Our first take cut me out all together, the second we instantly deleted, and the third (here) wasn't bad, but Aaron was concentrating so hard that he forgot to smile!

Upside-down Apple Pie: We had lunch together with Aaron's parents before we drove home. I made an upside-down apple pie with the Ginger Gold apples that I got in my produce box. They're the same apples I used for Ava's homemade apple sauce, so I knew they would be great cooked in a dessert. I was going to make a free-form apple tart, but the crust wasn't working. My father-in-law suggested a brilliant idea to use the failed-crust as a topping. I seasoned the apples with cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg and a bit of sugar. Then I made an egg wash for the top of the crust and sprinkled cinnamon-sugar on top. I baked it for 45 minutes on 425. It was SO good! We served it with a little bit of vanilla ice cream. My only regret is that I wished I had more apples.

It was a fantastic weekend! We'll be back at the Lake on Labor Day weekend with more friends and family to mark the end-of-summer.