Geneva on the Lake 2012
Monday dawned another bright and sunny day. Being early risers and/or with kids, we were all up with the sun and ready for the day. I had some delicious Cracklin' Oat Bran for breakfast and hung out over at Beth's house for a bit. After awhile we gathered up our beach things in the van, changed into our bathing suits, and everyone else headed down to the beach because Liam got hungry and I had to stay back and feed him. Most of the time at the lake was like this...running on baby's schedule, laid back, just taking things as they came. I spent probably at least half the day feeding him or watching over him while he slept. Or sleeping while he slept.
We made it down to the beach with him in the stroller, and the stroller and my arms laden down with beach things. Beth and the various aunts & cousins were great and watched over Liam in turns while I ventured out into the water with Jess & James, Aurora, and my life-preserving boogie board, without which I would fall over on the rocky footing and die in short order, even though I never made it into water deeper than my neck. I really enjoyed being out in the warm water in my new modest bathing suit, holding on to my boogie board and engaging in conversation with my sister in law, with whom I could see myself becoming really good friends with.
Even though Liam napped on the beach, when I got him back to the house and fed him, he fell asleep again. Feeling a bit wore out myself, I lay down with him...and woke up four hours later! I felt amazing. He took an amazing long afternoon nap and I walked out of the house feeling victorious. We got up in time for another feeding, and a bit of hanging out with family as we all gathered in the common yard area for Judy Migliore's (Grandma Mig's) next-to-last lasagna night. I've never been up early enough in the week for lasagna night, and boy have I been missing out. It was some of the best lasagna I've ever had. She says next year she turns 70 and that will be a good year to stop making it, but I hope she continues or gives the recipe to someone who will continue the tradition, because it was just delicious.
After dinner and several tasty dessert items, I had the opportunity to leave Liam with Beth and go out on the strip with Jess, James & Marty. We visited The Pavilion, The Pickled Pepper, and Sportsterz in an effort to fill out a few Monster Crawl tickets. The Pavilion was new on the Crawl list this year, bringing the number of bars up to ten. (One must purchase a drink at every bar, alcoholic or otherwise, to earn a 'Monster Crawl' T-Shirt, the design of which changes from year to year.) I'd never been in the Pavilion and learned it's gimmick is a wall covered with photos of topless women. And not good-looking topless women, either. It was more like a train wreck of topless women. James showed an interest in viewing a number of the photos, but the rest of us weren't impressed. I enjoyed a tropical drink with coconut rum and pineapple juice. Always a good bet.
The stop at The Pickled Pepper changed my life. I noticed the bar's selection of Three Olives vodkas. While a little on the expensive side, there was a flavor I saw that I remember wanting to try, and it's always worth it to try a flavor before buying a bottle. I asked what the barkeep could make with the Loopy flavored vodka. He said most have it with 7-Up and grenadine. I said do it. Best decision ever. This drink tasted exactly. Like. Fruit Loops! I could drink this beverage for breakfast! The Pickled Pepper's claim to fame is their deep fried pickles, which according to those who like dill pickles, are worth the short trip off the strip to this bar located off the beaten path. A couple orders of the pickles were placed, and I sipped on my Fruit Loops, nibbling on deep fried crunchies, giddy with my discovery, until it was time to go.
At this point, after two small drinks, I was sorta kinda maybe just starting to feel it a tiny bit. I felt the responsibility of being a nursing mother that would have to be up in a few hours with clean milk, so at Sportsterz I ordered just a juice mix while Jessica took her turn at ordering a Loopy drink...hers was Sprite with cranberry juice, also good, but I liked mine better. I will definitely be owning a bottle at some point in the near future.