Bear Lake 2020

2020 Tree Picture....missing Bre, Poppy, Truman and Levi

Bear lake at Ideal beach is a sacred place for me. It’s where I feel and remember my parents and Marcie the most. At every turn and by every tree there is a memory and a sweet feeling comes over me. 

I cried a lot this year. Good tears. Cathartic tears. Tears that I seem to have saved up all year.

I look at Marcie’s grandboys and can’t believe she’s not here for them.  I cried looking at Nelson with his fiance Andrea hugging out in the water. Andrea called Nelson, "Honey"-- it was the cutest. I cry because Marcie would be so pleased about this.

This is everyone who came, except the Buzelli's weren't in the picture.. so add 4 more people.  

I look at the clouds and remember my momma always commenting on them just like I do now. I see any old guy on the beach fully clothed with sneakers on and a hat and I think it’s my dad. I sob grateful tears that my parents set up this vacation reunion legacy 48 years ago.

I just love it here and I want all my kids and bonus kids to love it too. I know my grandkids do.  (Sophia and Andrew had a 20 day count down calendar ) 

I can point to the condo of where I had my first kiss. And the condo we loaded 20 people ( so many little bodies) into a 10-bed condo and Wayne and I would sneak out to the parking lot to sleep in our dino van. I remember watching pink cloud sunsets and swinging on the swings singing at the top of our lungs and wicked wind storms turning the lake into a monster. 

This year two quick wind storms kicked up - both at exactly 7:40 pm with wild white caps and unattended canopies being uprooted and blowing across the beach scattering people and landing inside the mini-golf course just inches away from Addison’s face til Monson reached out and stopped the twisted intruder. The wind chased us inside for the night.

 

I recall Addison saving the boat when we forgot to put the boat plug in one year and as the boat was filling up with water, Addison had to dive into the water and screw it in blind, underwater. He could hold his breath the longest so he was our best bet. 

We all remember summer 2007 when our beloved Sharkeys were with us and the 14-year-old girl drowned and we all searched the water frantically to find her and Truman found her, pulled her to the surface and then Landon jumped in the rescue boat and administered CPR  in vain. 

We have had too many communal dinners under the trees to count and so many LeBeaus raspberry shakes. Too many sandy sandwiches on the beach.  So many mini golf games and big rounds of golf and miles biked around the lake. 

We have cried and fought and laughed and lived a lot on this exact beach.

We evolved from laying down blankets on the beach to using chairs and umbrellas to finally setting up 4 large shade canopies staking out our spots. 

We have had dad’s boat, then Guy’s boat and now our boat. We all learned to water ski and wake board and do extreme tubing in this turquoise lake.

We know how to stay all day down at the beach playing in the sand and water, talking, singing, playing games and reading books and magazines and laughing a lot. 

We sleep on too soft beds and too hard beds when our just right beds are back at home all in the name of family time. 

This year we were here over the 24th of July - Pioneer Day was celebrated with a spectacular fireworks display over blue water beach. They had fireworks actually shot into the water that at first glance looked like a mistake but then colorful fireworks burst forth from the waves. It was spectacular. 

We didn’t pool or playground or Pickleville playhouse this year in an effort to avoid crowds and stay safe during this corona time. We cloroxed and sanitized our hands a lot.  We wore our masks to Le beaus and Zipz and ate out under the trees.  

We continue to have the full family 6:00 dinner gathering.  It really is nice not to have to worry about dinner making and cleaning up but one time during the whole week.  Our after-dinner activities included going to Blue Water beach campground, doing a Grandma Butters trivia quiz, making a tik tok video, and playing Wiffle baseball and having snow cones. 

It was a good but different covid summer. So grateful for the hang out time with extended family. When does that ever happen in real life- it takes vacation time to actually sit and relax and share.  So grateful for gorgeous weather and  safe travels.

So grateful for Eric Belnap letting us borrow his brand new truck to pull our boat up to the lake.  He is a solid friend.

We had Wayne and I, Addison and Alfie, Monson, Lexi, Tayla, Lady and Elsie for the whole week… we added Landon, Alex, Andrew, Sophia and friend Paula for 3 nights and Laila, Bre and Poppy for 2 nights.  ( Tru was stuck in Portland with his new puppy)

We will be coming back next year because that’s what we do. 

So grateful for Eric Belnap letting us borrow his brand new truck to  pull our boat up to the lake.  He is a solid friend.

We were missing Liz this year-- she got nervous because of the Covid... so she was represented by a pool noodle.