Are we ready for this!!!!

Ummm that's an understatement! I just got off the phone with Rondeau chatting about life and explaining to him how I have been going a million different directions for the last couple of months that I think it finally caught up with me and my brain is mush! Daniel is not in the same boat but might as well be because he wakes me up all night long with his talking in his sleep about work and planning. Sooo I think it is safe to say we are in NEED of this vaca! I woke up this morning at 4:25ish, and by woke up I mean finally dragged my butt out of bed after a ton of tossing and turning from the excitement of our trip ahead of us. I have two lists going(it is what I do when my brain needs to relax and not remember so much) and I am already done with a bunch! I seriously need to chill out but not until my butt is in the seat and we are half way there. I anticipate the first hour spent catching up with Daniel and what went on during his nonsense half day. Then pick his brother up at the airport along the way, probably followed by more banter. Then I have to figure out a good meal plan for our trip! I figured I'd come up with a few ideas and we could all have a variety of choices. On our way to the lake house we will stop at Sam's Club and grab all our needs. I need everyone to bring their own towels! I will be calling all of you later and catching up... what else am I going to do on a 12 hour drive other than bug family and friends!!!??!! :-) Once I wrap by brain around all these lists and get organized I will finally be able to tell everyone what they need to bring other than towels.  WOw time flew sooo fast and I suspect the next week or so will go even faster sooo if anyone has the ability to slow down time I'd really appreciate a favor right about now... but please don't do it till I am at the lake with feet in the water and drink in hand. Twelve hours is long enough without it being in turtle mode! You all know we miss you tons and with that said we hope to be seeing all of you very soon!

The Causeway!

We will probably find ourselves down on the causeway more than once during this trip! It is the best hangout place! The fourth will be a blast down there! The food is amazing at Rick's Cafe and Sport's Bar (http://www.rickscafenaples.com/)... I swear I have had a family member work at every place I have mentioned and this one is no different! My cousin Eliza worked there for years.... can we scream SMALL TOWN. But seriously this place is amazing and they have live bands pretty much every day we are going to be in Maine! There are tons of surf shops with in walking distance and one in particular is owned by a guy named Harry who grew up on the lake with my uncle and when I was younger I would see them water ski barefoot, starting by sitting on the dock and flipping tubes while going as fast as they could.... they also built a HUGE ramp they would float out to the middle of the lake and do jumps off of! I swear it is absolutely amazing that with all the emergency room visits and dare devil stunts that no one was killed! His shop is Sun Sports Plus and the website is http://sunsportsme.com/  check it out! I am sure there are a ton of things down there to see along with a great night life!

Another FABULOUS spot!

This is where you can find the most badass floats and you can rent anything under the sun that has to do with water or snow! My cousin Carey worked there for years and the owners are good friends of the family so I am sure if we need to get hooked up it won't be a problem...

It will def be worth a stop by to see what kind of rafts we can pick up!

The Cool Moose

It is located on Main Street and it is one of the coolest shops! My dad, and I believe his brother too, worked there when they were younger. It used to be mainly a leather shop and now it has so much more to offer. It is filled with unique jewelry, fun toys, random things, and Daniel & my favorite....bumper stickers, hilarious shirts/sweatshirts! In fact on the old Bora was a sticker in on of the backseat windows representing the Cool Moose.... I snapped a pic of it before the new owner drove away!

Magic Lantern

The Magic Lantern is the most amazing movie theater known to man! I can remember going to watch movies at the Magic Lantern as far back as 3 or 4 years old! It was so much fun going and filling a small brown paper bag with penny candy! A few years back the Lantern was sold and it was decided that they would tear it down and rebuild a better Lantern..... oh and they did! Let me tell you, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING! You can check out pictures at http://www.magiclanternmovies.com/MagicLanternPhotoGallery.php?reloaded=true and their website is http://www.magiclanternmovies.com
 There is also a Pub located inside the Magic Lantern now called the Tannery Pub.  I hope we have a chance to go see a movie there or go grab some drinks one night! The theater has old style balcony's and beautiful decorations! When I was younger, the chalk boards in the bathrooms were my favorite! I am pretty sure they put them in the new one too!

a little bit of history....

The Black Horse Tavern is a local bar/restaurant. It has the best food and a very local home style feel! I imgaine we will find our way there at least once during our vaca! Sooo the cool thing about this place is that it was my grandmothers house she grew up in! They enclosed the porch in the front and turned it into more dinning but other than that it pretty much looks the same on the outside as it did years ago! It is extremely well known in town and has been around for a longggg time! But I always thought it was so cool how it used to be a house that my grandmother grew up in! Anyways..... I figured I'd show you guys some of the local establishments.....

Sarah!!!

Sarah came through for all of us and she is bringing water volleyball! IT just wouldn't be a vaca on the lake if water sports weren't involved.... Boys- don't forget your TopGun style j-orts! Cant wait to see the action unfold!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO

10 DAY COUNTDOWN!!!!!!!! We will be crossing this bridge very soon!........

I think this needs to come in one of the trucks!

Some one has got to bring this up! It just wouldn't be right to leave the Vdub table out of this trip!

I need feedback on this one...

So we are reallly contemplating buying the island for this trip! I have found it for a whopping $350....would people be willing to pitch in a little in order to have this for our trip??? Let me know what you all think! I think if everyone pitches in $20 and Dan and I would pay the rest it would totally be worth it.... I don't know if anyone wants to so let me know!

Special guest appereance

Our goal is to have what we will call our "boom boom room" and we just got one step closer yesterday! The portable pole officially got delivered yesterday and we set it up pretty fast. Once we got the hang of it and the height right we realized it could be put up and taken down within minutes! Sooooo..... guess who will be making an appearance at the cottage! Oh I can not wait to see what happens with this thing! We will be getting our exercise on! It is sooo much fun!

ketchup...

Last few days have been madness for me. Just started a new job and officially signed everything yesterday. I got incorporated and partnered with a company that is an hr and half away from where we live so I had to stay up there for the last two days....So now I am playing catch up on the blog because time is flying and we are getting so close to this trip! Ugh I can not wait to see everyone! Dan and I talk about everyone all the time and how much we miss all you guys! Most times it is awesome to be far away from the northeast gossip fest while we have summer here for 8 or 9 months (rather than 2ish), but honestly the friends and family so far away really makes us miss it up there! Sooo we are definitely looking forward to this vacation! Now for the over load of posts....

List of things...

So there are soooo many things we can do! Mike's Jet ski will be present for this vaca! Ari's hitching it up to the truck and bringing it up! There are about 3 kayaks up there and a few canoes, boat fully equipped with tubing, water skiing, knee boarding,etc...
Pretty much the water sports are endless and it is a quiet lake so we won't be sharing the water with too many other boats. We also have a tennis/basketball court...not sure if the hoop is still up...maine winters can be crazy! Fishing, hiking, fires, pretty much you think it up and we can do it... actually that might be a dangerous statement! Also around the 4th there will be lots of parades and fireworks going on all around town. This is defiantly going to be a trip to remember! If you want to add to the list of things just let me know.... anyone have any toys they want to bring??!!!!??!!! There are a ton of four wheeling trails. I am not sure if the doom buggies are up and running...and we might have access to some four wheelers....

I am really hoping someone loses their suit while skiing/tubing and I catch it on camera... Wishful thinking

Dreaming of nights like this...

CAN NOT WAIT!

Meals...

I need to know who is allergic to what and who hates what...
We are planning on doing a lobster fest one day... so let me know if you don't like lobster and what you would like instead.
I have been planning out some meals and snacks and lunch stuff so that when we get there we can all go to Sam's Club and already have a list ready to go...

COUNT DOWN....

27 Days and we will be sipping cold brews, sitting on the dock, and overlooking the lake! Can not wait!

A Definite!

This is going to be a must have for this trip!... Although I wasn't present for the invention and building of the suspended from ceiling pong table in Rondeau's barn, I can imagine that this will be just as much of a hit!

Amazing days and even better nights!

I have been going to this lake since I was a week old. My best memories are from this place and I look forward to sharing new ones with all of you! There is so much to offer in one area it is like the ultimate vacation spot. My favorite thing is that after you've had a long eventful day you think how could the night top that! Oh but it can...sitting around the fire pit sipping on drinks, playing a few rounds of pool followed by a midnight boat ride out to "The Spit", or just plain relaxing on the porch playing card games....

So apparently we got crazier!

After we got home from New Years we looked over every video and all the photos and came to the conclusion that our get togethers have gone from crazy to out of control! When we were planning the New Years bash we had said to one another..."Oh the clean up will be so easy and I doubt we will even make a mess." HAAAAAA That was BY FAR one of the biggest shit show/hot mess/sticky floor/disaster hell of a time get together we have ever had! The floor was mopped about 10-15 times before the ball even dropped and another 3 the following afternoon and I don't think a single person left without at least one drink spillage on their clothing(some left drenched...we won't name names haha). The videos are unreal and absolutely hilarious! It was decided that they were too crazy to go on facebook and only a select few mild photos could make it on to the social network. That said we had thought how awesome would it be to take the highlights and the crazy moments and edit them all into a video to debut on our upcoming trip. Trust us it is going to be a good one!
Side Note: Don't forget those flip & digital cameras....I am sure there will be some great footage at the end of this adventure as well!

BUFFALO

Did I mention yet that this will probably be the longest game of buffalo we have ever played?!!! We have already dug out the old buffalo rules board written back in 2007 and put it on the pack list! I think I will be practicing the double drink hold for the next few weeks to ensure I am not constantly chugging!

Extreme Floating

I have been search the internet hardcore on the hunt for the best floats out there.... I am in awe of what I have found! Who knew that there is an array of all types of floats! From floating dual tubes with a cooler in the middle(already decided a must have) to huge island floaters that we all could relax on and get this... comes with cup holders! Add some straws and we don't even have to hold our own drinks! Haven't ordered anything yet...plan on ordering by the end of the week. If anyone has floats already or plans on bringing some new ones just let us know!

Getting Older....

Just because we are all getting older doesn't mean we are too old to have fun....especially with our group!!! Just means we have more $$$ to fund our fun! Seems like just yesterday that we decided day trips and indoor climbing extravaganzas were a better idea than paying our cell phone bills!
We have been throwing around the idea of renting some jet skis and planning out a couple of hikes! We are already stocked up with canoes, kayaks, water sports(tubing, skiing, knee boarding, etc...)
Anyone have any other ideas? Keep the wheels spinning!!!

1st Annual Trip! Destination: Denmark, Maine

After an abundance of checking cruise dates, destinations, etc.. it has been decided that rather then shipping off to sea for a week we are going to hunker down and get wild on a lake total New England-er style! Where are we headed? Well, the one and only Hancock Pond Lake(check out photo above, taken of the lake), located NW of Sebago Lake. It covers about 858 acres and is surrounded by mountain views and rural areas. Our home away from home for the week is named the Red Cottage and has a front porch that over looks the lake and the residence's private dock.

So Daniel and I have been going nuts over the details and what to bring. We are beyond excited for this trip and can not wait to chill out and relax. The check list has already started.... just to be sure not to forget the essentials(solo cups, float-able pong table, etc...)! As we were making this list we thought what better way to get everyone hyped up and informed than a blog! Our hopes is that this turns into an annual event with different destinations each year...