Jul 21, 2011

Hello Lake House. We're Home.

LakeHouse1

When we were little kids, this was our backyard.

WhatsForDinner

This was dinnertime.

CaptainDad

And this was how our dad drove to work.

WheatonDrive

Then when we were a little older, we moved to suburbia, where it's required that your garage is the largest, most protruding feature of your house.

We didn't mind because we liked our Nintendo and our Rollerblades (sidewalks at last!) our new accessibility to McDonald's (fast food at last!) and of course... (cable at last!) our MTV

But our dad... well, he was especially attached to that house on the water, and was never quite the same.

FishPond

Mom and Dad did things to cope. Like build this pond with working waterfall in the backyard. But no bass to catch in there. Just giant goldfish. I mean, it did come in handy though...

LittleMermaid

... as a backdrop for Kathleen's risqué homemade (i.e., mom-made) Little Mermaid costume.

On a sidenote, Kathleen wore that costume constantly. However the day she did wear it to school for Halloween she shivered and waddled (no side-slits mom) all the way to the bus-stop. It was a chilly October day but she refused to wear a jacket over her costume. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so.

NewLakeHouse

So flash forward twenty-some years and our parents have just moved into their new lake house. It's still in a suburb of sorts, in a neighborhood in the city closer to us kids. This has been a really big deal, because our parents house is basically the epicenter of all our weekends. That's Kathleen's car on left, mine on right.

Mom and Dad basically bought the place in one afternoon after looking at only one other house. They really weren't even in the market, but Jeremy saw the place on Zillow, my parents got Kathleen and Jeremy's realtor to take them by, my Dad conveniently had his fishing rod (yeah, how convenient) in the back of their tiny Honda Fit, dropped the line into the little lake out back, caught a fish, and yelled out (like screamed really 'cause mom and I were checking out the garden tub in the upstairs bathroom at the time and could hear him)... "SOLD!"

Simon the realtor said it was his easiest sell ever. We told him he should take a fishing rod with him on all his showings.

NewBackYard

So hello new backyard, new weekends of hanging out on the back porch, in the hammock, on the water.

And all that's just the normal stuff. Ah.. new neighbors, what you don't know about the clan that just moved in next door could fill a book. Wait 'til we unpack the Halloween decorations (maybe that Little Mermaid costume is still in the bottom of a trunk somewhere, I'm sure Kathleen would love to squeeze back into it.) Wait 'til Donny's burlesque/vaudville troup comes through on tour, resting their road-weary trailer in my parents' drive at Thanksgiving. Wait 'til our entire family is trying to slide around on the frozen lake in our tennis shoes at Christmas, which my husband can't wait to try. They probably won't even realize that only our parents live there.

Binoculaurs

MomPicture

SgtPeppers

Tambourines

Hello new views, new nooks, new crannies, new piano room. Our history fits nicely here.

And of course...

BoarsHeadWide

BoarHeadSurprise

Hello new place of honor for the Havalina. We think you'll like it here.

BoarDadCouch

Dad sure does. Of course, he's only been waiting twenty-three years to come home.


11 comments:

  1. I love this!! For some reason it made me tear up..I think partly because your dad reminds me so much of mine. Oh, and the pic of Kathleen almost made me cry laughing. Now, I just need to get an invite and come see this place in person... :)

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  2. Yes! We'll order American Pizza (mom & pop shop we instantly found down street) feed the ducks our crust, go out on the Kayak after the sun goes down so we don't sizzle up and die. Oh, and the best part, when we jump in the car to get – pick one: coffee, Icee's or beer - you can watch Kathleen get confused between which street is Rockwell and which street is MacArthur because west-side OKC is a mystery to her.

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  3. I absolutely love to read both you and Kathleen. That being said, I never noticed it when reading it the first time, but the post you linked to about Kathleen wanting to be Carrie Bradshaw shows Kathleen smiling and showing her teeth! (I found that absolutely fantastic and had to point it out!)

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  4. Good observation. I think it was because she was channeling SJP! I bet you were good at Where's Waldo? too... like can you spot a Thomas's teeth?! Thanks for the compliment.

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  5. Love it! That's my neck of the woods (where I grew up) and the pizza place is amazing!! I definitely need to come see it soon!

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  6. Hallie, your mom's welcome list was so nice and hilarious. I feel a porch party coming on. Wonder if we should tell our parents or just surprise them.

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  7. Porch party for sure! Let's just surprise them. : )

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  8. The resemblance between your son and Kathleen in the close up picture of him and the Havalina is remarkable!
    Love all the pictures and I'm truly envious of the lake for the backyard!

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  9. MrsSki... yes, Charlie does look like Kathleen, doesn't he! Those blondies. Or it's the "stink face."

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  10. I'm so excited for you guys! :-D It's a wonder he ever leaves the house to come to work now that there's FISH there...

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  11. I think it helps that it's too hot to fish during working hours right now, anyway. He gets all his fishing done pre-dawn. Probably makes for a much happier co-worker.

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