The past two years we went with our friends to Watercolor and this year it wasn't going to work for both our families. We decided since Jacob was going to be heading off to college, we would let him choose our summer vacation. Some of the options included, going out west to Colorado or visiting a favorite Florida spot. Without any hesitation, Jake said he wanted to go to Okoboji. He has always liked Okoboji. I think he also liked the idea of not having to take a long car trip or travel on an airplane. Mark and I also decided that we wanted our parents to join us for some of our vacation. We decided to have parents each stay 2 nights and then we would have a family night. We also invited Ali, Blake and their family, however they had other plans. Friday Jake drove Karen and Orrie and Luke, Mark and I drove the truck. We had 2 bikes in the back for morning bike rides. The condo I booked was brand new, so new it wasn't completely finished. It was so very nice, clean, neat and spacious. The view was my favorite. A huge balcony with view overlooking east Okoboji. After we all got settled in, Karen and Orrie rested while the rest of us went to the pool. The condo is part of Bridges Bay, which includes use of the water park. There is an indoor area with waterslides and lazy river. Unfortunately they had the indoor area water so ice cold, few people used it. I think that was their plan. The outdoor pool was so crazy busy, I think they exceeded the maximum capacity. There was a couple large plunge slides, which none of us were brave enough to go down. There was also a pool bar and lots of groups sitting around drinking. It was so busy and there were lots of bachelor and bachelorette parties going on with beer cans and drink glasses scattered about. I noticed a volleyball net in the water and veered towards it. I ended up playing for 3 hours. First it started with a group of kids and dads, people would come and go. At the end a group of 10 guys from a bachelor party joined us. Mark, Jake, and Luke all played on and off too. I had so much fun playing and sometimes I did pretty good. It was a lot of hits, spikes, tips, sets, and plenty of illegal hits. The bach guys we played with were not your typical jocks, they were not real athletic, but were super polite and kept things family friendly. I so appreciated that. There was never any swearing or cockiness. I really enjoyed myself, even though I was hurting some parts of my body. My right shoulder would burn every now and then after a hit. I know I have damage in there, I just hope I never have to have shoulder surgery! After our time at the pool, we all went to Mark's favorite Okoboji restaurant, Tweeters. We had an hour wait to be seated, then waited a long time to order and over an hour to get our food. It was not too fun.
Saturday I had booked a pontoon boat for the day, 8-8. It was raining and we could hear thunder. By 10:30 the radar showed we had a couple hours of clear skies and things were looking good. We went across the lake to Triggs Bay for our pontoon rental. We brought the boat to our condo dock and got Karen and Orrie onboard. It was an ordeal getting Orrie on the pontoon. We also brought a cooler with lunch sandwiches and snacks. We started out east and went under two bridges to a small quiet area slowly cruising and looking at homes. As we turned the boat facing west, we could see the darkening sky in the distance. I couldn't believe how quickly the sky changed. Karen passed the food around and we decided we should eat our lunch on the boat quick. Mark and Karen kept saying tit was fine, it wouldn't rain and it would just pass on by. I wasn't convinced. Before long it was sprinkling. I told Mark we should head back until the rain passed. Karen was determined it wasn't going to rain, just a few sprinkles. Mark wanted to keep going as well. We made it back under 2 bridges and Mark wanted to dock at Arnold's park to let the rain pass. In order to get to Arnold's Park we had to go under the main bridge which is a now wake 4 mph and it takes about 10 minutes. By this point the radar wasn't looking good, the rain was coming down, and we were hearing rumbles. I told Mark we needed to get off the boat now and wanted to dock where we rented the boat. He thought I needed to calm down, but I was starting to worry about lighning and stormy weather. As we neared the dock everyone was getting soaked. It was no longer a light rain, it was pouring, blowing, and rumbling. It was a bad situation. The little Bimini ( canvas sun roof) was not sheltering us from the rain and everyone was getting wet. It was only in the low 70's and the rain made you cold. I felt bad for Mark's parents as they were getting wetter by the minute. When I saw lightning in the sky I began to really worry. Mark idled the boat and didn't know what to do but told me he refused to panic. We were sitting, doing nothing and another boat had taken our spot at the dock. After some time the boat moved and we were able to pull in to the dock. We helped Karen and Orrie off the boat onto the sliperry dock along with the boys. They went into the rental lodge to wait inside. Mark took me by baot in the rain back to our condo dock, dropped me off so I could drive the truck over and pick everyone up. It was a mess all the way around. We got everyone back to the room to get in dry clothes. We were all wet and cold and it was still raining. The boys went to the waterpark hot tub. We watched the radar through the day and at 3:00 the sun came out and all was clear. Again the radar showed clear skies for a couple hours. We decided to try the baot again. We had it rented and this was our day to enjoy it with Mark's parents. We loaded up and drove the 1/2 mile to Triggs boat dick once again. As we booked the boat, the rental man saw the chance of rain was 90% within the next half hour. We all felt defeated and decided to forget our boating. I felt bad for Mark's parents, this was the only chance they had to boat and it was a disaster. We went out for supper at the Okoboji store, which is located at the edge of the main bridge dividing the east lake from the west. It rained most of the time we ate, thankful we didn't take the boat out again. Back at the condo everyone lounged while Mark and I went to check out the onsite bar for a night drink. There were bachelor and bachelorette parties and weddings. This was a busy weekend for events.
Sunday started with rain showers and cool temps 55 degrees. Karen made a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon in time for the newest arrivals. My parents and Jayden arrived at 11. Jayden flew into Des Moines where my parents picked her up to stay one night at their house and then drove together to the lake. Karen and OD left for home after our brunch. Again we rented a pontoon, 12:30 for 4 hours. The sun was out and the sky looked good. Minutes in it went from sunny and hot to cool and overcast. We spent the rest of the boat ride with hoodies and towels covering us. We took a slow cruise around the entire lake. It was soothing and relaxing. Jayden wanted to make a stop at Barefoot bar and get T-shirts. As Mark slowed the pontoon, the nose of the boat tipped forward and down causing a huge wave to come flooding into our boat. It was up to our ankles. He sped up again and then throttled back down once more. This time, the nose tipped even deeper causing a giant surge of water to flood in, this time hitting just below our knees. My mom was calm and laughing, no worries to her. The rest of us thought we were sinking. I was in shock and thought we were going down. Luke jumped into action, his mind went right to emergency mode and he started pulling life jackets out and told me he was worried for his grandparents. I love his mindful considerate reaction. After the surge, the water all made its way out of the boat and we made it safely to the dock of Barefoot. It was too busy for snacks so T shirts were bought and that was it. Later in the evening we ate at Bracca, which is on the edge of the water at our resort. Jayden wanted a Pina colada. She couldn't drink but a few sips because it was so strong. I took a few sips and that even affected me, it was soo strong! It was nice to eat outside on the patio with grandma and grandpa overlooking the lake.
Tuesday morning Mark and I went on a bike ride, I took a short ride and he went on longer. Our family went and played a late morning game of mini golf. Our family is a little too competitive for anything like that. People get sulky if they aren't doing well. Again we walked around the Arnold's park area and had lunch. In the afternoon we rented jet skis. I love riding jet skiis. We rented 3 and took turns. Jake took off and ran his jet ski the whole time all over the lake. We were a little concerned because he took off on his own for the first hour. We had no way of finding him or knowing if he was ok. Jayden and I traded off and I zipped around with the boys on my own jet ski. They are so fun and so crazy fast. I like hitting the waves and going fast. I also like being in control and not riding behind someone. It was a great day for it. The boys never want to wear sunblock and they both burned the tops of their feet.
Our family had a nice meal at a seafood restaurant called,"Yesterdays." It has been open for 35 years and had an hour wait. We just roamed around the Arnol's Park area. It was worth the wait and a good way to end our last night.
Through socail media, the kids discovered a family of freinds were up at Okoboji too. All three kids got to gether with their family for a couple hours to baot with them. They took turns being pulled in a tube. It was a nice sunny day for it and they had a good time with freinds, Morgan (18), Tyson (16), and Mason (12). I don't recall which day it was.
Wednesday we packed up, sat at pool area, then all drove home in the truck. Here are a few more photos taken while at the lake.
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