Lake Cumberland, KY

I went on a vacation. Without my children. Or my husband. For a week. And while I missed them immensely, the opportunity to sit on a boat on a lake for days on end with no one to interrupt my reading or sunbathing...oh the pure bliss of it all.

I traveled with Mom and sister Brittany to meet Mom's cousins at Lake Cumberland, KY, where we rented a huge houseboat for a few days. We had a full-size kitchen, a grill, a water slide, a hot tub, 6 beds, 2 bathrooms, satellite tv. Amazing. None of my family is from that area; we all hailed in from Michigan, California, Minnesota, Virginia, and Texas, but if you've never been to Lake Cumberland, it's absolutely worth the drive. It's just gorgeous.

Each night we docked somewhere along the lake, and my sister (who is an avid outdoors-woman and rock-climber) was the gal of choice to tie us off along the shore. I sat back and watched and called for another adult beverage. Kidding, only slightly. I'm useless with anything relating to nature. Sweating only happens if I'm laying out.

We swam and read books (I managed to get through four, 4!) and ate a ton and talked and laughed - this was the most fun I've ever had on a vacation, hands-down. I did have to get over my fear of creatures coming to attack me in the water, namely alligators. They say there aren't any gators in that lake, I googled it, but there is always that infamous email that went around about the 23-foot alligator with the deer in it's mouth, and apparently it's shown up in every lake across the south. Riiiigghhht. Still, yikes, I prefer to see what's coming at me. Pools are much safer. We also hunted for geodes, braving the crumbly shale landscape, and I brought back a bunch for Avery to crack open with me.

This was my first time away from Eleanor, and it was an extended time away, plus I was still nursing her. She refused all 160 ounces of milk that I left for her (which took me two months of pumping every night to stock up), boycotted nursing for a full 24 hours after I returned home. I was devastated when she refused me, even though I knew that was a huge possibility. Thankfully she has returned to nursing, four times a day even, and I'm relieved and grateful for this blessing.

So, thank you to Luke and Nana and Papaw for watching the girls for me for this much-needed time of R&R.

Picture post to follow, because everyone loves vacation slideshows, right?