East Coast Eason's: Huntersville Visit & Camp Cheerio

The whole family was able to spend the weekend with our Huntersville family! Brian and Nancy reserved a lake day for us and we made the most of it!

Kade got right to work lounging away!

As did his Dad!

We were able to spend a good amount of time playing in the water while anchored up alongside an island before the rains rolled in. They we high-tailed it away while everyone scrambled for cover under beach towels - me included!

The boat sure is peaceful and put almost all of them to sleep!

With bad storms still on the forecast, we opted to turn in the boat and drive up to our intended destination.

All the boys!

And one of just these two!

.....So we could try to replicate this old picture - they do grow! Brock & Maddox from July 2022 to August 2026!

We said our farewells to Brock as he was staying with his cousins for the week and Brent and I drove Kade up to Camp Cheerio. It felt strange to do this with only one vehicle and no Moose (Moose was home with a dog-sitter)! After Kade was all settled in to the Tuscarora cabin, Brent and I made our way back to Apex for a kid-free week!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time last year, so first on our agenda was skeet shooting at Deep River Sporting Clays - complete with golf cart rental, of course.

I wrote to Kade every night (through the camp's online portal) and told him we were going skeet shooting - when we finally received his letters in the mail, he asked why we "always" go skeet shooting every time he goes to camp?! Because my husband loves it - look at that happy face!!

We spent some extra time with Moose - he was extra clingy to both of us after a dog-sitting weekend and his whole family not being there. We took him for walks downtown Apex after dark - the photo isn't the best due to lack of lighting, but Moose was excited to check out the dog hydrant by the fire station! Sadly, this longtime fixture of downtown Apex, built in the 1950's, is no longer an active fire station.

Once we wrapped up a few days of work, we had our Adults-only Boat Day!!

We (okay, mostly I) talk about this photo all the time! It was taken from Brent's old boat and we decided to try to recreate it. The angle was a little off, which gave us a big shadow, but I’d say it still turned out pretty well!

Summer 2009 vs Summer 2026

And for the full present-day photo! (I took it from the water VERY carefully holding my phone with two hands!)

Meanwhile, I know Brock and Kade were having great times at their respective places! Brock was thoroughly enjoying cousin time, baseball camp - and even a water park day!

Picking up the boys was a puzzle. Brock was in Charlotte and Kade in the mountains and Moose had to stay home. I volunteered to drive - staying over at Brian and Nancy's Friday night so I could be closer to Camp Cheerio for the 8:30am pickup on Saturday.

I didn't mind one bit - I got to see these two cuties again!!

Even though I had to get Brock up early (and early Brock is grump Brock), I was treated to some pretty cool scenery and unexpected, yet absolutely extraordinary flying objects!