Lake Okoboji

We had a wonderful weekend at Lake Okoboji with our good friends Megan, Ben and their son Beckett.  We drove up Friday night and missed a very serious storm by just miles.  We were right on the edge of it and were able to witness the most spectacular lightening show we've ever seen.  The trip took 4.5 hours and Miss Audrey slept most of the way. 

Their house is right on the lake with it's own dock stocked, of course, with a boat and jet ski.  I can't begin to describe how relaxed I felt the minute I took in the view.  On Saturday we got up and went out for breakfast.  It was Audrey's first time sitting in a restaurant high chair!!  She even nibbled a few small pieces of hash browns off my fingers.  We then spent the day by the water, soaking up the sun, swimming, jet skiing and boating.  It was Bill's first time on a jet ski and I was a bit of a nervous nelly riding with him. 

I'm sure if you ask, he'll gladly mimic my commands of "slow down!" and "watch out!".  Just wanted to survive, that's all.  :)  Audrey was even able to partake after donning an infant life jacket.  Not on the jet ski of course but she did get in the water with Bill and went on the boat.

Saturday night, after we had delicious steaks on the grill, we were hoping to be able to sit around a fire pit and eat s'mores but we could see a storm coming in.  "Storm" isn't quite a strong enough word for what ended up blowing through.  First the tornado sirens went off so we had to wake the kiddies up and take them into the basement....a 100-year old basement I might add.  Slightly creepy.  Once the warning expired we headed back upstairs and were greeted with the craziest winds I have ever experienced.  We were convinced the windows were going to shatter (and seeing all of the debris the next morning, I'm shocked we didn't have any projectiles come through).  We could see the trees and bushes bending over, tables and chairs blowing away and the noise was unbelievable.  I've never heard a tornado but I would pay money that if whatever I was hearing wasn't a tornado, it was it's closest cousin.  We finally lost power and sat with candles lit for awhile and made indoor s'mores via matches before the lights came back on along with the calm.  The whole thing lasted about two hours and we thought it was over and were going to head to bed when we heard a tapping on the back door.  Ben answered and all we heard was "Your boat is gone."  We all jumped up and went outside into the mess and sure enough, the hoist where the boat was secured was disconnected from the dock about 6 feet or more and the boat was no where in sight.  It was found two docks away crashed on the rocks - completely totaled. 

Somehow the motor was smashed up through the back of the boat.  We could see and hear a lot of other people outside surveying the damage - some people's entire docks were broken up, a restaurant's whole dock with tied up boats included was gone, a barge along with many boats was marooned on the beach and we could see tons of broken tree branches. 

Our cars miraculously survived getting damaged.  Sadly, since we had no idea this storm was coming, Ben and Megan lost many other belongings such as lounge chairs, life jackets and umbrellas.

The next day in the daylight we were able to get a really good look at everything and found out that the storm brought 90+ mph winds!  We had hoped to take one last dip in the lake but watching dock lumber float by made us realize it wasn't a good idea.  Overall though, it was a fantastic, exciting and relaxing weekend that has made me and Bill realize that a boat and lakehouse are definitely in our future!!