My twin brother, Greg, bought a lot at Linn Valley Lake this summer which came with a camper and a few headaches, but they have it up and running, looking good, and a paradise for kids!  He invited our family to come check it out on Saturday but it was becoming quite clear the weather was not going to cooperate.  Therefore, we made a quick decision to make an impromptu visit down there on Friday.  We were done playing baseball for a bit and our family can’t sit idle for long, so we grabbed leftover bday party food and drinks, some swimsuits & fishing poles and drove 50 miles South.  We still had a little bit of daylight left so we were able to be on the lake for a bit.  The kids enjoyed the lilypad, wave runner, some cousin time, and meeting the DeFrancesco family, old friends of ours from Olathe.

The kids were able to do some 4-wheeler rides too (I think Morgan and Alyssa were trying to scare me!)  I see driver’s ed in their future.

They were also able to do some fishing on a pond that is near the DeFrancesco’s lot.  Quite a few snagged and tangled fishing lines and some lessons from Papa but in the end, several fish were caught so I’m calling it a success!

Greg’s lot also came with a zipline.  He had to buy the trolley and the super cool light-up seat to get it moving and now it’s pretty awesome…except at the end you have to weave through some trees to make it out alive….

This is what happened to Morgan on her first time down…

Here are the war wounds to show for it…

and after 2 days…

Just cuts and bruises but that sealed the deal for me.  I probably won’t be getting on that zipline until that tree is cut down!  Needless to say, this did not deter any of the kids and I bet Reece went on that line about 30 times.  It also turns out that it’s not the best idea to ask the kids to pack for an impromptu lake trip.  Reece forgot underwear!  Oops!

We had a great dinner on the grill and started in on the fireworks.  I told you…this is a paradise for kids!  There was a fireworks stand a couple miles away and I’m sure Brian is frantically hiding all evidence of how much was spent, but either way, we had so much fun watching the show.

We ended the night with some night-time ziplining and s’mores and got ourselves back home about midnight.  We are loving our time there and counting just a few bug bites.  My sister-in-law keeps us in line on our bug spray – I swear she reapplies bug spray about every half hour, it’s hysterical!  Thank you Greg, Brandy, and kiddos for having us and hope we can invade your place again soon.  Don’t worry…we’ll bring food, bug spray, and work gloves.  Love your new summer paradise…