Lake Cumberland

We opted to take a summer vacation close to home this year. We don't feel that air travel is safe right now and lots of states with tourist destinations have high rates of Covid-19 infection. We were very fortunate that Robbie and Donna offered to let us go to their home on Lake Cumberland. It was SO good to get away and was especially nice after being sick and stuck in the house for so many weeks.

While we were there, we spent a lot of time on the water. We rented a large pontoon boat, which was lots of fun. The boys could jump into the lake from the second story, as well as use the big water slide. It was fun to ride around and explore the lake together. We did some fishing on the boat as well, but we had the best luck with fishing off the dock at the house. We also enjoyed swimming and floating. The boys liked to swim over to the land and explore. They found lots of geodes, which they were VERY excited about.

We took a trip to Cumberland Falls while we were there. It was about an hour away and definitely worth the drive. The large waterfall was really pretty. There were also a few other activities there, such as mining for gems, which Preston really liked.

Everything is so very different this year, including vacation. Even though we didn't get to go to Key West or some other tropical destination, I am grateful that we were able to get away at the lake and enjoy spending time together as a family. It is definitely a vacation we will never forget.

Robbie and Donna's house was really nice. We loved sitting on the porch and looking at the lake and at all of the birds that would come to eat at the feeds.

This was the view from the porch.

These pictures were taken down at the dock. Lake Cumberland is very pretty.

There was a waterfall and a working mill in a nearby cove. I have never seen anything like it before. We enjoyed exploring the area with the mill and seeing the waterfall. 

We liked visiting Cumberland Falls. It is a really pretty area and the waterfall is huge.

We spent LOTS of time on the boat. I enjoyed taking pictures of the lake and the land surrounding it, because I thought it was so pretty. 

There are lots of creatures in and around Lake Cumberland. We saw lots of turtles and Evan and Preston even used a net to catch a baby turtle. There were lots of butterflies and dragonflies, as well as lots of different birds. Evan saw a snake while he was exploring. He didn't catch it, but he did catch a little skink! Preston caught several bluegill and Evan caught lots of bass and catfish. He fished each morning and night and often during the day too. He caught his biggest freshwater fish, as well as one of the smallest too!

We celebrated Carl's birthday at the lake. Uncle Ron joined us and we had a great time fishing, riding the boat and relaxing at the dock. 

We had a wonderful time at Lake Cumberland.

Covid-19 and Our Family

In my last post, I discussed that both Evan and I had been diagnosed with Covid-19. At that time, Evan was recovered and I felt that I was getting better. Unfortunately, I started to feel worse. I had severe fatigue and some days,  I just laid around and did absolutely nothing but watch TV. I continued to have loss of taste and smell and there were times that I got out of breath easily. I also had some headaches. I was able to recover at home, which was nice. I still have some side effects like getting out of breath easily and sometimes I have a burning sensation in my chest when that happens. I never had the most common symptoms associated with the virus, such as a cough and fever. I am grateful that it wasn't worse. I am also VERY grateful that Evan had such a mild case of Covid-19 and that Carl and Preston never tested positive or got sick.

After Evan and I were diagnosed with Covid-19, the health department gave us strict quarantine rules. In order to not spread the virus, we were not allowed to leave our property for almost five weeks. It was tough to be super isolated, especially for the boys. There were some meltdowns and there was definitely arguing. Thankfully, there were some good times too. We enjoyed our backyard, especially the pool. We also liked watching movies together, playing games and cooking. We were fortunate that we were able to have food and groceries delivered. Friends and family also dropped off meals and medicine. They also surprised us with some nice gifts, which were awesome and lifted our spirits.

Here are a few pictures from our time in strict quarantine. There aren't a lot, because we didn't do very much!

This was our backyard set up. The garage was also outfitted with a TV, inflatable couch and some fans. I called it our hillbilly haven. 

Evan enjoyed catching lightning bugs.

Salons are now open with restrictions, but we had to continue to get haircuts at home.

Carl had the idea to make pizza and cheese sticks from scratch. It was fun and the pizza and cheese sticks turned out great. It was a really fun activity to do together.

We got out first big harvest from our garden. We used to tomatoes to make a vegetable pasta. It was delicious!