I don’t do many personal blog posts here, but wanted to share some of our vacation on Lake James in North Carolina. It’s rare that we have a family vacation. With both my husband and I running our own small business, it can be hard to coordinate to get away. As our kids are getting older and two of them in school full time, we realized getting away wasn’t going to get any easier. So we decided that we were going to get away for over a week! Besides a short weekend here or there, this was our first summer vacation with the kids. We went to visit friends that live in western North Carolina on beautiful Lake James. We used to visit them every spring, but the more kids we had, the less we were able to make the trip. This was my youngest’s first time going. It’s about a 12 hour car ride and I’m happy to say they all did great. Yes, there was some whining. And multiple bathroom stops. But we did it all in one day and the kids were troopers.
Lake James Vacation
We spent many days on the lake. There’s an island on the lake not far from our friends’ dock. We loved to beach the boat there and play in the sand and wade in the water. Sometimes there would be other people there with dogs and kids. My little girl is my social butterfly. She loved to go say hi to everyone on the island. She would start walking away from me and say, “mama, I go say hi to them.”
When not on the island, tubing around the lake was a lot of fun! My middle in particular loves to go tubing. You can never go fast enough for him. My little dare devil!
Sunset on Lake James
One night we got the kids to bed and just my husband and I headed out on the lake to view the sunset from the island. (Don’t forget, we were staying with friends so the kids were not unattended!) It was nice to get a mini date night and enjoy watching the sunset on a quiet evening (read: there were no screaming kids to tend to.) Landscape photography isn’t something I do a lot of or specialize in, but I had a lot of fun learning new things.
Lake James Fire Works | 4th of July
We were there over 4th of July weekend. Every year they have fireworks right on the lake! We were able to hang out in our friend’s yard and had an amazing view! I wish I switched lenses at one point, but I do love the wide angle and seeing the water and all the boats.
Want to visit Lake James? It’s a great place for a vacation!
