So Far On Vacation this week......

[gmillerdrake]

 We have been at the Lake of the Ozarks since last Saturday morning enjoying some good old 'do whatever we want' time. It's been 'eventful' to say the least. On Sunday while docking the Pontoon boat my Father in Law NAILED the dock going about 10 mph.....as he drilled it, he threw the boat in reverse (about 3 seconds to late) and the force of the blow and reverse in direction sent my 7 year old son head over heels off the front of the boat into the water. He had his life jacket on and didn't hit anything on the way in....so after he surfaced he just had a huge 'WTF Just happened to me look on his face' and I pulled him out with no further issues.....other than watching my mother in law scold my father in law, that was funny.

Then this morning, in the hectic chaos of 16 people (yes 16...all my wife's side of the family  ) my three year old gets out the front door and no one noticed until my brother in law saw him on his vehicles back up camera directly in the path of his car while leaving for the store Talk about thanking GOD for technology and watching out over the little buggar.....and talk about feeling like a utter failure as a parent.  I don't waste time on the 'what if's' of situations like that, I just thank God that there is no 'what if' and learn from it and try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

And then, today my sister in law had an idea being that we all were going to be here....we bought white shirts and dresses and had a photographer come over to take a bunch of 'family' pics. It went very good...up to this point:



   You can see me (4th adult from the right) and my wife (first woman on right) Screaming for our three year old son...the little guy near the bend in the dock. My brother in laws wife grabbed him for us the second we screamed for him, it was just scary for a good three seconds cuz we couldn't see him. Take a good look at everyone and you can see my sister in law laughing her a$$ off....not even concerned her nephew could have been under the friggin' water!!!!
  But, we all were fine and have been sitting here getting texts/e mails and Facebook comments from everyone....i'm just glad no one was hurt. So there's my vacation synopsis and we still have to make it to Sunday.



Oh, and I was able to go golf as well...

[TioJorge]

  sounds like it worked out nice. that bridge picture is perfect.

[SystematicThought]

I think the bridge picture turned out better than a happy family photo would have   

[gmillerdrake]

I think the bridge picture turned out better than a happy family photo would have   

the photographer sent us this pic right after he got home because he wasn't even sure he took one it happened so fast. We took probably 40?? other pics....all types of combinations but you're right.....this IS the photo of the session. Like I said, it's funny now and a funny story....but I'm just glad nothing 'bad' happened.

[SystematicThought]

Oh yeah, I'm glad nothing happened. I'm just cracking jokes. You guys have great balance

[gmillerdrake]

Oh yeah, I'm glad nothing happened. I'm just cracking jokes. You guys have great balance

Once it 'bottomed out', it felt for a moment like it was going to tip forward a bit when we were all scrambling around....it felt weird. I was all good once I knew my little guy was safe.

[KevShmev]

Given that everyone is okay, that bridge picture really is totally awesome.

But the worst part had to be getting soaked in the Ozarks.  I have been to the Ozarks many times, and the water is pretty disgusting, especially near the edges, so, yuck.

[BlobVanDam]

That bridge photo rocks (since everyone survived rororo).
It's not just a photo of your family, it's a photo of a family moment with an interesting story behind it to tell. That picture tells more than a thousand words!

[gmillerdrake]

But the worst part had to be getting soaked in the Ozarks.  I have been to the Ozarks many times, and the water is pretty disgusting, especially near the edges, so, yuck.

The saving grace here is this cove where my in laws condo is at is a good half mile from the 'main' channel. It's very calm and has a small creek that comes from the hills so there is a nice 'current' that keeps the water moving out to the main channel. But, even with that being said it is 'lake' water......

Given that everyone is okay, that bridge picture really is totally awesome.

Yeah, the feed back from my sister in laws Facebook page has been the same sentiment. A common theme is people are laughing at the fact my wife and I are apparently the only ones who were concerned about anything, my sister in law is laughing hysterically and my mother in law is still 'posing' for the picture.

That bridge photo rocks (since everyone survived rororo).
It's not just a photo of your family, it's a photo of a family moment with an interesting story behind it to tell. That picture tells more than a thousand words!

Yeah, this is a moment in time that was captured just at the right moment and will be difficult to forget.

[black_biff_stadler]

Y'all really need to make this the cover of your family christmas card.

[gmillerdrake]

Y'all really need to make this the cover of your family christmas card.

I'm fairly certain that has been decided already. I mean, you almost have to.....

[black_biff_stadler]

[lonestar]

Glad everyone is ok. That photo is beyond epic, ya just can't write shit like that. God bless family moments.

[gmillerdrake]

I may mark this day on my calendar....

[jingle.boy]

Oh, and I was able to go golf as well...

someone better use this as caption pic.

Great story Gary.  Seems as though your little guy wasn't too concerned.  "Don't worry pops, I got this".

[gmillerdrake]

Great story Gary.  Seems as though your little guy wasn't too concerned.  "Don't worry pops, I got this".

He handled it great. No crying at all...was just like you said. "No big deal". His cousin cried for 5 minutes after cuz she was so scared but I think Luke is subjected to far worse from his older brothers so it rolled right off his shoulders.

My sister in law sent the pic into 'Ellen' because apparently she shows funny family pics a lot. It's been pretty entertaining reading the responses to the pic on everyones Facebook pages....even the photographer posted it on his and reading random people's comments on it has been entertaining.

[kirksnosehair]

Too bad you don't have the dock episode on video, you could send it in to America's Funniest Home Videos and win some serious scratch 

[hefdaddy42]

[KevShmev]

We forgot to ask, but...

Y'all really need to make this the cover of your family christmas card.

I'm fairly certain that has been decided already. I mean, you almost have to.....

..please tell me you did this!!!

[El Barto]

Never saw this thread, so sorry for being late, but where you really fucked up was agreeing to pose for that picture in the first place. Some family member floats the idea to all dress the same and pose for a family picture, I'm going to politely decline before heading off into the woods to burn one. Although truth be told, in my family there would be more people joining me than posing for the picture.

The boat story's great, though. If it were a rental pontoon boat, I'd have "inadvertently botched the docking" as well. I was always that guy at the go-kart track that's "stop" by plowing full speed into the kart that parked in front of me. Hopefully a friend, but a stranger was usually just as amusing.

[KevShmev]

Haha. That reminds me of when we used to do family vacations with our Uncle Joe, Aunt Kathleen and their six kids/my cousins, and the one year when did it at the Ozarks (where Gary's pics are from), and the one night, four of us did the go-karts, but in a torrential downpour.  I still can't believe they let us go when it was raining that hard, but we went round and round for a good 10 minutes or so with the rain just crushing us. I think I was probably 16 or 17 at the time. So much fun.

[Chino]

I love how the first kid from the right has a facial expression that says "are we done taking pictures yet?"  Glad everyone's okay.

[Podaar]

It looks like a forced baptism.

[TempusVox]

Talk about a ''Bridge Over Troubled Water" moment. Very glad no one was injured.

[bout to crash]

I think my favorite thing about that amazing photo is the older lady about to take that girl down by her hair.

[Neon]

Oh my god this is a classic...you should blow that pic up and frame it...hang that shit over the mantle in the living room.
Priceless. 

[Tick]

WE MUST CAPTION THIS!!!