Zimmerman Family: Cousins Weekend at Lake Wedowee

I was very fortunate as I was growing up to be part of a very close extended family. We ate dinner at my mother's parent's (Maw Maw and Ga Ga) house every Tuesday and Saturday night. Mom is the middle of 3 girls and each girl has 2 children so there are 6 cousins total- 4 girls (me, Chris, Jessie and Katherine) and 2 boys (Matt and Will). In addition to our weekly get togethers that consisted of excellent food, Family Feud and He-Haw we also went on the Saggus Family Vacation every summer to Jekyll Island. Those weeks meant riding the waves as the tide was coming in, playing putt-putt with Chris somehow making a 2 on every hole, watching the Cardens chase a kite down the beach and fireworks (because we always went for the 4th of July). We still try to make it to the beach together-- or as many of us as possible. Now, thanks to the generosity of the Rice family we are able to have a cousin's weekend at their lake house!

I'm sure you can understand how "the cousins" as we call ourselves grew up to be close. Now that we are older and 5 of us are married that means we have 5 "extra" cousins. At each wedding we had to take a cousin picture. There are 3 Matts so we call them all something different to tell them apart. My cousin, Matt Carden is Matty C. My brother-in-law Matt Downes is Lars because his first name is Lawrence and my cousin-in-law Matt Rice is, well, Matt Rice. All of us have unique relationships with each other. For example, I met my husband through Chris and Matt Rice. Matty C went with me when I moved to Sarasota and met his wonderful wife Aubrey there. Matty C, Katherine and I all got married within 6 months of each other in 2005 and we all turn to each other in times of crisis. Almost 3 years ago Will, the baby, was in a horrible car accident and there was a lot of cousin bonding in the waiting room at Grady. Thankfully Will has almost fully recovered, but was unable to join us for the weekend. We were also missing Katherine's husband Nathan Eisner. He's a Techie, but we love him anyway.

We had a great weekend with lots of water sports-- a pontoon boat, 2 ski boats, a jet ski, wake boarding, tubing and skiing, good food-- including lots of Luna bread (Lar's company), and of course lots of cousin bonding and laughing. It was a lot of fun to watch the 2 littlest cousins (Alexander and Aiden) play together. The next generation will be adding a new member in March when Chris and Matt's second baby is due to arrive. Aiden loves Alexander as you will see from the pictures! Unfortunately we forgot to take a group shot, but I think I got at least of one everybody.

Alexander sharing his train and Sesame Street legos with Aiden.

Aiden checking out the boat with Daddy.

A view of the house from the dock.

A view of the dock from the house.

A view of the house from the lake.

Aiden's first boat ride. Not too sure at first...

...getting more comfortable.

Swimming with Daddy.

Now he's really driving!

Jessie, Matt and Chris relaxing before dinner.

Matt and Jessie Downes and Matt and Chris Rice

Aiden checking out the kid sized table and chairs.

Alexander must have been saying something very interesting.

This kid loves to sit down and put his feet up.

The girl cousins: Jessie, Mandy, Chris and Katherine

Aiden playing with Alexander's train.

Lars, Chris and Aubrey preparing dinner Saturday night.

Daddy and Aiden with their shades on.

Katherine enjoying the Sunday morning boat ride.

Relaxing on the boat Sunday morning.

Alexander and Aiden letting their hair blow.

Aiden and Mommy checking out the waves at the front of the boat.

Chris told me this was a romantic shot....

My hot husband.

Aiden fell asleep on the way home.

Aubrey and Matt Carden getting sunscreened up on the dock.

Me and Aiden playing on the tube. Aiden has been really into waving since this trip. Alexander would stand on the deck of the house and wave to Aiden down on the dock and Aiden would wave and wave.