Seemed like a good idea at the time

So....I read somewhere that a great blog topic was introducing your team to your customers and followers.   And since we have the most diverse, talented, fun and interesting team that I love talking about, why not talk about them here?  So here we go, let's make this happen.

Step One:  Send a note to each team member and ask them to write a short paragraph about themselves and send it back to me.

Step Two:  Send a note to each team member and remind them of Step One.

Step Three:  Wait.

Step Four:  Determine the order of the posts should I ever get all the bios.  (thinking positive)

Step Five:  Write my own.

Mine is actually easy.  It's a story about the love of my life, my husband the Original Lake Boy, Ray Batten.  Ray grew up in Spokane, Washington in the 1960's.  His dad was in construction and every summer as soon as school was out they would pack up and head to the lake for the summer.  Their destination was Canoe Point on Priest Lake, Idaho.  Their family friends would do the same and they would set up camp Memorial Day - Labor Day.

The Dad's would commute during the week to work in Spokane and the Mom's and kids would stay at the lake to enjoy a summer without care or worry.  These summers and Ray's time at the lake made an impression on his heart that would last forever.  The lake really was his first true love.

1962 Canoe Point  - Ray on the far right next to his Mom in her flashy sunglasses

Ray on the left (12 years old) with little brother Billy and his Father 

This photo is dated 1960 so Ray would have been 10 years old and I love
this so much because he's holding a camera.  His second love, photography.

As you can see, his camera is never out of reach even today.

Ray and I  married in 1994 and he introduced me to lake life.  (I am a cowgirl from Montana and hadn't the foggiest idea of what he was talking about  - this dream of living at the lake.)  In turn, I introduced him to Dallas, Texas and all the humidity and heat that comes with it.  We moved to Dallas in 2003 so I could advance my career in Advertising Sales Management and low and behold, we soon realize there are about 1000 lakes in the State of Texas!  And not a lot of retail that cater to these passionate consumers; and THAT is when we started dreaming about a new business venture that would marry Ray's love for lake life and my entrepreneurial spirit.  Lakehouse Outfitters has been my full time job since I retired from my professional career in 2009.  And in 2012 we moved to the lake - FULL TIME!

We live and operate Lakehouse Outfitters from the shores of Cedar Creek Lake, Texas just 90 minutes south of Dallas and 90 minutes east of Waco.  Our daughter Jodi and her girls, Madison and Kennedy are in far north Dallas and to say we love being GP and Kiki to these two would be an understatement.  We love them to pieces and love how much they love their time at the lake.  Our niece Dylan is attending Baylor University/Waco as a sophomore (see previous blog for more on that)  and a weekend at the lake is a place that feels like home when going home to California just isn't practical.

"Grandchildren are your reward for not killing your own kids"

I look forward to introducing you to our crew, our girls, our team.  Each of them holds a special place in our hearts and plays an important role in the success of Lakehouse Outfitters.  We have a unique chemistry that you won't easily find elsewhere.  I'm so thankful for each and every one of them.

xoxoxox,

Cindy

Memories Are Made At The Lake

One of the things we love most about lake life is sharing it with friends and family.  It sounds cliche' but it's true - Memories are made at the lake!  How else could you explain four girls (all entering their sophomore year at Baylor University) willingly spending one of the first weekends back on campus with the old folk?

Don't get me wrong, we're fun and most people love our company.  And by most I'm speaking of adults between the ages of 40-65.  NOT 18-19 and almost 20.

Our niece Dylan, conned her roomies into a weekend at Auntie Cindy and Uncle Ray's lake house on Cedar Creek Lake recently and we had a blast.  It was the first time we'd met Dylan's roomies...and well . . .it was interesting.

They were all very nice and polite for the most part - but we were surprised by one of our little house guests who we had been "sold" as a lake girl from way back.  Her family has a lake house outside of Chicago that's been in the family since the 1960's.  With this information came some assumptions on our part.  And you know what they say about assuming.  Makes an A_ _  out of you and me.

This lakegirl:
- afraid of bugs
- afraid of geckos
- complained that the boat ride was too rough
- acted nervous about tubing
- whined that the wet life jacket was too cold
(you get the idea)


Meet Dylan's lakegirl roomie Miss Callie - as you can see, she makes herself right at home.

Her name is Callie - don't make the mistake of calling her KELLY.

Callie likes to say she's from Chicago - but she's really from Algonquin (although she has a tough time pronouncing her own home town)

She's very tall and blonde.  Apparently - the blond part is important because she will only date blonde boys.  She went on and on about a boy named Ben.  We only hope he is as fond of Callie as she is of him.

She's a little sarcastic, pretty competitive and doesn't like to lose.  This became evident as her team lost at several games of water volleyball during her visit.

When she loses, she takes it out on others.

 And it would appear she's not outgrown the toddler habit of pulling hair when she's frustrated.  

In case you are wondering, is Dylan laughing or crying?  She was crying.

Mishalya is smiling because it's not her hair that's being pulled and Ashton is smiling because they get to leave tomorrow.  

Which brings me back to my opening paragraph.  

Memories Are Made At The Lake

some you never forget

Authors Note:  Callie loves to hack into her roommates phones and laptops and send emails and texts.  She's quite the prankster.  So....we thought it would be fun to prank Callie and create a mock blog.  

Which we did - only to find out she loved it and wanted to show her family - so now it's LIVE with Callie's permission.  This is a great group of young ladies who love Jesus and each other.  We were honored and blessed to have them as our guests.  Can't wait for round two!

AC-UR