When school was coming to an end, and summer was soon to begin, it was once again time for our annual trip to the lake house on Coventry Lake. As we would start our five-hour journey to Connecticut, a van was filled with the anxiousness of four little girls who would be  repeatedly asking “Are we there yet?” until the very last seconds. When we would arrive and pull into the driveway of the house, you would see a tiny cottage that would house seven people for a week, and the beautiful calming lake that will put you in an instant state of ease. Visiting a place one time can have an impact on you, but revisiting that same place, and creating new memories, can really become a part of you.

Waking up the first morning felt like being at Disney, with the beautiful scenery and relaxing day ahead of us. As you would enter out the front porch, you would smell the fried dough cooking and hear the tranquil sounds of the water. A few quick steps down the broken rocks and you would instantly feel the clean blue lake on your feet. Looking out onto the lake, many boats would go by, even banana boats, and you could see fish flopping around on many fish hooks. The day feels long and relaxing listening to the waves hit the shore, but as the sun starts to set, the fire starts to crackle and it is now time for hotdogs and s’mores that will fill us up. Entering into the cottage, all four girls will fill into the tiny upstairs room with only three beds, and the long day will come to an end until tomorrow when it will all be repeated.

There is always so much to look forward to when coming to the lake house, and we had a checklist of all we had to accomplish. The first thing to do when arriving was to go to the convenience store, or candy store as we called it, which was just minutes away, and grab our slushies, push pops, and sometimes even worms to go fishing. We would save all our money for the summer to spend at that store, and with the little remainder we would have left, we would walk down to the beach on our street and wait for the ice cream truck to come. While cousins would come and go during the week, our favorite thing to do was make up skits to perform for the parents, aunts and uncles, even though all the parents wanted to do was float in the water all day. The only way to go tubing there was by hooking up foot by foot, and tugging along by a rowboat, and I have to say it, was a pretty funny sight. One of our favorite things to do was bringing down many products to wash our hair in the lake, and once we were done, the lake would look like a bubble bath. What our lake house was really known for, was the raft, which we tried to tip every summer and was impossible. We would get so many of our cousins and family members out on that raft till there were inches sticking above the water, but it was never able to be tipped. At the end of the day, our favorite thing to do was loading up on our cousin’s pontoon boat and go on the famous “Sunset Cruise,” staying out on the lake until we would see the very last of the sun, which seemed to rest on the water’s edge, and exchange many laughs along the way.

Visiting the lake house every summer created so many memories for me and my sisters, it is hard to put into words.  It was our little piece of heaven, and to hear my mom and her sisters talk about their childhood experiences there, it was exactly the same for them.  To have us all feel the same impact through two generations is something so special and precious and hopefully my sisters, and I will be able to pass on the tradition and memories to the next generation in future years.