Has it been this beautiful all my life?

This year my family went on a family vacation, a budget family vacation.  We spent a week at my parents lake house on Cherokee Lake with my in-laws.  This vacation home has been in my family my whole life.  I can remember nearly drowning in this lake when I fell off the dock at 6 yrs old (we have since implemented a no children near the lake without a life jacket on).  I remember catching catfish, learning to ski, breakfast cruises to the dam, croquet and volleyball and corn hole and any type of yard game you can imagine, throwing rocks and huge bonfire marshmallow roasts and fire works and...well you get the idea.  A life time a memories and I haven't lived a life time yet.

 So when we got home and I was looking through the 200+ photos that were taken by me and my mother-in-law (her photos are far better than mine but you will have to settle for mine) I thought to myself how beautiful this place is.  So serene in the early morning hours before everyone gets out of bed and peaceful beyond compare on our sunset cruises.  How have I missed this?  How have I  thought of this as merely "a place my family goes".  Happy memory on top of happy memory, I have shared so much of my life with so many of the people I love here.  I am so blessed to share this place with both the family I grew up with and now the family I have made.  One day my boys will have all the same happy memories and I think I will teach them to appreciate the beauty as well as the fun!