With two parents that work full time, summer for our kids is a summer camp bonanza. Every year I spend the entire month of January filling out a complex spreadsheet of the different camp options for each boy for each week and then I put together the summer calendar like a 1000 piece puzzle, piece by piece making sure that everything fits together (cost, variety, location, hours). It is quite an exercise but it alleviates some of the working mom guilt knowing that I have weaved together a schedule of fun summer camps for both of them.
But the summer of 2020 is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. Shortly after I completed the calendar and started signing them up for camps, Covid-19 began to hit in earnest. By early May it was obvious that few if any summer camps would be open and the boys were about to learn how boring a summer could be.
This presented several problems. One, we didn’t want them to be bored or stay inside with screens all day. It wasn’t healthy for them physically or mentally. Two, my husband and I needed to continue to work (and I was actually working insane hours – 80 hours a week working from home is still 80 hours a week!). And three, we were all going to go crazy stuck inside the house together 24/7 for months at a time.
So with camps cancelled and that extra money in our pockets (camps are expensive!!!), we decided we would try to keep the summer interesting by changing up the scenery as often as possible. Our goal was no more than 2 weeks at home in a row. We figured this would be good for all of us – 2 weeks wasn’t really long enough for the kids to get bored and my husband and I had the flexibility to work from anywhere so we could be on the move.
Our rough schedule was a week at Hilton Head at the end of June, a week and a half home, a week and a half at a lake somewhere, two weeks home, and then two weeks visiting family in MD and NJ. That only left one more week at home before school started (they were going back 2 weeks early to try to make up for lost time in the spring). So we set off to find a lake house somewhere for that week and a half in early/mid July. One major consideration was our two dogs – while it was all well and good for the people of the family to be on the move all summer, we didn’t want to leave them home for half the summer. So finding a pet-friendly lake house was key.
We were open to any location and looked all over NC/SC/VA/GA. The two requirements for us were private access to a lake and a pet friendly house. We found exactly that in the Life is Good Cabin on Lake James, NC (https://www.lk4j.com).
The house location was perfect – it was on a little cove with a private dock where the kids could jump off and swim safely, tucked away from the activity on the main lake. The house was built into a fairly steep hill and the elevated deck made for the perfect vantage point to watch the kids swimming while I worked. Despite being tucked into a cove, it had a beautiful view out onto the lake and the sunsets were gorgeous.
Overall the house was great. It was cute and cozy, and we definitely recommend it and would stay there again. The owner was super helpful and accessible. The location and views were amazing. It had a unique layout with some really cool spaces. It was well-stocked (both inside and out) and comfortably decorated, and they took their dog-friendly status seriously, making sure our pups had everything they would need. The kitchen was well stocked but the bathrooms were a little dated. The house had three bedrooms and slept 8 but started to feel a little tight by the end of our visit, although I mostly attribute that to the two 80+ pound dogs flopped all over the floors, not to the space for the human occupants. You do need to have a bit of a thick skin to stay here, as these signs adorned every major tree from the main entrance to the driveway. (I walked our dogs several times a day and the neighbors were friendly enough though.)
But I promise we were good short term neighbors! We were there for a relaxing trip, not a party. And we got exactly that. Nothing beats watching your kids laughing and playing in the lake (while you work like a sucker from the deck).
The cabin came with a canoe (and life jackets) that the boys took out one evening and had a great fire pit (and a supply of logs) where we made s’mores. It really was the perfect summer retreat.
We were also lucky enough to have friends who came to and brought their boat. We headed out on their boat twice over the weekend they were there – once pulling over on a random stretch of beach to swim and once to Goat Island. (The cabin owner was nice enough to give us some recommendations of where to go and a map pointing out their favorite spots). The boys LOVED being on the boat. The smiles on their faces when we bounced across the water were amazing. (Our dog Hazel, however, did NOT love the boys being on the boat. She was very stressed out watching 3/4 of her humans motor away from her on the dock.)
We loved Lake James. Only about 100 miles from Charlotte, you can get there in less than 2 hours. To me, a visit to a lake is even more relaxing than a trip to the beach. The beach requires a lot of effort and gear. And I’ve always felt like there’s some element of stress at the beach, especially when the kids were young and the ocean waves and riptides were a constant source of worry. To me, a lake is a place where you can completely unwind and relax. It’s easy and it’s fun and it screams summer to me. Watching the boys swim and boat and fish, I really had more of a sense of normalcy than I’d had in a long time. I felt like we gave them almost a typical summer camp experience by coming here. (One of their favorite camps is a YMCA camp on a lake in SC.) It was exactly what we were looking for – a change of scenery for the family and a chance for the kids to have some good-old-fashioned summer fun.
Oh – and there are lots of other things to do in the area too! There is hiking, camping, horseback riding, and more all within a close drive. Although my work schedule limited our activities more than I would have liked, we did get to explore part of Lake James State Park and go horseback riding at Cedar Creek Stables. I would love to go back again next summer when I can take a few days off (or at least stop working at 5:00!) and explore more in the area. We will definitely be back!
