Chelsea: "I still remember the first time I saw John. We were about 6 years old at the Yankee Lake Regatta (Little Miss Yankee Lake 1997!). I was walking up onto the dock and saw him standing at the end of the dock gazing out at the lake (as he still very often does) Fast forward a few years and the property next door is for sale and who buys is but "the cute kid from the regatta" Summer love was real at the lake-sneaking into the love shack, late night rides on the paddle boat, and kissing under the raft. Life brought us back together many years later and we bonded over our love for nature, animals, family and THE LAKE! Forever my summer love." John: "I met Chelsea at Yankee Lake when we were just kids. My parents bought the house next to hers and she quickly became the girl next door. We spent a few summers swimming at McClays, taking late night boat rides, and having midnight bonfires that our parents may or may not have been aware of. Then she left. No goodbyes, no see you next summer, just left. This was her “weird” phase. It lasted most of high school and through our early 20’s (some of it’s still there). I used to ask about her, or when she was coming up, but she had other plans. It was probably ten years before I saw her again, but the moment I did, it was like we were 14 again. Fast forward almost another ten years and we have two beautiful children, we still take late night boat rides, still have midnight bonfires, and still spend as much of our time together at Yankee Lake as we can. We chose to get married here because our life started here. We’ll raise our kids here because of the memories we made here as children. Looking forward another 10 years years, and hoping our kids might be as lucky as we were to find summer love that lasts a lifetime. "