4th of July: an Epic

Why an epic? Because this should probably be three (or maybe four) posts, but I'm going to squeeze it all into one and inundate you with photo after photo of all of our patriotic fun.

As has been the tradition for the last 25 years (yes, folks, you read that right - it's been 25 years!) we spent 4th of July weekend at "the lake." Celebrating our nation's independence has taken many forms over the years, but we've always been lakeside with friends and family. This year was no different.

Our adventure started out by stalling the kids as long as we could Saturday morning before we just had to let them go to the beach. Much to our delighted surprise, we found the beach full of teeny, tiny frogs/toads (really, how can you tell when they're that small?) that were so much fun to catch. Sean even found one that still had part of its tadpole tail. It was a fascinating real-life biology lesson for the kids.

No beach time would be complete without sufficient time building,



digging,



chasing fish,



coming up empty-netted,



hopping on (and off and on and off and on...) the boat,



tolerating your photo-obsessed mother,



and transferring as much water from the lake to the beach as possible.

Every year the lake association sponsors a boat parade and all lake picnic. Our goal each year is to have the best decorated boat, but not win. Winning means you have to be the judge the following year. The patriarch (the man in the 25-year-old donkey hat) would rather not.

Nothing says "we had a fantastic time" like a railing full of wet clothes drying in the sun.

And nothing says "it's been a long, hot, sun-filled day" like your mother (who NEVER EVER drinks beer) drinking a beer. (This is honestly the only time in my entire life that I've seen my mom drink beer).

 

Looks like she liked it.



Day two held a lot more of the same: beach, beach and more beach.



More interrupted play from a photo-obsessed mother

and more improvisation when it came to sun-wear.

More lake to beach water transfer (you can't see it, but he's got a full bucket in each hand, which explains the muscle-man pose, I guess),

 

more muck,



and more delightful sibling cooperation.

This is the day that Elise was clearly my favorite subject because there are a plethora of photos of her:

pouring




water,



digging



sand,



posing for



the camera,



chatting with dad,



and fishing (for dragonflies).

The special treat on day one was that no one took a nap. The special treat on day two was that everyone got to stay up for a camp fire (and sparklers) because everyone took a nap. That was a special treat for mom and dad.

You can't have a camp fire without s'mores.

We call this synchronized roasting.

And these



are just cheeks



full of marshmallow.



Wes was really into the roasting part.



I don't think he ate many mallows, though,



because he wasn't sticky from head to toe.



Our little Elise mostly just enjoyed




the sitting




and rocking.



But not so much the gliding. That may have had something to do with the wild ride her brothers were on, though.

When everyone was sufficiently full of marshmallows we moved on to sparklers. Everyone was having fun until someone broke the don't-touch-any-part-of-the-sparkler-except-the-bottom rule (regardless of how many times they were reminded).

 

After some tears, a little cold water and a band aid, we rejoined the party and watched the sparkles abound.

There must be something about the last day at the cabin that works up an appetite. It might be the fact that we don't want to bring home as much food as we brought up. Maybe...

Or maybe it's that all the good food is irresistible. This boy tried rhubarb pie for the first time

and loved it.


Or maybe it's the memories of all the happy times we've just had


mixed with the sadness we feel about our cabin time coming to an end.

Regardless the reason, we ate a cabin size lunch and set out for home. After three hours in the car, we were all ready for some outside time. Then mom had to get out the camera.

How could I resist

those pigtails?


And the spontaneous sibling affection?


Say it with me: "Aww." (Yes - this really was spontaneous).

This, on the other hand, was not. I planned it and just happened to get one picture where they're all looking at the camera and 2/3 of them are smiling.

Then it fell apart


and the only one left having any fun was Wesley

while the other two chanted "cheese burgerrrrrrrrrrrr" over and over again just waiting for me to take my finger off the shutter.

A long, busy, sun-filled weekend coupled with short (or nonexistent) naps in the car meant that our little blessings would not be staying up for the official 4th of July fireworks. Lucky for us, there were 5 sparklers left from the night before that they were able to enjoy before heading off to dreamland.

We hope your celebration of our great nation's independence and the freedoms we enjoy was as full and fun and festive as ours was.