The Blanchard Family: 4th of July at the Lake

Whew! I need to catch up on some blogging!

We spent the week of July 4th up at my parent's cabin in Minnesota! We always LOVE spending time up there, and with the kids being a little bit older-especially Kyler-we couldn't wait to head up and have fun at the lake!

We left on Sunday, July 1st, after church. The timing was great as the kids napped just shortly into the trip, and then we stopped only one time for dinner and that was it. The kids did great in the car-thanks to the DVD player and Bob the Builder DVDs, and we arrived about 8:30. Monday was a beautiful day, and we waisted no time heading to the beach. We cleaned off the paddle boat and took that for a ride, and enjoyed time playing in the sand and water. Tuesday my brother, Ben, arrived in the morning. He was supposed to come late Monday night, but hit a rain storm and pulled over to spend the night in a hotel and came the rest of the way Tuesday morning. Tuesday was another great day, and we spent lots of time on the beach and in the water. Wednesday was the 4th of July, so we headed to the neighbor's house for breakfast at the pot in the morning. I always look forward to this as there is so much yummy food and we cook our eggs and bacon over an open kettle fire. After breakfast we came home and hung out on the beach to watch for the boat parade. It was another great day and we had a fun time celebrating the 4th of July! Thursday was more of the same, warm sunny weather, lots of time at the beach, playing in the water, and going for boat rides. Thursday evening we had our first group of visitors arrive-Erik's family! Erik's mom, dad, and sister came on Thursday and stayed through Sunday. Friday was the only rainy day we had, it was rainy in the morning, but then cleared off late afternoon/evening. Also on Friday, some more guests arrived! My aunt and uncle, Nick and Marilyn came up, as well as one of my cousins and her kids, Kristin, Jack, and Ava. They came over for dinner when they got here, and then headed over to the neighbor's house, where they were staying. Saturday was a big day-my mom's birthday party! My mom turned 60 on July 11th, and she decided to have a birthday party at the lake the weekend before-since that's when everyone could be there. We spent Saturday morning getting ready for the party, cleaning, vacuuming, getting food ready, etc. Then the guests arrived about 5:00 for dinner, cake, and silly presents. There was a great turnout, and so many people came over to help my mom celebrate her big day. It was a really nice party. Sunday morning we said good-bye to Erik's family and my brother, as they had to get home and go to work on Monday. We spent the rest of the day Sunday playing at the beach and enjoying the water and another beautiful day. Monday we enjoyed our last day at the cabin, we took one more boat ride, water skied one last time, and had a fun final day. Tuesday we packed up and headed home.....it was sad to leave but we had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful, the lake was warm, and it was a great week hanging out with friends and family and celebrating my mom's birthday! We can't wait to go back!!

A couple things I want to remember about each kid from this summer:

Norah-

She wasn't as adventurous as I had originally thought about going in the water. She was willing to walk in some, and liked it, but it took a little convincing. She would walk in up to her waist and that was it. She did however, love to ride on the tube and would float out in the lake for a while, even with me. And, if Kyler was doing something she wanted to be doing it too. Norah hated wearing her life jacket. She did like riding in the boat, but did NOT want to put on her life jacket, we had to just put in on her and go.

Kyler-

Did not really want to get wet at all. Also, at the beginning of the week, we would be out on the beach and he would see a boat WAY far away, and he would take off running up the beach toward the cabin, like the boat was going to come and get him or something. He did get better with this toward the end of the week. Kyler did walk in the water a little, but it took a lot of convincing. Kyler LOVED riding in the boat, and he always wanted to be up front in the boat. He had no problem wearing his life jacket and would probably ride in the boat all day if we let him. Kyler road the tube behind the fishing boat!! The tube is HUGE, and he rode with me, but this was a great first step for someone who didn't want to get in the water that much.... :)

Here are some pictures from our trip!