4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July this year in Green Lake, which is something we have not done in quite some time, if ever since my mom and dad bought the house up there. The weekend was great....boat rides, nice weather, good food, fireworks and wonderful company.

We arrived up there Friday, late afternoon. After a quick trip to the grocery store with my mom, we all headed to Walker's for Friday night Fish Fry. It had been a long day for Ethan and we were eating dinner at what is normally his bed time so our "night at the bar" was cut short in order to get the big boy to bed. After all, a good night's rest is necessary to co-captain the boat with papa.

Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful, albeit windy day. The big boys had some tree trimming to do in the morning so Ethan and I spent some time outside with nanny, playing with his "windmill" and new water table.
After the trees were all trimmed and sandwiches were made, it was time to head down to the boat for a pre-nap ride.

Ethan insisted on carrying the pretzels (and not wearing a shirt)!

Come on Papa, let's go faster!

The ugly green "octopus" that was caught on our anchor

We were out on the boat for a couple of hours before it was time for Ethan's nap. Nanny was nice enough to take Ethan and put him down so Matt, my dad and I could have a couple hours to relax on the boat. We enjoyed a nice, extremely speedy and bumpy ride out to the middle of the lake. We happened to catch up with Livermore's for a little swimming and beer drinking (well, some of us were beer drinking)! After a little too much sun, we headed in to get cleaned up for dinner.

Just a few pictures of Ethan and Ellie during bath time. The were too cute not to post!

The dad's taking care of jammies!

Come one, Ellie, let's play!

I guess I will have to resort playing with my dad for now!

Sunday, we woke up to another nice, but still windy day. Because the water was so choppy, we decided not to go out on the boat, but just enjoy being outside around the house. The ladies went on a walk while the guys washed and waxed the cars. After showers and naps, we headed to downtown Green Lake to kick off the 4th of July Festivities.

First the parade...not the greatest parade that we have ever seen, but they did save the best "floats" for last with a huge bulldozer and a couple fire trucks.

Our best attempt at a decent family picture

So excited to see the bulldozer coming down the street!

After the parade we went to the Livermore's for dinner and fireworks. The weather was not the most cooperative, as there were rain showers on and off, but the sprinkles stopped just long enough to eat dinner and enjoy the the fireworks show from across the lake.

Papa and his 2 favorite grandkids...all sporting red!

Maddox...Cole's puppy...the most adorable little pup!

Cooper and Ellie

The boys....sitting on the dock...

Onto the fireworks show...or "tireworks" as Ethan calls them. We are not sure what was more entertaining, the fireworks or watching Ethan and Bobby react to the fireworks. I can't even being to explain how excited they were each time one lit up the sky. They could not get enough!
Just a couple picture of how cute they were below:

And a few more pictures of Ellie, just because she is such a doll! How much does she look like my sister in the first picture?!?! What a sweet baby!
We had such a wonderful weekend at the lake and can't wait to celebrate many more 4th's at Green Lake with our families. It truly was the perfect weekend!