4th of July Weekend

Headed to the Beach, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

We spent July 1-4 at our cottage in Wisconsin. The place is officially "open for business". So, the whole crew was there for the long weekend. I took the kids for a little hike to the beach and we had to stop along the way for a few pics. Jake is my little poser.



It was a really nice day at the beach with a fair amount of people there. The water wasn't too cold and the fish were leaving Megan's toes alone.



Jake was actually hoping that fish would come and nibble at his toes. He waited patiently while Papa looked on:



He gave up after a while and had some beach fun of his own.



Friday evening was pretty uneventful. We had a nice steak dinner with Mimi & Papa and the kids turned in at a reasonable hour. On Saturday morning, Darin and I got a chance to get out on the golf course (we usually don't play together that much....we should get a babysitter more often).



We played at Evergreen and I was putting like a champ! That's about all I had going for me, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

Darin worked on a few projects around the house. Jake helped. Here they are painting the kitchen island legs.



Lisa & Will and kids came up on Saturday afternoon. While they were getting settled, the rest of us headed out for a bit. Darin went shooting with his dad and Michele, the kids and I went to Williams Bay to meet up with Jenny and Flip on their new, fast boat. And, Darin and Larry ended up joining us on the boat for a bit as well.





And working the ropes....



The kids all had a nice reunion upon our return to the cottage. Aunt Jenny brought out gifts from her fancy European vacation. Matching dresses for the girls:



The boys got matching Corsica shirts, too. But for some reason they couldn't wait to get into their pajamas and make smores in the campfire.



Everyone likes a good campfire:



And, while we were out there, Darin lit some fireworks that he had left over from last year.



Sunday morning brought a little relaxation. It's always nice to get all 4 kids to sit together.



Lisa and I brought the kids back out onto the boat with the McFlips while the guys ran errands and did some more house chores.



And then we headed back for an All-American dinner:



We were going to go out to see fireworks, but then changed the plan that afternoon when we all ran out of motivation. Flip went out to buy fireworks and set up a musical playlist to go along with his show. Our little crew was entertained:



We headed back to Chicago on Monday afternoon and the kids napped all the way home. Our neighbors had an impromptu BBQ, so we joined them and then played a little Running Bases in the alley:



That night, we walked over to the forest preserve clearing near our house and watched an amateur "almost professional" fireworks show. It's amazing how many people came out to watch this unofficial display. And, I can't imagine what they must have spent on that. There were a ton of kids at the Smith's house and someone brought out sparklers (and freeze pops). But, after about 40 minutes, the police shut it down. It was probably a good thing, because we were able to get the kids to bed at a decent hour.



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All in all, it was a fun-filled, relaxing, exhausting and all-around good weekend.