Fireworks and Fireflies

Happy 4th of July

My 3rd favorite holiday (after Halloween and Christmas), and 1st favorite Summer holiday is July 4th. Every year since the year I was born I've spent the 4th in the same place, at the lake with my family. This year was no exception. We left on Thursday and met my grandparents for dinner. My parents came up later that night and we stayed up till almost 1 AM talking on the porch.

The next morning my Nani made a big breakfast for all of us and then we headed to the water. The girls swam for a little while and we laid out and relaxed. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat.

We went for a long ride and stopped for a while in deep water to swim for a bit and cool off. After we were done swimming, Sarah Grace wanted to go tubing, so she and I climbed in and got ready to take off... but the boat was dead in the water, the battery had died. So we flagged down a passing boat and they toed us to their dock not far from there and we charged our battery and headed home. When we got within sight of our dock we tried to tube one more time. We got in the tube, the boat took off and about 50 yards later died again! We flagged down another boat and they pulled us into our dock where our neighbors (who had been watching us) were waiting for. We were all glad to be off the boat and the girls were ready to play with their friends in the lake.

We have a great group of kids around us up there. Sarah Grace has a buddy at the lake, Mia, who's her same age. They have a house right next door and her mom and I grew up together. She's one of 6 kids and they all play great together. So the girls played and fished (they caught a couple with some "help"). And we went up got ready for dinner.

After a great meal (everything tastes better at the lake) we got our blankets and towels and headed to the boat to go out and see fireworks. The boat cranked right up and we had no problems. We saw some amazing fireworks and were one of about 200 boats out there. The girls had fun, much like the ocean, you never know if they're going to love them or hate them. They both watched and had their favorite kinds.

On the morning of the 4th the guys went to play golf and we lounged around until they got back. The girls and I did a little baking. We made a flag cake. They did pretty good, it was a bit wavy, but with little instruction and even less help they did really well. And it was tasty. ;)

After we were all back together we went out for another long boat ride, no breakdowns this time. The water was really rough and my Pawpaw's back was bothering him so we headed back and let the girls swim.

For dinner, my Pawpaw had smoked a ham and made Brunswick stew. So, once again we stuffed ourselves silly and then had a slice of flag cake. Charlotte was so proud of cake, she had been asking all day to eat the cake "I" made. The girls played with the neighbors for a bit and then we headed back out on the boat for more fireworks. These were a little less impressive than the night before but it was still fun. My grandparents went with us this time so the whole family was there together. On Sunday, Adam and I drove back for church and were back in time for lunch. It was really overcast and we were tired so when Charlotte went down for her nap we did too! It was so great! I don't nap as much as I used to... After our nap everyone was waiting for us to go out on the boat. It was so peaceful, I guess the weather had scared most people away that day. Adam and SG tubed for a bit. She's not a big fan of it. and then we just cruised around for a while. We grilled out that night and then Mom and Dad took all the kids on golf cart ride after dinner. When they got back we did sparklers and Adam and Charlotte caught fireflies. She loved it! She was on a mission. She's crouch down and whisper and point to where she saw one and they she and Daddy would run and try to get it. They got 5 and she was SO proud. i think her Daddy had more fun than she did. Adam had to leave and go home for work on Monday but the the rest of us stayed one more day. On Monday it started off really wet and dreary but by 11:00 was cool and sunny. We went back our on the boat and had the lake to ourselves. Which was nice and scary a the same time. We were really far from home when we thought "our boat could die again any time and it would be a long tow home and no one out here to tow us" so we headed back. But we were still out there over 3 hours. We got back and floated around with neighbors for a while and the kids played and took a canoe ride. We packed up later on and headed home.It was a great weekend, great weather, yummy food, pretty fireworks, and lots of memories!