Celebrate good times

I'm sure everyone has a different idea about what vacation means to them. Typically for us, it means time spent at the lake. We kicked off the week with the 4th of July, and had more fun from there. If you'll remember, around here it was a rainy 4th; not your ideal lake weather. But I think we all made the most of it. Kayla watched as daddy backflipped of the "high dock" in the rain.


We had just gotten a wake board so we had to try it out, right? Derika, Kayla, and I braved the rain to watch Aaron and Isaac give it a go. Derika was an even bigger trooper because she stayed out for the whole event. I pulled the "mommmy" card and bailed after a few rounds with Aaron. Ultimately the wake board got a big thumbs down, and we decided to exchange it for a new tube.

I can't neglect to mention the backdrop to this story. Day 1, Aaron, excited to try out his new toy, gets into the water to try getting his feet into the wake board. When it became apparent he was going to drown himself in the process, we inquired as to whether he'd tried them on in the store. He assured us he had, but later revealed that he hadn't tried on the exact one he bought, just the display. So what did we find, but an "M" on the boot. No, that didn't stand for Mandy, Mommy, or Man-boot. It was a medium, and let's just say we don't typically go for medium anything for Aaron (go big or go home, we always say). Well, at least we can say we tried.

Kayla was begging to have her fingernails painted, to which I typically show her mine, tell her that mommmy doesn't even have hers painted, and move on. Well, since I was actually painting my own toes, Kayla was pushing to have hers done. Just when she'd gotten distracted by something else, Aaron reminded her that she wanted her toes painted. I decided that he'd just volunteered to do it, and here's the evidence:


Kayla and Layla celebrate the holiday


Maren shows off her patriotic spirit for her first 4th of July


Great Papaw takes Maren for a walk



The girls show off their "sister" shirts, and declare our first vacation as a family of four, a success.


Fireworks are held at the lake the weekend following the 4th of July. It's a lot of fun to go out on the boat and see them shoot up over the water. This is the first year we allowed Kayla to stay up and come with us to watch them. This was also her first time to see fireworks at all. With the time change a few years ago, it is so late by the time it's dark enough to start them, that we haven't felt like keeping her up.


But this year she came out with us, and seemed to really enjoy them. Though she didn't appreciate how loud they were, she was impressed and excited to see the show. Here she shows just how to avoid them seeming so loud.