4th of July - Lakehouse Fun!

Diane invited me over for a dinner playdate last week and we were talking about the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend. Neither of us had plans so we planned a spontaneous getaway to her lakehouse! It turned out to be an excellent weekend with fun had by all :)

I had Friday off, so I spent the morning getting packed, then I left with the girls that afternoon. Since we have 3 dogs and no one to watch them (John's late mother Nila used to take care of the dogs for us), John stayed home and drove up for the day on Saturday. The drive usually takes 1 hr, 45 minutes with no traffic. It ended up taking us several hours because of traffic and stops. Here's a picture of one of our stops, since Reagan had to go to the bathroom ... I keep a portable potty seat in my car and I've used it so many times!! I put a pull up on her just in case she fell asleep on the drive, but she didn't really need it.

Diane and her 3 kids during one of our stops. Her husband Jack had to work, so he couldn't join us.Diane's lakehouse is 2 levels; she and her kids always sleep downstairs and her in-laws or other guests sleep upstairs. JP was having so much fun playing with Reagan that he didn't want to say goodnight and sleep downstairs ... he asked if he could sleep upstairs with us. Diane happily agreed because she figured there was no way he'd actually go through with it (he can be a bit shy and cautious at times). But to our surprise, he did very well! The 3 of us all slept in the big king size bed! Before going to sleep, they were reading books and Reagan told JP she'd read to him ... of course, Reagan doesn't know how to read yet, but she's really good at looking at the pictures and coming up with her own story. She had JP convinced that she knew how to read - it was pretty funny!

On Saturday morning, John drove up for the day and arrived around 11:30. As soon as he arrived, we drove to a nearby town called Hawley that was having a 4th of July parade.

It was a really quaint little town in the mountains with tons of character (and many "characters" too!)

Reagan quickly discovered that the coolest part about a parade was all the free candy they gave out! She was jumping up and down, so excited about the loot she was hauling in!


The parade had all the usual marchers you'd expect in a holiday parade ... it was festive and fun and even though we weren't there for the entire thing, the kids enjoyed every minute of it.




Of course, Elmo was a big hit!



I particularly liked this old carriage that was pulled by the horse/4 wheeler ... it was an antique hearse!

After the parade, we walked a few blocks to the nearby park and let the kids play. I thought John looked pretty darn cute on this log-roller!

On the way back from the parade, I took this picture ... it was such a gorgeous day on the lake!

Kaitlyn on the beach

3 1/2 month old Erin - she's such a sweet little baby!

It's amazing how well the 4 of them play together ... here they are in the sandbox (not a great picture of any of them, but the only one I took of them in the sandbox)

On the back porch swing, looking out at the lake

I love this picture of John walking JP, Reagan and Kaitlyn down to the dock

We let Reagan stand in the water and then Avery insisted on putting her feet in too. She was having the time of her life!



Here's a video of Avery kicking her legs in the water

The shorts came off rather quickly, as they were getting soaked

JP, Reagan, Avery and John

The funny thing about this picture is that it wasn't "set up" at all ... these two play so well together and I just love it. I walked into the sunroom and found them sitting on the couch, reading books. Every mother's dream!

John went home around 8:00 so he could tend to the dogs. We got the big kids in their pajamas and they watched fireworks on TV while we put the little ones to bed (Avery and Erin). We popped popcorn and took it outside to watch the fireworks over the lake (we locked the house and took our video monitors with us)

We lucked out because the next-door neighbors were lighting fireworks right there on the beach for us to enjoy! You can also see the big beautiful moon in the above picture.

Reagan and Kaitlyn ~ there were several different groups of fireworks going off around the lake, so it was fun to watch them all.

Surprisingly, the kids lost interest in the fireworks rather quickly and Reagan thought it would be more fun to throw rocks into the lake.

JP on Sunday morning

Eating bacon for breakfast ... this is one of Avery's funny looks

Once again, all the kids had disappeared into the sunroom and when I walked in, I found them like this ... they were inspecting some type of millipede creature under the couch (I took a picture of the creature too, but didn't feel like posting it - apparently, I was the only one who got grossed out by the thing!)

It was a beautiful, sunny day on Sunday, so we took out this little pool and wedged all 4 kids into it. Diane and I couldn't believe how much fun they had in this tiny little pool! They just sat there, playing with toys for over an hour!

Kaitlyn and Reagan

Here is a very funny video ... it's not what you'd expect from a video of 4 kids in a pool. Instead of hearing loud squeals of laughter, you'll hear NOTHING. Diane and I were laughing about how quiet it was, which is why I turned the video camera on. They were all in a zone I guess ...

It really was an excellent weekend ... many thanks to Diane for being my friend who's always up for an adventure with kids!

No time to blog ... and it's killing me!!!

For those of you who know me, you'll understand that it's killing me that I haven't updated my blog in over a week! We were in Utah for almost 2 weeks and I took over 1,000 pictures. I downloaded some onto my parent's computer and updated my blog while I was there, but then we went to Moon Lake and I fell behind. I've only just started my post about our fun weekend in Moon Lake and now that we're back to NJ, I haven't had time to even think about downloading all my pictures and videos onto my computer.



We flew home on Wednesday evening and I'm happy to report that the flight went very smoothly. We made sure the girls got a good nap in between our good-bye lunch at Hires and our departure to the airport. The flight left at 5:00 pm, so we had the early time on our side. I sat next to Reagan and kept her very busy, pulling out all kinds of new toys and things to color. She was an angel. John sat across the aisle with Avery, who took 2 short naps during the 4 hour, 7 minute flight. By the time we got our luggage, loaded into the car service and drove home, it was after 1 am here in NJ. By the time we got it bed, it was after 2 am. Needless to say, our schedules are still a little "off." Reagan went down for a nap yesterday at 6:00 pm, then went to bed at midnight. I'm not too concerned, since we will be taking her to see fireworks tonight, so the late schedule should work out to our advantage. I'll use the weekend to try to get her back on a somewhat normal schedule. As I said to Nicole yesterday, we're a bit unconventional when it comes to schedules and routines ... we kind of go with the flow!



So, there's an update. Hopefully it will ease my anxieties about getting a post onto my blog. Yesterday I discovered how difficult it is to unpack and get the laundry done while entertaining a 2 year old and an 8 month old. There's just not enough time in the day to get everything accomplished! Within the next few days, I hope to post about our trip to Moon Lake (which will show up below this post, since I already started it), our last couple days in Salt Lake (an outdoor lunch playdate with my wonderful friends Jami and Natalie), and then a 4th of July post ... we're having people over today to celebrate John's favorite holiday and then we'll head to Ridgewood for the fireworks. John is currently setting up the volleyball net and filling water balloons so we can show our British neighbors, the Trimms, how we celebrate our country's independence! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!!

Oh, and last but definitely not least, I need to post about Avery and how she's starting to crawl! Yes, my baby will soon be mobile and life will not be the same around here. It was so nice when I could sit her on the floor and know she'd be in the same spot if I left the room. Now she's lunging forward onto her hands. As always, it's bitter/sweet :)