Fourth of July Week at the Lake House

It was close to constant activity while we were at my mom and dad's house on Summit Lake. The lake is west of Olympia, Washington, where my parents have now lived for almost 15 years. It's hard to believe that I was almost out of college when they bought this little bungalow, and now it's their haven. The weather was beautiful at the beginning of the week and then turned typical Pacific Northwest on us. It didn't stop anything, though. The kids had so much fun and were on vacation let-down once we got home!!!

Here are a few of the highlights!!!

Grandma hid presents for the kids, of course!

Grandpa had to work, so he arrived home a while after we had been there. He got a grand welcome from the kids!

We couldn't resist the Coppertone tushy!!!

Playing in the water, while...

Wyatt gets his first fishing of the week in! He caught many little perch babies this time.

Grandpa giving Annabelle her first golf lesson.

It takes a lot of concentration...





The unveiling of the new remote control speed boat!


Wyatt was beside himself. He has wanted one of these for a looooong time! This one stays here at the lake!

This is Sunny. He is the best pet a neighbor could ask for. He belongs to the neighbor and comes over every day to visit my parents when the neighbor gets home from work. Sunny LOVES to fetch the ball, so Wyatt was throwing the ball off the end of the dock, jumping in and then swimming back in with Sunny. I'm not sure who had more fun?

Round one of s'mores (I think they had them 4 or 5 times throughout the week!)

What a great chocolatey face!

Helping Grandpa cut down some sticks with the loppers (Wyatt will do anything to help Grandpa, and especially if it involves tools of any sort!)

Matthew arrived on Wednesday...first thing to do??? GO FISHING!!!

Annabelle's party trick: she makes this funny noise by suctioning her tongue against her bottom lip. She was trying to teach everyone!!

S'mores, round 2. This time I roasted the marshmallows. I must say that I am a master roaster!!

One of only two boat rides we took. Usually there's at least one every day, but the weather just wasn't cooperative. Annabelle wasn't so hip on the boat last year...can you see how much she loved it this year?! What a difference a year makes!

Matthew, the kids and grandpa went out fishing, and Wyatt came back with this good-sized trout! He couldn't wait to eat it!!! He makes his papa proud!

Getting ready for the first annual Summit Lake Boat Parade. The theme of parade was Proudly We Serve, so we transformed my dad's boat into a gun boat!

Playing with bubble guns that Great Grandma sent!

Fitting the boat decorations!

Seeing if Annabelle fits in the "shooter".

The kids had a grilled cheese dinner on the deck!

Visiting the concrete mixers with Uncle Sean.

The kids got to go in the cab and honk the horn!

We had fireworks leftover from last year, so we were able to set them off as a preview on the Third.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

The beginning of the Boat Parade!

The USS Wybelle goes underway!

After the boat parade, we were able to watch the end of it!

The kids got these cool packages of fireworks that weren't worthy of waiting for dark, so we had a mini show in the afternoon.

That night the fireworks were unbelievable! Practically every house around the lake had amazing fireworks. It was hard to choose where to look! This was Annabelle's first time for seeing "real" fireworks!

The kids playing with their new friend Jackson on Saturday.

Enjoying bar-b-qued oysters!

Putting together a new Lego set with Uncle Sean!