4th of July weekend

WARNING: LOTS of pictures to follow

We "camped" (stayed) at my parents last weekend and we were very busy. On Friday we got to spend the day with our friends that we usually vacation with each year. The Brooks were driving from Iowa to northern MI and stopped to spend a day with us and Heagles. The weather didn't cooperate like we would have wanted, but we made the most of it and had a great time seeing Chad, Katie & the kids.

Tate & Will

Ana

it rained, but it didn't keep the kids from playing outside

Will

The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of activities. We did some fishing...

...and kayaking...

Grandpa, Cooper & I

Eli doesn't like it when someone leaves and he is not a part of it, so he watches the whole time they are gone and is there to welcome them home when they get back.

...and eating, we did LOTS of eating, this was just the cutest picture of it.

like I said, Eli doesn't like to be left out so he gets as close to us as he can.

...some sparklers

...some pop-its - Cooper didn't like the loud pop noise, but he liked doing them so he wanted someone to cover his ears the whole time.

...we went to see fireworks

...some night fishing

Then on Monday my dad borrowed kayaks from neighbors and we all went out together. We each had our own kayak and there were 9 of us plus the dog who rode with Chuck.

We tie the boy's kayaks to someone else and they get towed along. Chuck got to do double duty towing Carson and having Eli ride with him. Carson did great and paddled most of the way...Eli, not so much

Grandpa and Cooper

At one point Eli decided he was done so he just got in the water. Thankfully Jodi was there to help and they got him back in.

me & mom

Cooper started not feeling well and got a fever on Monday and Aunt Jodi was very willing to help him take a nap in the hammock. We didn't want too much sun to get on him, so Grandpa put up and umbrella and they had a nice rest.

...oh yeah and we did some swimming too

After Cooper got some medicine and had a good nap he was ready to play. I talked him into skiing with me. He was not sure at first, but in the end he really liked it.