The Perfect 4th That Almost Wasn't

The forecast for the 4th of July was not looking promising by Tuesday night. A family group text had established that we'd make a call in the morning and we all went to bed hoping for clearer skies. We woke up to dark clouds and rain - and a group text rescheduling our celebration to the following day. Womp womp.

With several disappointed children on our hands, Anna and I made a new plan that involved a playdate, mac and cheese, and a possible trip to see The Incredibles 2. We were working our way through the stages of grief and trying to get excited for the new direction of the day. Looking at the radar, there was a short window between storms, so I popped on my tennis shoes and went for a quick run around the lake. By the time I got back, the incoming storm clouds seemed to have disappeared.

As we were getting set to head to our playdate, Anna called. The weather forecast had completely changed and the rain wasn't supposed to start up again until late afternoon. We decided to uncancel the cancel and convene at the cabin as soon as everyone could get themselves organized for the new old plan.

Anna and I also took a minute to congratulate ourselves for calmly transitioning between three plans before noon. That's a lot of plan changing for our very Type A brains. The kids also transitioned back to the original plan with no drama. Because let's be honest ... the cabin was where we all wanted to be!

The original forecast could not have been more wrong! Our bravery was rewarded with one of the most gorgeous summer days. Sunny, warm, slight breeze ... so perfect! We all got there just in time for the flotilla ... but the pontoon decided it didn't feel like joining. The kids were more than fine with that as they could hardly wait to get in the lake.

Sustained by their flotilla snack bags, we had to drag the kids out of the lake for lunch (and you all know that my people don't miss a meal. They typically start asking about lunch approximately 20 minutes after breakfast is over). They were simply having too much fun with Otto, Milo, and Hux to think about silly things like food. After managing to eat what I deemed acceptable for lunch, they were allowed to go peruse the dessert selection. Let me tell you - at a Johnson party, the desserts do not disappoint!

Then it was back to the lake for the rest of the afternoon! Otto couldn't wait to show Quinn and Dec how to swim around the end of the dock to climb up the ladder on the back of the pontoon. I swam out to supervise the ladder climbing and dock jumping. Before long, we had a lot of big people out there and all the kids swimming away at the end of the dock. Thankfully my sister remembered how we had used pool noodles last summer while camping to make floating easier for big people when you are holding up one (or more) not big people.

We had the best time out there with the kids and as the day went on, Quinn's courage grew and grew. She and Declan would both jump off the dock "to" me ... but I refused to catch them. I was just there. Then she was willing to jump without me being there. Next, she took a few steps back to take a running jump. Which then evolved into running the entire length of the dock to jump in.

Her bravery culminated in jumping off the pontoon platform (with her dad). That is not a short drop! There was even a quick training session pre-jump to ensure she knew to jump to the side of the motor. This is the child who, not two years ago, would barely wade past her knees in the water!

Fiona delighted in swimming, splashing, playing in the sand, and convinced Auntie to swim all the way across the bay with her (and back). She took a relaxing ride in a tube while Auntie swam and pushed her! And Declan could not have been happier to hang out with Otto and the crew. Those two boys played until they were ready to drop. And then kept playing. Anna told Mike that Ot was practically delirious on their drive home because he was so tired.

Around 6:00, we followed Anna's lead and gave the kids quick "lake baths" so we didn't have to wash them when we got back to Gma and Gpa's. We were heading back to the lake the next day, so showers seemed like wasted effort. We had mac and cheese at 7pm, which the kids got the biggest kick out of.

Then we put pajamas on and ... headed to the radio station to meet Auntie Tracey and Uncle Kyle, who were volunteer DJ-ing the evening broadcast. We watched them play a few songs and the kids got to say hello and "Happy 4th of July" live on the radio during one of their breaks.

With that, we decided we had packed enough fun into the holiday. The kids headed to bed and the rest of us relaxed and listened to the end of the radio show. We had another day at the lake planned for tomorrow.