The Fourth In Photos

There were just too many photos of the Fourth to fit them all in one post. So ... here's a few more of our amazing day at the cabin. Coming soon to a blog near you, photos of us at the cabin on the fifth of July ... which are toooootally different. As you can see, it was a great day!

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.

Hello, Up North!

We got Mike's car back just in time to get ready to head north for our annual 4th of July festivities. He was pretty excited to have it back - and that they had detailed the inside so it was incredibly clean. It almost felt criminal taking it up north - five of us plus dog and days upon days in the lake were not going to keep it shiny and clean. We did a decent job of not destroying it ... until the drive home. Let's just say that the youngest member of the gang officially also gets car sick. And Mike had to hose down the inside of his car when we got home. Sigh ...

Anyhoo, let's focus on the majority of our time up north, which was just completely delightful. The kids have SO MUCH fun up there with all our people. Fiona even tried to convince me that we should stay up north forever. I told her that Daddy and I have to work so that we have money and can take care of ourselves. She promptly told me that Grandpa had money. She pitched it to Gpa ... and he wasn't so sure he wanted to take us all back on.

We left Tuesday morning right around 9:30 and missed the holiday traffic snarls. We were so happy to not be stuck in the bumper to bumper traffic all the way up! The kids were good in the car and the SeaBands that I bought for Quinn for her carsickness seemed to work well (Dec tells me that he needs a set too!).

We got just over halfway up and met our neighbors for lunch at a little cafe near their seasonal campsite (just like we did a couple years ago). It had rained most of the way up, but by the time lunch was done, the skies had cleared. We took advantage of the sunshine and hung out at the campground for a couple hours. The kids enjoyed the playground and driving Ron's golf cart around. They even humored me with an updated golf cart photo!

We left Malmo with enough time to finish the trip to GR before dinner. We were so happy to get to Gma and Gpa's! After dinner, Gma gave the kids popsicles (which we wisely ate outside! They were so melty) and we walked down to the park to stretch our legs. Such a great way to start our vacation.

End of June

After an incredibly busy beginning to June, the end of the month felt almost manageable. It was so reasonable that Mike and I were even able to sneak a date into the mix!

Mike got two tickets to the Twins game a couple Saturdays ago ... but not just any tickets. Seats in the front row of one of the dugout boxes. We were field level, just past first base on the right field side, and were up close and personal with LoMo during warm ups.

Watching baseball is one of my very favorite things in life and it was so much fun to go with Mike. He's my second favorite baseball date. It's okay ... he knows that no one can top my dad! I wore my vintage 1987 World Series shirt (it was my grandpa's), but it didn't help ... the Twins didn't play that well. But we still had a great time sweating in the sunny seats together.

We got home to find Declan in the tub and a slightly frazzled babysitter. He had fallen off the trampoline onto his face and had quite the bloody nose. K handled it like a pro ... and according to her, the girls stepped it up and cleaned up most of the blood from the floor and brought her everything she needed in the bathroom to tend to Dec. We were so proud of them and D was no worse for the wear.

We were invited over to K's house for dinner that night (since we had to drive her home anyway) and had the best time hanging out with her, Makai, and family.

The next day, we found ourselves with too many pork chops, so paid the dinner invite forward and had our neighbors over for dinner. The adults were able to hang on the deck, listen to music, and visit while the kids had the very best time playing in the yard. It was just the way to head into the final full week before the holiday.

After surviving the week, we lived up to our reputation as professional day campers, saw a break in the rain, and headed up to Baker Park to spend the day with Cheryl and her extended family (they were there camping for the 4th). While not as hot as the day before, it was a pretty hot day, so we headed down to the beach. The kids had a blast splashing around and everyone was thrilled when the park staff brought out a couple fake logs and they got to try their hand (or feet) at log rolling.

All three kids tried the log and Mike and Brad even had a little best two out of three competition. Mike would like me to record that he won. I will also add that none of the rounds went more than maybe five seconds ... We had a fantastic day and got home just in time to pick up Chinese food and settle in for the night. June treated us right and we are looking forward to more fun in July!

**Spoiler alert: We just got back from spending the 4th up north and so far, July does not disappoint!

Quinn Cheers

The biggest thing that school has done for Quinn is give her the confidence to finally separate from us enough to actually participate in things she loves. We still talk in great depth about what to expect. She does not like being surprised. Or unprepared. Or uninformed. But she is more willing to take a chance and give new things a try.

So when she wanted to be in a week-long, twelve hour cheer camp this summer, I was cautiously hopeful as I hit "register." And she showed me! Not only did she do it, she killed it! We came home on the first day to find her teaching her brother and sister how to do stunts. Don't worry - she and Fiona were the bases and Dec was the flyer ... that totally won't end badly. Maybe. She woke up each day excited to go and couldn't wait to tell us and show us everything she learned that day. Show and tell included cartwheels in the parking lot of the theater and front walkovers in the living room ...

Since Quinn was just over a year old, she has been fascinated by cheerleading. If Mike flips through channels and stumbles across a cheer competition, her head immediately whips around. If we are at a school event, she is just drawn to the high school cheerleaders. It may have been the best week of her life! 

Mike, Fiona, Nanny J, and I were all able to watch her performance on the last day of camp. We need to work a bit on her game face ... she has it during practice, but got so excited when we got there that she was a bit distracted. As she gets more used to performing, the game face will come. She did so great and we had the best time cheering her on. Fiona had her game face on and showed up in a dress, fancy hat, high heels, and a purse to demonstrate her support!

We couldn't have been prouder, watching her passion overcome her fear. Not only did she participate, she had fun and felt successful. Go, Quinn, go! [Sidenote: her favorite thing to learn and Fiona's favorite thing to learn from her was the "sassy walk."]