July 4th long weekend

I was lucky to have a short week after returning from the Mexico trip and was off mid-day Wednesday. Thursday, Summer had to work so Kaitlin and I packed up and went to swim at Nanny and Papa's. BK and Andrea were over and we all had a fun time swimming. Kaitlin really loves the Princess float her Nanny bought her. We spent the 4th back over at my parents house and were joined by Britt and KC and the Raetz's. Papa grilled ka-bobs, hot dogs and brauts, to go with lots of fresh fruit, chips and salsa, corn, veggies and other dishes. Andrea brought homemade fruit dip and cookie-dough dip, which was to die for! Dad had picked up a bottle of 35 year old scotch that we cracked open that evening to celebrate my recent promotion. I'm not a big drinker of scotch, but this was the best I'd ever had!

Saturday, Summer and I packed Kaitlin up and made the short trip out to Britt and KC's lakehouse. I can now see why my dad referred to himself as a pack mule while we were younger! Somehow though, I had forgotten Kaitlin's swimsuit, so KC Was nice enough to pick one up for us on the way. We recently upgraded Kaitlin's car seat to a big-girl seat and were anxious to try it out on a longer trip. Things were going fine, until Kaitlin demanded to take a turn at the wheel:

She actually did good on the trip down, which I attribute to a more roomier car seat. Kaitlin had been out to the lakehouse before, but this was her first time to ride on a boat! While waiting on our chicken to smoke, we all got in the pontoon boat for a cruise around the lake. Here are a few shots of Kaitlin on the trip:

"All loaded up, got my life-jacket on, but I'm not so sure about this!"

Papa has taught Kaitlin how to point out airplanes as they fly across the sky (would you expect any different from a proud member of the USMC?). So, whenever we are in the pool or on a walk and she hears the engine of a plane, she immediately smiles and points up to the sky, just like her Papa taught her to do. Well, the boat ride really threw her for a loop because she could hear the engine of the boat, but couldn't see any planes in the sky. She spent most of the trip out to the cove pointing to the sky, smiling and looking for airplanes. Here's a shot of her just beginning to point out a "plane":

Kaitlin was clearly unimpressed by her first trip to Party Cove.

We had a great weekend and really appreciated Nanny and Papa putting together a great 4th of July celebration and all of Britt and KC's hospitality yesterday. Next weekend we are making our annual big trip to Britt and KC's lakehouse and several of our friends are driving in, as well. This will be the first time to have babies attend the trip, as both Kaitlin and Maya (Charlie and Sapna Pringle's daughter) will be in attendance. We'll post all about it next week.