July Recap: Cousins Part 1

My kids look forward to seeing their cousins all year 

so they were so ecstatic we could still all get together.  

Most of our activities are outdoors anyway.  

We eat all of our meals on the deck (like Rafferty's Pizza!).

We spend the rest of our time on the lake.

(Rylee is in the background showing the cousins how to water ski. 

 Maddie tried a couple of times, but never got up.  Maybe next year!)

This was probably breaking some social distancing rules, but we took our chances.  :)

The 4 are always switching places and taking turns sitting in the swamp seat.

Getting some air!

This is the epitome of lake life!

July: Storytime

2020 was a good year for organizing and cleaning.  I had gone through my house in FL in the Spring so I decided to also go through our rooms at my mom's house in MN.  I started with our bedrooms, but eventually made it to our bathroom in early July.

When I was organizing our bathroom closet, specifically this bin, I made an interesting discovery!

Flash back several years, it might even have been the year my Dad fell off the roof and broke his leg, which was when Rylee was in Kindergarten, because that was the last time I can remember my parents being home in MN in the wintertime (not including this quarantine year).  

Well anyway, as Peggy Meyer used to say to get her stories back on track, one day my mom went out to her car and when she put her hand on the steering wheel she noticed that her diamond band was missing.  She looked everywhere.  She thought that the ring fell off when she was outside and even had friends come out with their metal detectors - twice!

Well now the mystery has been semi-solved, because when I cleaned out that bin, I found the ring!  

If you're a logical person, you can assume that somehow the ring fell off when my mom was folding towels and that somehow the ring flew into the bin when the kids and I later used those towels.  

If, however, you're a more spiritual person like me, I believe the ring was left for me to find.  We had just been talking about that story the day before and miraculously the ring appeared in one of the places I was cleaning.  So thanks spirits for moving the ring so I could find it!  :)

July Recap: More

One more set of lake pics and then I can get into the cousin's visit (which will also be mostly more lake pics - lol).  They came later in July this year since they didn't need to coordinate with the July 4th festivities.

Before they arrive, it was more of the same for us.  Eat, swim, eat, swim, repeat.  I'm pretty sure the kids were about to sprout gills they were in the water so much this summer.

The other reason it was nice that Howard was up so much this season 

was that Rylee could ski whenever he was around!

I think this enthusiasm was for the first time she got out of the wake.

Jon will love watching her next year!

Another successful ski adventure!

Jace enjoyed spending time with Howard too.  They tinkered around with things and went on jet ski rides.  Howard even brought a cool drone for the kids to play with.  We saw Howard the most, but their whole family was up at times - it was really fun to see everyone!

July Recap: Lake Life cont.

 More lake pictures for your viewing pleasure.  The kids love jumping and posing for the camera.

They are built in playmates for each other which came in during quarantine!

Showing Grandpa Chip and Connie her water skiing skills. 

Jace liked to jump in the water to help with the skis.

Stopping to let the kids swim for a bit.  

Two seconds later we all had to jump in because it was so hot.

The other thing we did a lot of this year was night swimming. 

The kids swam anyway, we adults just enjoyed the cooler night air.

July Recap: The 4th/Water skiing

The fourth of July was different this year, but it was nice also.  There was no city parade so some of the home owners on the lake did a boat parade instead.  We sat on the pontoon and listened to patriotic music, cheering and clapping for the boats and pontoons as they went by. 

 Agate is a small lake and it's never busy except on the 4th (which we usually never see because we're on Serpent).  There were several boats and pontoons in our bay.  It was really fun to see all the people out and having fun.  That night Howard shot off fireworks in the bay.  It was a huge display and people watched from around the lake and boats in our bay.  It was a great quarantine 4th actually!

Rylee really wanted to learn how to water ski this year.  She tried at Grandpa Chip's one day, but the skis were too long and it just wasn't working.  My Uncle Howard said he could teach Rylee with their skis and pull her behind the jet ski.  She tried a few times one night and was soooo close to getting up.

She decided to try again on the 4th even with all those people around us watching.  I love that she is fearless!  It took her a few tries, but then she got up.  The best part was all the people on the boats were cheering and clapping for her - it was so sweet!

Of course once she learned how to do it, she was addicted!  She skied every time Howard was up.  (These pics are from multiple days, but I'm just putting them all into this post.)

Jace loved being the spotter.

And he was always so excited and proud of her!

Jace loves the jet ski by the way.  :)

Jon loved to water ski so this is just another thing they have in common!

We took tons of videos so he could see Rylee's accomplishment.  :)

And many thanks to Howard - he was a great teacher!

June Recap: Lake Fun

With nothing else to do, we spent a lot of time on the lake this year.  Papa is our usual partner in crime...

The kids loved the edition of the aqua pad.  

It had so many fun uses like the last one standing battle...

best trick...

jumping...

Not sure what this is called (making it rain?), but it looks fun!

We also spent time with Grandpa Chip and Connie on Serpent Lake.  Jace doesn't love going on the hot dog, but when it's just him and Rylee, we can usually talk him into it.  I think it's more the unexpected falling off that he doesn't like...

I love when I can catch him smiling...

Rylee, of course, loves the hot dog or anything like it.

I love watching them have fun on the lake.  

I'm so happy we were still able to go MN last summer!

June Recap: Ericksons

It appears that I've gotten a little behind on blogging this year - typical of 2020!  But we had so much fun over our socially distanced MN summer that I'm going to try to catch up over the holiday break.  :)

The Erickson family bought a beautiful new pontoon this year.  They took us out for a ride and swim on Serpent.  It was such a nice day.  

The kids loved jumping off the tanning deck in the back 

because it sits like 6 feet up out of the water.  

We also got together with them and the rest of our Cedar Crest crew several times for outdoor bonfires.  Jace especially loved their new dog, Walter.  (You can also see the new bike path in front of Jace.)

We used our old pontoon almost daily as well.  Rylee, of course, loves driving the pontoon (when it starts!).  The old pontoon is really more of a swimming raft, but it was actually running pretty good this summer due to Uncle Howard's mechanical efforts.  That was one of the nicest things about summer 2020, Howard and his family came up to their cabin a lot more this year.  It was really nice to see them more often (even if it was always outside).  :)