4th of July Weekend

Matt, Jay and I arrived Thursday night at Grandma Amy's (my Mom's house) for the 4th of July weekend. What a fun, relaxing weekend it was for all of us.

Friday morning Jay decided to hijack Great Grandma's walker while she ate her meal at the kitchen table. Away he walked with it...so funny!

Jay's favorite activity this weekend was crawling up, then standing up and walking down the carpeted stairs. We don't have stairs here at home and I was quite impressed with how well he navigated them on his own. As you can see from the two videos below, he hangs on to the railing and then works up the courage to place his foot on the lower step to come down the stairs. (Don't worry about his small tumble at the end of the first video - he was just fine - just surprised.)

On Saturday, the 4th of July, we headed up to my cousins lake home. We started out with a potluck lunch followed by lounging, swimming, boating, and visiting the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The below photos are taken from the dock. The first photo is my Uncle and Aunt's lake home (which used to be my uncle's uncle's lake home), then to the left of that home is my Uncle's parents lake home which I basically grew up knowing since that is the place we spent many a summer weekend playing with my cousins.

Above: View from the lake house looking out at the lake and docks.

Below: Crystal, me, sis Molly, Alisha, and Anita enjoying some "girl time" and soaking up some sunrays on the small dock. (Molly and I grew up with those terrific gals - Anita is my Mom's best friend, Alisha, Molly, and I are the same age, etc. We are lifetime, lifelong friends.)

Above: Matt - relaxing and enjoying the beautiful day at the lake

Below: Aunt Molly with little Jay (13 months old now!)

My brother Scott and his wife Mandy arrived at dinner. Afterwards they took the boat for a spin and the guys enjoyed skiing/wakeboarding, etc. (Brother Scott in the water; in the boat from L to R, Matt, Molly's boyfriend Scott, Jason (my brother's best friend and its his boat), and Mandy)

Below: Jay playing with a parachute army man and me

FIREWORKS!

One tired boy in Mommy's arms