Happy 4th of July!

Our long weekend in Chetek began on Thursday night as we headed up North. We had a low-key night overall because on Friday, Mommy and others planned on running the Fishy Four. This is an annual run/walk that Mommy and Daddy have done in the past. Mommy decided to be more competitive this year and run it. To prepare, we have been running 6 days a week for the past three or four weeks. Daddy decided he would run it too (without training) and he agreed to push me in the jogger, instead of Mommy. That made her really happy. Everyone else in the family (auntie Erin, Uncle Ben, Grandma Lois, cousins Bennett and Kyra) all participated too. Kyra raced in the 1/2 mile kid race and she did great! Mommy ended up running the 4 mile route in 34 minutes (which is an 8 1/2 minute mile...she was happy about the time overall since the run is hilly and she didn't train for that long). She came in first for the Klay family,130th out of 700 or so participants. Auntie Erin came in two minutes after Mommy and Daddy came in 3 minutes after Mommy. After our run, we decided to reward our hard work by having fun on the pontoon for the rest of the day!

Here we are after the race-hot, sweaty, and awfully red (mommy's trademark after running)

Uncle Ben let me drive the boat on Lake Chetek

Bennett and Ishared ice cream treats at this little restaurant/bar on the lake

The following day, was my 2nd outing at the 4th of July parade. Last year, I slept the whole time in the Baby Bjorn while this year, I was very excited to see the tractors, band, and floats. The Chetek parade is the LONGEST parade ever (seriously, it is about 2 hours long because they let everyone participate). After an hour of watching, sweating, and attempting to drink from Mommy's waterbottle, we decided to head out on the lake to cool off.

We dropped off Grandma at the Beach Party and continued to enjoy the lake with Uncle Matt and his girlfriend, Jill (sorry, we forgot to take a picture of you two!) We floated along with a million (not that many, but a lot) of boats and visited with some of the locals.

We picked Grandma up a few hours later. Boy is she happy to see me, or do you think it was the beer at the beach party that made her smile?!?!

Mommy and Auntie Erin thought it was critical to get all 3 of us cousins together for a picture. They both wonder how a family with 3 kids could possibly have any GOOD pictures! We attempted a few times and I believe these are the best ones captured.I was definitely ready to be done after a few minutes of silly noises and clicks from multiple cameras. Notice that Bennett and I are dressed alike. Mommy bought us matching tops (mine was a shortall and Bennett had a t-shirt). Everyone thought we looked so cute together.

Celebrating the 4th of July fireworks in the crib!

Mommy attempted to take a picture of the fireworks to show me. Definitely not the same as being there in person!

Mommy didn't let me stay up this year for fireworks (again, last year I was sleeping comfortably in the front carrier during the fireworks). So, because Grandma lives on the lake, they put me to bed and watched the fireworks in the backyard (they blast the fireworks over Lake Chetek). I had company in the bedroom though because Liberty has a serious anxiety problem with fireworks. Strange for a hunting dog, don't you think?!?!

This would never be allowed at our house!

Yes, I AM wearing a SPEEDO. My parents tell me this is the ONLY age where it is cute to wear these!
The following day, we enjoyed the lake, once again, thanks to great weather and great company. Daddy barefooted, Mommy slalom skiied, and even cousin Kyra got up on skiis this year! Daddy tells me he will teach me to ski next year when I am two (Mommy disputes this).

Yeah, cousin Kyra!

We took turns skiing and "spotting" on the boat. We were taking a little break in this picture but I LOVED how fast the boat would go when we were pulling skiiers (to Mommy and Daddy's surprise, I didn't get upset with the fast boat).

We headed home on Monday because I had my first day of swim lessons at the Chippewa Pool (we will add these pictures on our next blog entry). I loved seeing my cousins, Grandma, auntie and uncles of the 4th. It truly was a blast! I am sure it will get better and better each year. Hope you all had a great 4th of July too!