Memorial Day 2015

Well Memorial Day has certainly come and gone, but definitely a few pictures I want to remember.  We were fortunate again to have our Dutch guests...it is just so easy to vacation with them and we are so sad they are back to the Netherlands in the fall! Ang and Seth and the kids came up for a night as well, and always so good to get the cousins together.

Simone and Mikayla play so well together, and while Luka is at times the odd man out, TJ and Bas certainly have a special connection.  We are already planning our trip over there in 2017!

Mikaya has also found new freedom with her confidence in swimming.  She goes flying off the end of the dock and jumps into the water.  It is getting so much easier to be there with the kids compared to when they are younger.  Their growing independence makes a world of difference, and I feel like I can actually relax there more than ever.

The boys tried wake boarding and skiing this time.  It's really easy to do behind the boat.  Scott feels like he is a taxi driver most of the day but I think he secretly enjoys it a bit as well.

The kids love to pile on the golf cart to ride to the beach.  So we load on the kids and the coolers, and the rest of the adults and anyone who missed the bus gets to walk!.  The kids had an absolute ball burying TJ at the beach.  It was hilarious.  They got a bit "creative" finding things around the beach with which to create various body parts.  Look closely and you can perhaps see what I mean.

 

We love our tradition of going up to the lake for each of the three holiday weekends.  We can generally count on seeing neighbors who are now good friends, and we all take care of each other and respect the differences.  At one point, one of my friends stated, "I get the lake now.  It's like a whole lake culture up here." The carefree attitudes, the hanging out, the "what happens at the lake stays at the lake..." it all adds up to a family tradition for us.  And even though at times our boys will say "do we have to go to the lake again?" we know that in the end, these are the memories they will keep when they've grown up.  Thank you Mimi and Papa for allowing us this tradition!