Happy 4th of July

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than heading down to Cedar Creek Lake for some water, food, sun, and fireworks! As soon as we got down there, Katie and Austin headed straight for the slides that PawPaw has setup in his yard. Austin still can't climb up on his own, but he digs sliding down. He also spent the afternoon pretending he was a frog by jumping and ribbeting through the wading pool!
While the kids were playing in the slide pools, me and Stan were able to sneak off and take a boat ride, soak in some sun, and I even went water skiing! I hadn't been skiing in almost 10 years so I wasn't even sure that I could get myself up anymore, but luckily for me I did not completely humiliate myself in front of Stan this time! I had to throw in the rope though after three runs because my muscles were already in pain during, it's just not as easy as it used to be! I have to admit though that I am so sore today in the weirdest places, what a workout! By the way, there are no pictures of this! But here is one of us on the shore, you can see the beginnings of my sunburn on my arms.

After a brief meltdown of the kids after being out in the sun for at least 7 hours, we headed inside for a break to play with cousin Faith's toys. This is Katie in her patriotic dress:


After recovery from the meltdowns, we went back outside and tried to teach the kids how to play ladderball. Here are the action shots:

I think She-She bribed Katie with a cookie right before this picture so she was loving her Aunt!


Here are the kids enjoying homemade ice cream! We had to keep them loaded up on sugar to keep the up for the fireworks.

Since Katie and Austin were too young to do the fireworks that PawPaw bought, we got the kids a couple of night sticks that glow in the dark so that they would feel a part of the festivities. It worked!

Here is She-She teaching Katie how to hold a sparkler! PawPaw and Uncle Jason put on a great firework show from the dock, the kids tried to enjoy it, but Katie ended up falling alseep watching it. Austin hung with us though and made it to the end. We got in the car about 10 and the kids were asleep soon thereafter. It was a great day and a very exhausting day!