Fourth of July '23

Another year, another trip up north to celebrate the 4th with Scott's family at Lake Lancer.

This year we had the added drama of "air quality alerts" from the forest fires in Canada.  We drove up Thursday afternoon and it was definitely smoky over the water that evening.  The kids played outside for a bit and we had pizza for dinner from the local restaurant.  

Friday the boys went golfing in the morning after breakfast with Scott and his parents.  Matt, Mindy, their two little ones and I stayed behind.  We took a 2.5 mile walk with the dogs around the lake.  Unfortunately, Evan wasn't golfing very well and came home grumpy.  Him and Sean got into it a little bit and chased each other and Evan had a bedroom door shut on him which smushed his glasses into his eyebrow and caused a pretty deep gash.  So, we had the joy of abandoning the lunch we were making and headed into Gladwin for the urgent care.  They did a fabulous job and he was the recipient of 5 stitches! Ouch!  

We came back to the house after stocking up on motrin and ice packs at a Rite Aid in town.  It was a lazy afternoon then on the beach.  Evan couldn't get the stitches wet with lake water for 24 hours so he laid around and rested.  We took a "nature cruise" on the pontoon boat and saw some turtles and a fawn on the island.  It was grilled chicken ceasar salads for dinner, cards for the adults, and an early bedtime for the boys.

Saturday morning Scott, his dad, Matt, and Mindy went golfing 18 holes at Sugar Springs.  Nana and I held down the fort with 5 kids and 3 dogs.  Whew!  Once everyone was back, Jackie, Josh, and Sydney had arrived.  We enjoyed being on the lake and playing on the beach all afternoon.  We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner with a few side dishes.  The lake was supposed to do their fireworks this night, but a big rainstorm blew through during what would have been their set-up time so they postponed them until Sunday night.  It changed our plans, but we were still able to do some sparklers, a few small fireworks, and made s'mores by the fire.

Sunday was our last full day.  We celebrated AJ's birthday with a taco dinner and an ice cream cake and the lake did their fireworks in the evening.  During the day everyone just enjoyed more time on the lake.

Monday we spent the morning at "horsey park" playing on the playground and letting the kids swim in that part of the beach.  It was a beautiful morning!  We did a big lunch with Matt and Mindy's Serbian food they always cook and then packed up and headed home.  It was a great decision as there was no traffic!  I got all the unpacking and laundry done so that we could enjoy the 4th at home for a change.

The 4th we woke up and got ready to head to the pool when it opened.  It got packed at the pool as it was a really hot day!  We made beef shishkabobs for dinner and had neighbors over for fireworks that Scott, Tim, and Jay put off in the street.  It was a really fun day at home and it was nice to do something different for a change!