Family, Friends, Freedom, Food & Fireworks!!!

This Fourth of July started like all of our Fourth of July's (well, every 4th for Josh, but same for me since we've been together)! Heading up to the Lakes to celebrate :) We departed from Austin around 11:00 AM on Thursday June 30th for our long journey to Waubun, MN (north of Park Rapids).

Callie with Great Grandma Barsness

We stopped in Edina to swap cars with Don & Sharon, and had some lunch :) Once we were finished, we plopped little Miss back into the car for our trek up north :) We only had to stop a couple times :) Once to switch drivers, once in Wadena for dinner & our traditional stop in Walmart for our meal to serve and to let Callie walk around, and then once in Park Rapids (Josh and I had to go to the bathroom - Callie was still sleeping!!!!). We arrived around 6:00 PM to Grandma & Grandpa Barsness, Cousin Natalie and Uncle Kim :) This was the first time Kim and Natalie had met Callie -and what a fun treat :) We'd been practicing Natalie's name and recognizing her picture with Callie. I think it paid off, because Callie went RIGHT to her :) We are so excited that Natalie is going to the U of M for school next year - we'll get to see her more :) YEAH!

On Friday morning, July 1st, we brought Callie down to the lake to play in the sand and splash around in the water! She had so much fun, and we just let her run around naked, because I brought her down in clothes, not realizing that she would want to go directly into the water (stupid mistake on my part!), but she still had fun :) Good thing her Great-Grandpa was raking up all the goose poop so Callie wouldn't play with it :)

:) Perfection!

Loving the sand & sun :)

Later, Cousin Nora & TJ showed up and brought Dylan with them! It has been a year since Callie and Dylan played together, so this was A LOT of fun to watch them interact with each other. They started out with hugs right away :) I think Callie was excited to see someone her own age!

Hugs for Dylan :)

Trying to figure out how to get down the stairs!

Going for a ride!

Trying to talk Natalie into giving them more treats!

We kept Callie indoors all of Friday, because it was WAY too hot for her to be outside. That heat just drains her and then she only wants to sleep the rest of the day. She had fun getting into all sorts of mischief :)

Natalie with the girls :)

This is Callie & Dylan on the 4th of July LAST YEAR!
Callie 3 months Dylan 1 month

And here they are 1 year later :)

Callie with her Great Uncle Kim :)

Grandma Lynn and Larry came on Friday night and Callie was SUPER excited to see them :) She was busy showing Grandma all sorts of fun stuff!!!

As some of you know, Grandma & Grandpa Barsness are selling their lake home :( One of the features that I love about this house is that there is a SUPER CUTE playhouse for kids that Josh's two uncles built! It has two levels in it, a cute table & chairs, kitchen and fun toys :) I spent all Saturday morning cleaning this thing out from top to bottom. I cleaned all of the kitchen toys and made it "kid friendly". I hadn't been played in for awhile, so it was nice to get it all cleaned up :) Callie LOVED IT! She was so excited about it that I realized this girl needs a play house! So the convincing began :) I tried my hardest to convince Grandpa to let us have it, even Uncle Kim said he could get it to our house, but Grandpa wants to sell it with the house :(

Josh seems to think we can build our own - we'll see about that!

We had a blast on Saturday afternoon playing in the water! Callie wore her life jacket the whole time (you can never be too sure of an accident). She LOVED going in the paddle boat! Grandpa sold his boat at the beginning of the summer, so we spent more time on the beach this year!

Callie had so much fun playing at the lakes, but like all good, fun things-it must come to an end :( Sunday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed home during Callie's nap time :) I had to start working on Tuesday (summer school), so I wanted to be back Sunday night. Thank you Grandpa Don & Sharon for letting us travel safe in your vehicle. It was fun to see you and play with you as well :)

Summer perfection!

Monday, July 4th - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! I got Little Miss dressed and ready for her first 4th of July parade in Austin, MN :) We met the Denzer's down on Main Street for the fun event :) She really enjoyed all the music -and she saw two of her babysitters :) Stephanie was watching the parade with her family, and Kathleen was cheering in the parade :) So much fun for her to see two of her favorites!!!

4th of July Parade in Austin!

We love the Denzer's!

Happy 4th of July :)

Doesn't this just SCREAM Parade!!

She was too cute for those in the parade. It's like they actually think I'm going to let my 15.5 month old daughter have all the candy you kept HANDING to her! I did teach Callie that whenever she was given candy, to turn around and give it to Ava :) Ava made out and loved it :) She didn't even have to stand on the curb!

After the parade, Callie was out for the entire afternoon - it was too hot and it drained her for 3.5 hours! That night, we went to the Denzer's for a BBQ and fireworks on their deck :) They seriously made an amazing display of food :) It was DELICIOUS! I was shocked that Callie stayed up as late as she did, but she really enjoyed the fireworks from their deck, and I'm glad she got to see them ;)

The McRae's had a wonderful 4th of July weekend and hope you did too :)