We spent the 4th of July at the lake with the Tucker family. The weather wasn't overwhelmingly hot like in past years so we didn't completely sweat buckets but a few sticky hot moments were still enjoyed. I made sure I slathered the kids with sunscreen and we spent most of our weekend outside everyday.

Hailey has been in a cooking mood lately so I packed our cooler and brought a few things for her to prepare. She made pancakes. She likes to flip them. I decided to try to make homemade salsa for Brady but it was too dang hot I thought. Next time I make it I will scrape the seeds out of the jalapeno and cut down on the liquid so it isn't so soupy. I am determined to use up all my tomatoes this year from my garden!

Kelsey, her cat and her boyfriend have recently moved to the lake house too. We are excited to be able to see Kelsey more often. She has the cutest cat that the kids had fun getting to know. I had 2 cats when Hailey was young but she doesn't remember them. I vowed when our dog and cats left that we wouldn't have another pet inside that was big for a long time. It is too painful when they die and they come with so much mess I don't want to deal with anymore. So I just wind up feeding all the critters outside. They had fun getting to know Kelsey's lovable animal and he tolerated them. They have petted other peoples animals in passing but the whole nice animal thing is still a new experience. I had a cat with an attitude that was nutty and a slobbery, sweet cat. No one should own mean animals. I should have let my crazy cat go long before he became a nuisance. Anyway, maybe Kelsey's cat will help them learn all about how to treat and have fun with a nice animal and their wishes will come true for an indoor pet someday. Not soon but someday :)

We had a good time hanging out with family and playing in the water. Hailey loves to jump in the lake with her life jacket on now and was thrilled to be able to spend so much time in the water. I filmed about 10 minutes on my cell phone of her trying to teach Hunter how to swim down in the water by the dock. She was saying everything her swim teacher has told her. It was really cute. I will spare you all the video due to the length but it was fun to hear.  I wish I would have been able to spend more time in the water but I had a blazing headache the entire weekend and didn't feel up to it. I also did myself in after taste testing a few things I was allergic too. That was not fun at all. I know better.

We drove over to Sundance Camp where we hung out at sunset before Brady did the kids fireworks with them. Hailey loves to set up and light fireworks with her daddy. We had a mighty stash already of big people fireworks but we stopped at the local stand because it is tradition and Hailey loves picking stuff out. We didn't get to all ours so we still have more to enjoy. Hunter picked out a helicopter but wasn't too thrilled about it getting burned up. We kept it after it did it's thing and he is a happy camper. He liked looking at the fireworks but the noise of it all wasn't his thing (he has amazing hearing and it was loud) and he was too chicken to light them with Brady this year. I bet this time next year he will be in the mix too!

* I need to capture a better picture of this camp area. It really is a cool spot!

Looking forward to more fun weekends at the lake before school starts up again.