At the Lake House with Brad and Christine (July 13-15)

We had another fun weekend at the Lake House 2 weekends ago, this time with Brad and Christine! Our first mini-vacation with them as newly-weds. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Kelsey had every piece of 'gear' on that we had in the boat before she went skiing!

"Full body wetsuit?"... "CHECK!"

"Wetsuit jacket?"... "CHECK!"

"Gloves?"... "CHECK!"

"Life vest?"... "CHECK!"

"Sunglasses?"... "CHECK! - I mean, shoot, thanks for warning me." - Every time.

We love you kels!

We always leave our flip flops on the pier when we're out on the boat, but today was a very windy day! When we got back from skiing, Mom and Christine's flip flops had been blown off the pier, and we walked down the shore and found them caught in a nasty mess of seaweed, foam and sludge. Brad proved his love for his new bride by trudging into the slime and retrieving her flip flops for her.

Jack loves to swing!

I stopped by Kris' house yesterday after work, and it was a perfect day to take her precious Jack (almost 5 months) to the park. So we settled him into the little baby swing (which is still big on him!) and since I had my camera with me, I took some pictures. If you know Jack, you know that he can be somewhat selective in showing his adorable smile... so these pictures are proof that he LOVES to swing!

This is my favorite picture of him! He is such a handsome little guy.

The head starts to get heavy after a while!...

Check out that drool!

You can't tell from these pictures, but Jack had on his "Swingin single and lovin it!" onesie - and the little girl in the background was fascinated by Jack. I think that onesie is a babe magnet.

Oh, and that little girl happens to be Emma Jack, who is Andy and Kathy Jack's daughter! (Andy used to be Kelsey's Youth Director. Wheaton is such a small world!)

Thanks for a fun day at the park, Jack!!

July 6th - 8th: Lake House Weekend

We spent last weekend at the Lake House with the Larsons and Bellitos, Mom, Dad and Kelsey. We had beautiful weather the entire time, and had so much fun out on the boat.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our evening playing Cranium - of Matt trying to hum "Love Shack", of Jeff firing the Love Bazooka, of Rob spelling Mississippi, of the girls winning... But here's what I did catch:

A view of the house from the lake.

Getting started...

Rob slaloming like a pro.

Matt tearing up the wake (definitely the most entertaining skier!)

Becky's tattoo, which was beautiful.

Jeff coming in from a great run... on Dad's ski!

He even remembered to tuck his head when he fell.

Kelsey loved hanging out with the girls, and we loved having her there.

Becki's surprising stunt - over the wake and back for the first time, and she stayed up like a champ!

Becki and Matt Bellito

Becky and Jeff Larson

Dad and Rob enjoying the show that either Matt or Jeff are probably putting on at the moment...

The girls (Me and "the Beckies")

Becki and Matt

Unfortunately we had a freak accident during the weekend... When many people slalom, they start out getting up on 2 skis and then they drop one. The risk you run is that when you drop that 2nd ski, you have to leave it floating out in the lake until the skier is done slaloming. When we went back to pick up the ski Rob kicked, this is how we found it. A boat had obviously driven right over it - and probably did a number on their prop too.

The upside: we have 1/2 a ski boot to make a new family trophy out of!

Rob and I with the casualty.

Favorite group picture! (Jeff, Becky, Rob, Me, Matt and Becki - just before we left to go home)

Thanks for the great weekend guys! It was special for so many reasons (...you know why!)

We love you.

4th of July

Rob and I attended the Wheaton Parade (all 2 hours of it!) like good Wheaton citizens. We met up with Cheryl and her brother Steve's family on Main Street (see below).

Noah, Kim, Taite and Steve

Carlson's Float - Cicadas - was very creative...

Taite and Noah had a great time - they really got into collecting the candy people were throwing from the floats, and the fly swatters provided endless entertainment. Parades are always more fun with kids around!