Independance Extravaganza

This year we marked the celebration of our great country by loading up our gas-guzzling SUV and hitting the road for a big Wisconsin adventure.

My bro-in-law and his wife bought a lake house way up north in Turtle Lake this winter. What better time to hit a state that sells fireworks at every rest stop than the 4th of July??

We took off Wednesday with plans to visit K&J at her parent’s lake house outside of Lake Geneva. They have a huge family (for many of my early Chicago years, they were my surrogate family), and everyone makes the trip in for the 4th. I love them all and rarely see the whole gang anymore.

We had lots of great quality time with Q who really is the cutest ever (see her enjoying her favorite thing in ‘picture of the day’). We swam in the lake (dogs), had a big cook out, enjoyed a night of euchre, and drank lots of wine – fantastic visit.

From there we traversed every lettered and numbered highway in the great cheese state to make our way to M&Js. Along the way, we had a fantastic pizza from Moosejaw – which was worth the extraordinary wait (lots of traffic and indecision in the Dells). Hubby picked up a growler (jug of beer) for him and J to enjoy later that evening.

We arrived at their place and were greeted by M and the kids at the end of the drive, welcoming us to their little piece of lake living. Actually, it’s a pretty big piece of lake living. They have a fantastic house, which sits on a huge piece of land. The previous owners had flower gardens and beds built all over with everything from asparagus to peonies growing like crazy (you know my weakness for gardens).

I took a big walk with my niece and Stella to check everything out. She is the cutest ever (apperently I have a weakness for little girls), all giggles and laughing. She talked during our entire walk, we were hunting for turtles. We talked about Dora and Diego and sang songs. We checked out the lake, hung out on the deck, commenced relaxing.

We hit “Spare Time” the local bowling alley for a great night of hitting pins, drinking beer and cheese curds. I love Wisconsin. The kids were awesome, made the whole night.

Friday marked the annual boat parade on Turtle Lake. Definitely a sight to been seen for a variety of reasons, I’ll share a few here: Locals adorn their pontoon boats (ever-present in WI) with streamers, balloons, and (this was a new one for me) patriotically-themed potted plants. American favorites blast from radios. We circled the lake with our fellow nautical neighbors, competing for first-place prize in the boat decorating contest.

While out there I learned locals actually really want the coveted SECOND place prize. The winner is responsible for making the flyer for next year (even though everyone knows the boat parade starts at 1:00 on Saturday) and getting to all the houses around the lake is a real pain :)
The high school kids at a neighboring house seemed to have the competition locked – could it have been all the teenagers in their red, white and blue bikinis? Or the beach balls they launched at the judging table? Nice touch.

Upon our return, hubby and I headed into town to pick up pizzas from Jane’s (he never, ever tires of pizza). He made friends with Jane herself, even calling later to let her know he appreciated the extra love she put into the ‘za – he could tell.

We had a great night at the house, watching an amazing fireworks display on the dock. Each family trying to outdo the other and us benefiting from the friendly competition.

We woke up this morning to tackle the aggressive project of clearing out a plot in the garden for a pumpkin patch. M and I cleared out an overwhelming amount of weeds, before inviting the kids to help. In the end, no one could resist. The boys shuttled in water, cut down huge thistles. The kids dug holes and plopped in the seeds, carefully covering them up. A great adventure, I hope the garden nets giant squash in time for Halloween.

And of course no outdoor adventure would be complete without a Stella story. My little pup actually swam. You’ve read much of our trials in the water. This weekend she amazed all (well pretty much just me but C feigned a huge level of excitement on my behalf), and swam on her own. We went through the traditional coaxing routine which involves a lot of time in the water for me and not much for her. Eventually I tug on her collar and lead her out there. This time, I threw a stick out as I led her out, and she actually SWAM AND RETRIEVED! And then again with no guidance from me. And then again. She is a glorious little swimmer. I am quite proud (see picture). I only wish her friends Connie and Zeke had seen.

Happy 4th of July!