Lake Wateree for the Fourth

I know it seems crazy/impossible that we did anything this weekend besides stay glued to our computers and phones for mom's Ironman updates. And make no mistake, that's pretty much all we did yesterday. But the rest of the weekend was spent pretty much internet-free, down at Mark's parents' new house on Lake Wateree.

I'm thinking this needs to just be our default plan every year on the 4th of July. We had such a good weekend. Besides eating so much food we felt sick (that's one tweak in the tradition for future years -- bleh) and getting a pretty bad sunburn on my cleavage (yes, me! the sunscreen nazi! turns out sunscreen does expire, we think), everything was pretty much awesome. By some miracle, Nathan slept until ten on Saturday morning (probably just overtired from visiting Grandpa earlier in the week) which meant that we didn't have to interrupt the middle of the day with naptime, nor abandon fireworks plans. Yaaaay!

Here's our weekend, in pictures:

Nathan actually enjoyed riding on the boat this time, as long as the wind wasn't too much in his eyes. He doesn't like to go fast.
He liked to talk to the fish. (Even though it meant being in close proximity to me. Which I think means it's safe to say he's recovered from last weekend's All-Daddy-All-The-Time clinginess.) He must have said hi fish! over and over again for thirty minutes straight when he saw some were swimming alongside our boat. Mark and Nathan took a rowboat ride together.
And a jetski ride. (Looks like Nathan is thinking something along the lines of: it's not my favorite, which is what Mark says when I make food he doesn't like.)
Mark and me, on the way to see fireworks. Nathan didn't want to let go of Oma and Opa on the whole fireworks trip! The other two people in this picture are Emily and Trey, Mark's (step)sister and bro-in-law. They have a baby due (Nathan's first cousin!) three months after Beanie, but we forgot to take a belly pic together this weekend! Bummer. Despite what this picture might indicate, I promise that Emily and Trey are very much in love and normally they even sit next to each other. :)
This was Nathan's first time seeing fireworks, and he loved it! He kept asking for them after each burst died down -- more fireworks? Where'd it go? And he would name all the colors he saw, and tell us every time that it was a big circle. He just couldn't get enough. He probably said Ooooh, that's a big one! at least fifty times before the show was over.
I think the whole weekend tired him out, though, because he slept through the night (even with Mark and me sharing his room) and then slept some more on the ride home. Yes, he's using a stingray as a pillow. I figured it was better than letting his head droop all over and give him a crick in the neck.
Hope everyone else had a happy 4th too!! For more pictures of our weekend (including one of Trey wearing a lifejacket as a diaper, which you just don't want to miss), click below on Nathan helping Daddy drive the boat.


by mgoetts