4th of July Vacation Day 1

I love the 4th of July. It defines summer for me. Ryan's family has a cottage on Spirit Lake, just north of Okoboji, and we go there every forth of July. We made plans to go Wednesday night and come home today. Wednesday night we packed the car and made it an hour north before we stopped at a walmart and purchased a portable DVD player and two movies for Henry. He was crabby and wanted nothing to do with the car. It worked. Henry fell asleep at 9:30 (bedtime is generally 7:00) and then was up for another 1/2 hour while we unloaded the car at 11:00pm and woke up at 5:30 the next morning. Mom and dad were a tired mess.

The cottage sleeps 10 in the main house in actual beds, and you could probably fit another 4 on twin blow up mattresses if you wanted to. They also have a guest room attached to the garage that was added about 10 years ago that sleeps 2 in beds and another 2 or 3 on the floor/crib. It also has it's own kitchenette and bathroom and this is where Ryan, Henry, and I stay. While on vacation, the other people don't want to get up at 5:30am, I just can't understand why. :) So, we got up and dressed and headed for breakfast at hy-vee. We were able to get some shopping done and headed back to the cottage to visit with Grandma/Grandpa, Emma, Ian, and Mary Ann.

That morning, we visited the fish hatchery in Spirit lake. They have tanks of fish commonly found in the lakes there so people can see them and they also have the animals commonly found in the area, stuffed, and on display for people to look at as well. There is a creek that connects Big Spirit and East Okoboji and we walked over the bridge with Henry. He was vary curious about the running water below. He has no fear of the water.

The weather was beautiful that day and when Ashly and Aaron arrived we decided to take a boat ride around big spirit. It was a beautiful sunset and a great way to end the evening.

(not to spoil future posts, but she is my new soon to be sister-in-law and we are so excited!)