4th of July Week

The weekend before the 4th of July, we went up to the lake and stayed until Weds., July 3rd.  The first two days were rainy, but we were able to get some fishing in the first night in between showers.  Kyri is getting better at casting, but she loses focus quickly.  So, Kyle and I would take over her pole while she searched for bugs, feathers, flowers, and other interesting things in nature.  Then, when Kyle or I got a bite, Kyri would run over to reel it in.  She loved holding the fish and releasing them into the water.  Tess wanted to hold them so badly, too, but they kept slipping out of her hands.  : )

The second day it poured the whole day/night.  So, we decided to explore Rockford and check out a museum that we'd heard about.  It was a history museum with a whole floor devoted to dinosaurs.  Of course Kyri was thrilled!  She knew the names of random dinosaurs that I'd never even heard of, and she was excited to talk to a real paleontologist who worked there.

 Back at the lake, Kyle had a thrill of his own.  He caught this large mouth bass. (Kyri calls it a big mouth bass.)  It is the biggest fish he's ever caught.

After that, he thought he was a pro!  He's still talking about it.  : )

The next few days cleared up and warmed up a bit.  Unfortunately, it was never warm enough to really enjoy swimming.  Kyri got in a couple of times, and Tess tried it out one day.  Although the temperature was in the 70s, there was a wind that made it really chilly when the girls came out of the water, so we didn't spend much time at the beach.  We did do a lot of boating, though.  My mom came up for Sunday and Monday, and Larry and Laurel came up for Sun-Tues., but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures when they were all up there.  We got to enjoy a campfire, catch fireflies, and watch the bats fly over us (another K.J. thrill).

When we got home on Wednesday, we had a busy day.  We went to look at some rental homes and finally decided on one.  For those of you who don't know, last summer we bought a lot to eventually build on.  We decided to put our house on the market this summer, and since our house sold after the first showing, we had to move quickly to find a place to live during this in between period before our house is built.  We signed on a place and will begin moving in next week.  Our closing date for the current place we're living in is the following week.  

After we signed our lease, we met up with some friends at the Taste of Lombard.  The girls had a blast going on the rides with Cooper!

The next morning, we went to Grandma Karen's annual 4th of July BBQ.  

It started with the parade.

How cute are these two??  (And could they look any less like twins???)

Tessa went from being glued to me during the sirens to racing out in front of the cars to snatch candy off the street.  I could barely contain her!  She was so excited that people were throwing candy to her!

Here she is afterwards showing off her bag of candy!

Kyle was in charge of all the cousins at the "Kids' Table".

And I barely saw K.J. the whole day.  She was so excited to play with Aubry since they hadn't seen each other in a while.

That night, we actually made it to the fireworks!  This is the first year Kyri has stayed awake long enough to go watch them.  We went and sat on our new lot to watch them, and we met our new neighbors who showed us just where to sit to get the best view.  Unfortunately, Tess was scared to death from all of the pre fireworks going on in the neighborhood, so Kyle took her back to the car and drove around with her until she fell asleep.  He said she fell asleep with her Leopard over her eyes because she was so freaked.  Kyri and I enjoyed the show, though, and I'm so happy that she lasted this year!

 The next day, we met the Riebe family at the zoo.  It was pretty hot, and since we've had such a cool summer, we weren't used to the heat.  The girls did pretty well, though, and seemed to have fun.  Tess insisted on getting a picture on the lion!

And this picture below is classic Tessa right now.  Ever since the 4th of July parade when she collected that bag of candy, she can't go anywhere without it.  It's like her new "lovey".  She brought it with to the zoo and carried it around all day, and she even has to sleep with it.  (Don't worry, I take the bag out as soon as she falls asleep so she won't suffocate!)  When she wakes up, it's the first thing she asks for.  Today she even brought it with to church.  Luckily, she doesn't try to eat candy all the time.  She just needs to hold it.  Too funny.  I hope this phase doesn't last long.  It's hard enough to keep track of the Leopard blankie!