At the Lake 2007 (July 4th Week)

We just got back from a wonderfully relaxing vacation on Lake Murray. Brian's Mom (Carol) and Dad (John) own a lake house there, and we've made it a family tradition to visit every Fourth of July.

Here is Leia performing her special lake tradition: singing a newly created song over and over while she rides in the front of Grandma's and Grandpa's boat. The last two years it was, "I'm a little fishy, and I'm swimming all day!" This year it was, "On the water with the little fishys. On the water with the little fishys. On the water with the little fishys. Won't you be my sea pal?" Sung to the tune of "Little Red Wagon." (Sometimes she inserted "dinosaurs" for "fishys," but it was all basically the same.) My favorite variation she created was, "On the water with little Annie. On the water with little Annie. On the water with little Annie. Won't you be my little sea pal." With that said, here's the rest of the blog:

We Did Lots of Swimming in the Lake . . .

Leia had a blast swimming! I don't have a picture of it, but I always sat on a bunch of fun-noodles and Leia's favorite thing was saying, "Mamma, I'm going to sit on your in-the-verse-pressure-grater!" Honestly, we're not sure what that means, but I think she got it from Zoboomafoo (a neat nature show staring the Kratt Brothers). She said that Kris and Martin go back in time to visit the dinosaurs with the "in-the-verse-pressure-grater" during the "slime" epidode. We found out later that on the “Slime” episode of Zoboomafoo the guys had created a slime machine. However, when they went in to get slimed, it didn’t work. So Chris said that they had created an “inverse pressure gradient,” and that was what was causing it not to work. Hence, in-the-verse-pressure-grater!

And Lots of Boating on the Lake . . .

And no boating trip would be complete without the ride on the "biscuit." This was Leia's first ride of the vacation. She would subsequently do it on her own, . . . and not want to get out. She loved it!

There was also Lots of Fishing with Grandpa . . .

I love the American flag flying in the background of this one. A picture truly worthy of the Fourth of July.

And because the fish weren't really biting, Annie and I brought down Grandma's little purple fish to cheer everyone up. And actually, when we first arrived, a Great Blue Heron was perched on the dock. When he flew off not only did we get to sign "birdie" for Annie, but the heron left a feather which now graces our miniature shelf!

We also Spent Lots of Time Visiting with Family and Friends . . .

Here are Annie and Grandma playing their new game. What shall I call it? "Head Tilt"? Grandma tips her head to the side and Annie copies her. It's precious!

And if I could title this one, I'd title it "Spittin' Image," because here Annie truly looks like the spitting image of her Uncle Alan.

And Aunt Cassie always captivates the younguns with her elephant sounds. And this time she came bearing gifts for the girls: a cute fingerpuppet book about butterflies for Annie and a book called Fancy Nancy for Leia. I love reading both of them!!! Aunt Cassie's such a good book-picker-outer. : )

Even Brian's Uncle Joe and Aunt Patsy came to join the fun that day.

Annie was especially entranced by Mr. Frank (Cynthia and Frank Downs are two of Grandma's and Grandpa's very good friends). He's simply wonderful with babies!

We had a nice get together with everyone on Grandma's and Grandpa's huge screened-in porch overlooking the lake. At one of the get-togethers we went to, Grandpa spied Annie eating pieces of white bread like it was her job. And for months now (nine months, actually), Grandpa has been trying to think of a fun nickname for Annie. Now he has it: White Bread. Leia's nickname is Lou Buck (after a friend in Newberry with the same unusual name).

Ha! Guess who's responsible for the organization in this picture? In my album I'll title this one "Evidence: Leia!" During the get-together on the porch, I finally let Leia Rose sort all the fireworks we brought for everyone. Note the corresponding colors of the smoke balls and flashing fountains. (The best one this year, by the way, was the one called "Firey Echo." It lasted so long and had such neat purple/orange color combinations with loud, gold flashes that shot really far up into the air, . . . but not as high as Grandpa's bottle rockets.)

We also saw the "big" fireworks set off at Newberry High School as well. It was a race to get there on time, but we did. In fact, the lights went out just as we were putting our blanket down on the football field (the same field where Brian played the trombone and was drum major, by the way). We had a wonderful time, but for some reason, when the fireworks were over, Brian started to simply repeat Annie's pet name these days ("Dah-bwe"), and he said it really loud. Can you imagine what it looks like in a crowd of people with your husband rocking back and forth saying, "Dah-bwe! Dah-bwe! Dah-bwe!" I stopped him as soon as I realized it, but it became a running joke with us now, and we often say, "Oh how nice, . . . that lady and her daughter brought that retarded man to the fireworks display!" I guess I should have prefaced this by saying that Brian has morphed Leia's pet name for Annie ("Ah-bwe") into his own version ("Dah-bwe") and often sings a little song to her that goes, "Dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, Dah-bwe Dah-bwe."

Here are Patsy, Joe, Annie, and I watching the smoke balls go off. I always assert that smoke balls are great for little kids who aren't old enough to stay up for the real fireworks. They don't make any loud sound and they spew beautiful bright smoke in the air for quite a while. Hope you enjoyed them, Annie! Sorry I didn't get a picture of the actual smoke, but you get the idea.

And Finally Some Other Magical Moments . . .

Leia is always in heaven when Grandpa brings out the boiled peanuts.

And Annie was in heaven when she could show us how she could stand up herself! Speaking of milestones, Annie truly shocked us this vacation by learning to roll. Now she rolls wherever she wants to go. Ah, the next stage has begun!

All of us always enjoy a good swing on the hammock. I love this shot of both girls looking back at the camera! : )

And what week would be complete without the newest picture of Papa on the Magna Doodle. After she drew this one I asked, "Leia, why isn't Papa smiling?" And she replied, "Because Papa said, 'I'm going to buy this.' And Oma said, 'I'm sorry, you can't buy that.'" So funny! And if you look closely at my thumbnail, you can see the sparkley purple nail polish that Leia got at a special fancy lunch with Grandma and friends. Isn't it nice that Leia shared it with me?

Leia Rose had such special times with Grandma and Grandpa before we even arrived at the lake. Grandma thought it was neat that Leia Rose packed all of these toys to play with, but all she really needed was Grandma's basket of stuffed animals and plastic apples to occupy her for hours. Of course, one of the things was the fancy lunch with Grandma and Little Girl Cassie (we have to differentiate because Leia's aunt is named Cassie too). Grandma and Grandpa also took Leia Rose out to the Buffalo Creek Grill and Spinners (both restaurants that you can travel to by boat). The Buffalo Creek Grill holds a special place in my memory because Leia Rose and I danced to live music at this time last year when I was pregnant with Annie (and watching Leia Rose was the hit of the evening for most of the diners there). As for Spinners, that's a new place right across the lake, and Leia went there so many times over this vacation that Grandpa said she could go in there and say, "I'll have the usual" which is a glass of cranberry juice on ice. Perhaps the most exciting thing that Leia Rose got to do was be a judge at a homemade ice cream making contest! It was at the radio station, and Leia actually got to critique the entries on the radio! Her favorite was one called "Mint Basil Ice Cream." As all of the judges were eating all the mystery entries, they asked Leia if she could figure out what the other ingredient in the mint ice cream was. Leia replied, "I believe it has a bit of basil in it." The food critic absolutely fell out of his chair. What he didn't know was that not only do I grow fresh basil in my garden (that Leia eats raw regularly) but also her teacher planted basil for the school children to sample, . . . and she'd come home with a sprig of it most every day this spring. : )