Happy 4th of July!

Chris and Maria invited us to visit their family's lake house for the holiday. It was really fun to get to know their family better and spend some time on the boat.

Ben and I tried tubing our first day there, but after a few minutes I was done. Too much for me...
Chris convinced us to get up at 6am on the 4th to go out on the boat just as the sun was coming up. This was to ensure we could get really calm water and it would not be really crowded. It was so worth it! The lake was beautiful in the early morning and everyone was able to get some good wakeboarding in. Ben rocked it! (The video is a little bumpy... it was hard to hold the camera steady on a speeding boat!)

Ben even got to drive the boat for a little bit so that Maria could get pictures of Chris on the wakeboard.Ben also got to play a lot of tennis with Chris and worked up a sweat. Finally, a challenging opponent! I played games, went for a bike ride, and watched a sappy movie with Maria. :)

For lunch I made some "Fireworks" drinks that were a total hit! I made red and blue Kool-Aid and froze them to make ice cubes. Then we put Sprite in our glasses and watched the colored ice cubes make cool bubbles in our drinks! I also made these really yummy desserts.They are chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese frosting and strawberries and a blueberry: red, white, and blue! Maria made some delicious salmon-burgers. I am considering switching to those anytime I make burgers. They are so good, and so much better for you!

We had an awesome 4th of July and even got to see some fireworks on the lake. Thanks to the Payne family for such a fun time!