July 4th 2007

Uncle Fred, Jessica and Aunt Tamara joined Momma, Daddy, Emily, Zachary, Busia and Dziadzia for another July 4th camping trip. While the 2006 version was unprecedented, the 2007 version was filled with its own firsts and wonderful memories!

We started the week w/ a family portrait... all 9 members of Momma's immediate family. Don't want to spoil the surprise, but they were spectacular and hopefully will be shared soon!

Next up was a belated birthday party for Jessica... Happy 8 to her! It didn't take long for Zachary to warm up to Uncle Fred...A photo from Christmas-time shows Zach ready for football... playing center it looks like. I guess football is still in his future... but here it looks more like "Baaaaaannd, Taaaaaake the Fieeellld"...Finally time to camp! We returned to Manistee for 4 days of fun... the weather wasn't the best, (in fact it rained every day until departure), but the best was certainly made out of playing at the playground, going for walks, cooking out on the grill, (banana boats? I think those were the kids' favorites.) And what July 4th holiday would be complete w/o sparklers and fireworks over Lake Michigan...One of the things Emily was most excited about was sleeping in a tent w/ Aunt Tamara; she'd been talking about it for months! And the rain was no deterrant, (I suppose if you'd never slept in a tent, as she had not, you don't know how miserable sleeping in a wet tent can be!) Although the second night of thunder and lightening did keep Aunt Tamara and Emily in the camper w/ Momma and Zachary. (However, Daddy did snatch that opportunity thinking that he could sleep all by himself in the tent and be oh-so-comfortable-and-cozy.... hee hee hee, sure until the rain started dripping through the tent...) There was also a carnival and petting zoo which Zachary loved...The animals were pretty aggressive though, and Momma was a little worried that feeding and/or petting would lead to lost fingers, but Busia did a great job on the defense.And even though the weather was mostly drizzly and foggy, there were still holes to dig, piles to climb, and the lake to run into!! Aunt Tamara noted that one of Zachary's favorite things was throwing rocks into the lake, and then running in to retrieve. (Of course, because when you're not physically restraining him, in the water he goes!!) But sliding down Aunt Tamara's castle is really just as much fun! Or, just rolling, rolling, rolling....Busy days of playing couldn't get much better... but there's always ice cream!
And on the last day, the clouds parted, and the sun shown. Figures. Oh well. Momma and Daddy packed up camp while the gang played some more... And we found out that Emily is RUNNER. She wasn't jogging, she wasn't just-playing-around-running, she was a RUNNER RUNNING. Form and stride were perfect and she just ran and ran on the beach. (She gets that from her aunts, uncle and Daddy... anyone really, except Momma.) After a busy week, we had a couple more days to relax at home and play before it was time for our family to leave, and get back to work/school... And yes, there was still rain,.... but this time there was singing... One last play at Busia's and Dziadzia's...And one more dip in the pool...(pictures just don't get much better than this!)
And after we got to share Zachary's latest tricks.... like him running full speed across the yard to belly-flop in his pool (over and over and over again), or asking him "are you tired? is it bed time?", and his answer at ANY TIME of day "I just waked up" (which, hasn't gotten old yet)... the busy, memory-filled week had finally come to an end. A few trips to the airport to say good-bye to Uncle Fred, Jessica and Aunt Tamara, and we're back to normal activities...with the exception of Zachary's latest game "I going on an airflane. I going on an airflane. I going on an airflane."