What we've been up to: Lake edition

Friday night: Arrive around 10:30 p.m. at the in-laws' house. X toddles around for a little while, then goes to bed under protest. K snuggles with Grandma, eyes drooping, for as long as he can possibly remain conscious. I stay up until 1:30 to do some work, greeting my brother and sister-in-law who arrive toting my sleeping niece around 1 a.m.

Saturday: Parade day! We all drive into town for the annual July 4th festivities, a.k.a. the Doin's. The older kids go on rides while X naps in the stroller. We gather on the side of Main Street for the parade, in which antique cars, fire trucks, and floats drive by and the passengers throw candy to the kids. K and his cousin fill their bags with candy while I chase X around and feed him pieces of my gyro. After a stop to meet up with friends, we head over to Great-Grandma's house, now on the market, where we pick out some dishes and things to take home with us. (What I really want is the piano, but I think it will be prohibitively expensive to transport.) Back home, X and my niece nap while K and I hang out by the lake, and then relatives join us for dinner. JW's aunt asks if I'm pregnant and I tell her no, I just need to work on my abs. She looks suitably embarrassed and says it was because she noticed I was drinking water at cocktail hour. After everyone leaves, we have a fire outside and make s'mores. The kids stay up very, very late and go to bed smelling smoky.

Sunday: Hang around the house day. The kids went swimming in the lake, but I missed it -- I was catching up on work and by the time I put it away, they were back in. X and I had fun playing outside and swinging on the porch swing. X found a spider web in the corner of the deck and tried to get all the bugs out and eat them. (When X sees a bug, he immediately gets his pincer grip ready and tries to pick it up.) He also got away from me during a diaper change, ran over to the railing that overlooks the first floor, and peed through the slats. Luckily no one was underneath to get rained on. K had an attitude all day, which I blame on his late bedtime the night before. We had major drama over a ham sandwich at lunch, and when it was time to go he and my niece ran down to the lake when no one was paying attention. When I gave him a talking-to he just smiled, which drove me nuts. My niece, on the other hand, sold him out and said it was his idea: "I guess it wasn't a good idea to play Adventure Kids." The kids also spent a chunk of the day putting all the stuffed animals in Pig Jail (the bottom of the bunk bed), and K drew some awesome pictures of robots.

And now we're back home to our hot, messy house, with lunches to pack and laundry to do. Back to reality. Going up to the lake always feels like a mini-vacation even though it's just for the weekend.