Equipo Williams

After Michigan, we are spending two weeks in Minnesota with my family. Our first stop is a lake cabin with cousins and Grandma. The kids love the big shallow beach with paddle boards and kayaks. There are enough grown-ups around to share the parenting duties and give us all some rest. When we’re not outside getting sunburns and mosquito bites, we’ve been playing card and domino games, reading books, and Minecrafting together.

We spent the 4th of July at the same Independence Day celebration I always looked forward to as a kid. We started our morning with a pancake breakfast at the Legion. Then we walked down to the park and got some deep-fried cheese curds before the lines were long. The kids begged us to adopt a dog and even had a few picked out that were adoptable, but we decided to wait until we’re back at a house the dog can live in.

The main event was of course the parade. Grandma’s house is on the parade route, so we set out lawn chairs in front and watched the whole spectacle. It rained a bit, but we grabbed umbrellas and raincoats and stuck it out. There were fire trucks, dance troupes, civic groups, local businesses, politicians, and of course our favorite, Smokey Bear. The kids particularly loved the buckets of candy they collected.

After the parade, we grabbed burritos at a new place in town. The area has really boomed with new businesses catering to tourists in recent years, and it’s great to have more food and coffee options now. Then we headed back to the lake cabin. The kids all fell asleep in the car and I took a very solid afternoon nap as well. Once it got dark, we put on loads of bug spray and sat out on the dock watching fireworks in towns all around the big lake. It was a beautiful end to a very full day.