We had big plans for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately Mother Nature got in the way.

The Fourth of July weekend is normally a family gathering time at our lake house. This year we had our family from Boston coming in, along with most of the locals. Which meant we added a one-year-old to the mix. Plus two babies. In a small house. And then it rained most of the weekend.

Guess what? Everything turned out pretty great! All the little ones dealt with the close quarters and lack of outside time well. More importantly, our girls did really well. There was minimal whining about being bored.[1] I think having their cousins around was a fine distraction.

We only got one boat ride in Saturday, which was cool and cloudy and threatening, but stayed dry until late in the afternoon. It was one of those rare summer days when the water was warmer than the air, so the kids were happy to swim and play on the water toys around the dock. L did some fishing, and caught the biggest fish she’s ever caught. She came running up to the house yelling, “Dad! I caught a fish this big!” with her hands about 18” apart. We ran down and saw she indeed got a good-sized bass, but closer to 12” than 18”. She’s obviously turning into quite the fisher as she’s exaggerating about the size of her catches!

Lia’s Big Catch
L’s Big Catch

Sunday was pretty much a total washout, with heavy rain off-and-on all day. We still squeezed in a big family meal for lunch, then naps for a lot of us as the kids watched movies. The real fun kicked in Sunday evening when the power went out for about five hours. Thank goodness it was relatively cool outside or we would have been miserable without A/C.

We packed up much earlier than planned Monday and came home for another lazy day. We stayed up and watched fireworks from Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston but that was the extent of our Independence Day celebrating.

Today we’re off to the zoo with the Boston family. After three days in the 60s and 70s, it’s supposed to be pushing 90 and humid. Timing, man, timing.


  1. Now there was some whining. But less than I feared.  ↩