How We Spent the 4th Weekend...Part 2

     After a good night's sleep, we woke Saturday morning to another sunny day, had breakfast ,and then organized the troops to head on over to the 4th of July parade down Main Street.  This parade is pretty big, so we went early to try to get a spot in the shade and we were successful!  The parade was schedule to start at 11 am, which I was thankful for since I am not a morning person!  I am ashamed to admit that at least half of the reason my kids still get excited for the parade (at ages 13.75 and 11) is for the c-a-n-d-y!!  Sad, but true.  Of course, I am very adamant about them not get in ANY younger children's space/candy and they are very good about that and often give pieces to little kids.  However, it's still embarrassing!
     The parade was very nice and quite long (in a good way).  I have my personal favorites, the veterans, the Shriners in the mini Model Ts, the Keystone Cops with the big inmates on the mini bikes, and the firefighters who spray the crowd with water at the end....so refreshing!  We had a good time and the kids got some candy, saluted the veterans, and Kristin got a good soaking from the firefighters.
     We had lunch at one of our favorite places, A&W, complete with carhop service (although we usually just eat outside on the patio).  Nothing like a frosty mug of rootbeer on a hot summer day!!  The kids love it and the old-fashioned carhop A&Ws are few and far between these days.
     Then, it was beach time!  We are lucky enough to have our place just steps away from the Lake and the beach.  Swimming, collecting beach glass, seashells, sunning, people watching, and just plain relaxing are what we come for (beach pics tomorrow)!! 
     A few hours later -- very unexpectedly -- some very dark clouds started covering the beach.  Slowly but surely people started leaving the beach -- especially when the raindrops gradually started coming down.  It was okay, though, since dinnertime was approaching!  Well, what started as threatening rain quickly turned into a rather scary severe thunderstorm with 60+mph winds.  The Coast Guard actually came through and evacuated the water and the beach which we had never seen before.  We do not have a basement or a good place to "take cover" so we just waited it out the best we could.  The kids got a little bit nervous and, frankly, so did I!  (As a side note, I also learned not to ever go on "Survivor" with my husband...but that's another story!)Earlier, there had been no forecast of severe weather so everyone was taken quite by surprise.  After some tense moments, the storm slowly passed over and we were thankful the only repercussion was that we were left without power (prior to the storm it was hot...in the 90s...)  Luckily, the power did not stay out more than an hour and the weather then cooled off quite a bit.  This was important because the fireworks on the lake were scheduled for later that night.
     In spite of the severe storms, the fireworks did go on as planned.  It's soooo fun to be able to take a quick walk down to the beach from our place to sit and watch the fireworks* in the harbor and their reflection on the lake!  No parking, no driving, no waiting, no major crowds....just fun!  The fireworks did not disappoint either -- we are always amazed at how good they are for such a relatively small town.  A short walk back and then we all went to bed right away (sometimes fun is exhausting)!!  More to come!!

Kristin, Jacob and Megan waiting for the parade to start

We Salute the Veterans

The Shriners in their Model Ts

A getaway inmate with the Keystone Cops in the background

Please spray us -- we are HOT!!

Feels Good!

A&W by the Lake - Lexington, MI

We Love the Root "Bear"

    Ooooooo, Ahhhhhh, Ohhhhhhhh!!!!

*I cannot take pictures of fireworks