4th of July

Lilah has always loved to sing; however she rarely sings songs from the radio or other traditional children's songs. She likes to make up her own tunes and lyrics. This is how we spend most of our road trips. She starts with the version that goes "La la, mmm, mmm, Ahh, ahh," and then we get to hear the version with words after the whole tune was worked out with La's and hmmm's. Recently she was playing outside with Sydney while I cleaned up after dinner. She was singing one of her famous songs (the most common title for these songs is "Joy of Happy"), and I was able to overhear some of the lyrics:

I need to do better
I need to do better

I need to do everything my mom and dad say

She has internalized all the lessons she has learned in her life and has come to this truth. I hope she can adhere to this through her teenage years. Later in the song (I couldn't hear all the words), she was singing about Ellie and came up with this line:

I have to do what everybody wants to do

Lately she has learned that Ellie has a mind of her own and wants to play differently than Lilah. This has caused a few scuffles, but as indicated in the song, she is coping with the changes.

Now, on to the festivities of the holiday week and the fears overcome. We had a wonderful holiday week with our families. We were in Belle Plaine for the 4th. We started the day with a parade and games in the park and then went out to the house for swimming in the pond. Dad put in a diving board last summer. Last summer Lilah was not sure about jumping off the board, but Deanna "helped" her off once and she never tried again. This year she was determined to jump by herself, and she did. For 2 hours Lilah and Ellie jumped off the diving board. It was a perfect afternoon for swimming, and Sydney, Billy, Nate and I all joined in the fun.

Lilah had awakened at 6:30 am for all of the Independence Day excitement so we thought she would surely be asleep before the fireworks show. We were WRONG! She was a giggly, giddy little girl. We went back to the park to watch a jazz band and singers group perform and after the performance we expected a brilliant show of fireworks. During the music, Lilah twirled and danced, and fell to the ground in utter joy. It was so fun to watch her, although I think she was delirious with exhaustion. She made it to the fireworks and oooed and aaaahed at each display of light.

After our fun filled 4th, we went back home for a little rest and then headed off to Northern MN with Nate's family for camping and boating on Prairie Lake. Lilah continued her bravery by catching lightening bugs with her BARE HANDS and tubing with Ashton.

Nate and Alex even got in on the tubing action.

We had a great time with Nate's family (aunts, uncles, and cousins included). We had two water balloon fights, one of which Lilah played a key role in an ambush. She hid behind a tree with the hose to spray unsuspecting people trying to avoid the water balloon launcher. She took her role very seriously and did a great job. While we missed almost everyone with the water balloons, she was successful every time! We also had a Bocce Ball tournament - guess who put that together! Yes, Nate created a 16 team bracket (there were 13 teams, so there were a few "byes") complete with a consilation bracket, challenge matches, and awards down to 13th place. My partner, Nate's uncle Dale, and I narrowly made our way into 11th place. Nate and his partner, cousin Adam, received 7th place. The winners were Nate's uncles Vern and Les beating cousins Melanie and Maria in the final match. His uncle John and aunt Linda received 3rd place. It was John's lake house so we figure he had a home field advantage because he mows the lawn. It was a fun weekend, but we are glad to be home.