Happy 4th of July!

I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do at the lake. I decided to just kick back and enjoy making memories. Of course I did take some pictures...

Here's a pic of Uncle Aaron after we went swimming off dad's dock. We can't swim in our area because of toxic algae. Go figure. Dad's area is flowing water from the Elk River in to the lake. It is safe in that area but Chris didn't want to take a chance with the girls or Draven so only they big people swam. Uncle Aaron found this snake on our way up from the lake.

YIKES!
Draven was ok with the snake but Lillie was freaking out. I was taking pictures while she was crawling up my leg.

More snake.
We spent the night at dad's house then after a big breakfast went out on the water. Lillie was covered in sunscreen and wearing papa's hat. It was hot out there!
She got sunscreen in her eyes and was too hot. She was very unhappy.
Then we got far enough up the river where we could let her swim and cool off. If you go up the river enough it gets shallow and clear. No blue green algae here. You can see how clear the water was.
Papa resting and watching us play and get nibbled on by the perch.
A foggy picture of me and the kids.
On the 3rd we had papa over for croquet, burgers and fireworks.
Draven looks like he is shooting something out of a sci-fi movie.
Lillie was scared of sparklers at first but then she got the hang of it. You can see that we had to go by a pool since we can't swim.
Lillie having fun with sparkler.
Roman candle fight!

After shooting off our fireworks we walked down to the lake to watch all the other fireworks. They were everywhere! On top of the pretty fireworks there was lightening and sprinkles. Later that night we had big storms.
Chris and I gave Phoebe her lake house kitchen sink bath. She loved it!
I loved it too!
After bath...
On the 4th we decided to go to Noel Missouri to swim in the river there. Noel Missouri is a strange little town but very cool. This place used to be a cool little canoe town. Its a run down but still charming. Lots of old abandon hotels and cabins.

Check out this sign! I've passed it many times but finally decided to take a picture.

Stole this picture off the web of the Elk River in Noel.

Another shot stollen from web. Cute downtown. Much cuter in person. Not much to see but great to just drive around.

A few more web shots below...

Lillie and I swam in the river while Chris read and Phoebe slept.
Hi Daddy!
Lillie told me we were adventurers and exploring her country. She pulled me around the river.
Cheesy self portrait.
One of the last few parks with real playground equipment.
Check out this slide! It was so cool!
Lillie was more in to modeling than sliding.

Daddy and Lil' Dude.
A merry go round at a city park. Did we travel through time?


After our adventure in Noel we headed on to Joplin. Wow. I don't even know what to say. I took a lot of photos but I don't even know if I want to share them. Especially on this happy blog. Lets just say they still need your prayers and support.

On to happier things...

Later that evening we let Lillie play with some more morning glories and then went to the State Park to watch the fireworks. Once again, not photos. Just memories. Amazing memories. We watched the fireworks on a park bench, just me chris and the girls. Fireworks everywhere we could look. Every second you could see multiple shows going all at once. There were probably 10 different shows going on at once. We could see them all. The stars were bright and the moon was gorgeous.

Another lake house memory we won't forget.