Bear-a Lake

There are few places in the world I love as much as Bear Lake. Our family cabin is nothing fancy, but we sure manage to have a good time there. I loved going to Bear Lake when I was a little girl, and now I look forward every year to celebrating the 4th of July at the cabin with my own little family and my extended family.

Garrett is following in my footsteps and is totally in love with "Bear-a Lake" as he calls it. (And when he says, "Bear-a Lake," he only means the cabin. Whenever we would leave the cabin, he would always ask if we could go back to "Bear-a Lake.") As we were driving home, he said, "That was fun to go to Bear-a Lake. I missed it." ("Missed" means "miss" in case you didn't figure that one out on your own.)

Abby's favorite part of the trip was having "car parties" in Grandma's car and Paula's van. She played with my mom in her car for a good hour on this particular occasion.

Then she discovered Nemo and got soaked...

My mom brought some water toys from home and the kids had a blast just playing on the front lawn. We spent hours every day outside playing in the water. It was simple, but so much fun!

Abby was totally taken with Marijka and even chose her over me a few times. Marijka was a HUGE help and we started calling her "The Surrogate" because she was Abby's 2nd mom while we were there.

Uncle Ric went home for the Cruise-In and came back with a surprise for the kids--a wading pool! They loved it and were so excited.

Garrett and Abby were a walking display of patriotism on the 4th of July...

Not a bad picture for 5 little subjects who all have minds of their own!

My sister saw this little playhouse for sale in the Bear Lake Chevron's parking lot and picked it up for her gals. The kids LOVED playing in it and were so sad when Pops had to take it home in his truck. Their favorite game was the 3 Little Pigs. Garrett was always the wolf while Brooklyn, Gracie, and Abby were the little pigs. It was hysterical!

They needed another pig during this game and I was given the honor. (I'm not sure what that is saying about me...)

I found the next two pictures while I was downloading the pictures off my camera. Awesome shots, huh? I always love picture surprises. :)

What would the 4th of July be without kids and sparklers?

Abbs enjoyed the fireworks show with Marlee.

Grandma set very strict rules for the kids and their water toys, including no spraying each other and no water fights. Uncle Ric broke all the rules and had an awesome water fight with Brooklyn and Garrett.

Brooklyn reenacted her dance recital for us and did a lovely number to "Firework" by Katy Perry. I had that song in my head pretty much the whole trip after that--good thing I like it. :)

Here's part of the crew getting ready to watch the fireworks over the lake.

Abby was quite smitten with Ric's Jeep and would stand by it anytime we were outside and say "Ride" over and over and over. Ric finally took sympathy on her and took her for a spin. Terrible picture, but at least we can prove to her we strapped her carseat in the back and let her go for a little ride.

More water fun! Grandma was crazy and bought water balloons for the kids. Sweet Grace wanted nothing to do with them, but Brooklyn and Garrett fought over the hose and took turns filling them up and then throwing them at the ground, each other, and me. (Grandma's rules had pretty much been thrown out the window by our last day there.)

This is how Abby spent a good share of her trip--stealing drinks from anybody she could charm into sharing with her.

Garrett was determined to fill up his balloons by himself. Sure enough, I handed him the hose and a balloon and he had it figured out in no time.
We had lots of fun swimming in the Ideal Beach pool with our cousins.

Oh, how we love Bear-a Lake! We're heading back next week for a few days with Greg's family and some friends and we can't wait!