4th of July Highlights

We had an awesome 4th of July weekend with many special friends, family times and celebrations. For Victor, the best part of 4th of July is the fireworks, hands down!


What about this one, Dad?


Amy makes a selection


How much is all this going to cost?

I must admit, I just got a new lens I'm very excited about--a 15mm fish-eye. I know you're not supposed to overuse it or it loses its impact, but you will see quite a few of these fish-eye images, because, hey, I had to practice with it!


Jonathan HATED the firewoks and kept his hands over his ears the whole time.


It finally warmed up enough for me to get into the lake! (photo credit: Amy Swenson)


I made Amy give me my little camera (against her better judgement) to take this picture from the water.


It was super special to meet my friend Aundrea and her family at the Stump Lake Campground.



Jonathan got to go inside this train at Stump Lake Village. He was enthralled with every part of it, inside and out!



















Playing in the fountain feels good on a hot day!















Around the campfire







We ended our day at Stump Lake with a talent show. This is Aundrea's son Ethan playing his violin.

Camille

Deni

Kim telling a joke

The Yule's singing the national anthem



All of the participants

Victor's new kayak (back at our lake)

There's a little story behind these photos--we were sitting at our kitchen table when Larry saw Victor paddling furiously towards the dock. Larry went running out, jumped on a bicycle and pedaled quickly down to the lake. Sure enough, Oliver had pushed Jonathan off the dock and into the water! Luckily, Larry had put a life jacket on him just moments before. By the time Larry got down there, Victor was pulling Jonathan in to shore. But the best part of the story (besides Jonathan's safe return to shore) was that when he fell in, he lost his shoe. Well, here came Ollie, swimming in behind them, with the shoe in his mouth! A retriever through and through. After Larry saw how good the life jacket worked, he decided it was OK for Jonathan to ride in the kayak with Victor!

Katie's Back!

Katie's back from 7 weeks in Guatemala! We picked her up at the train station in Devils Lake this morning. It was so fun to see her again, we missed her so much! It was pretty amazing that she made the train last night, because her flight came in 1 1/2 hours late, but the train was two hours late. Now that's lucky! Our dear friends Ev and Cara were waiting at the airport for her, grabbed her and her bags and zipped her over to the train station. We couldn't have done it without them!

I still plan to post 4th of July pictures when I have time. Tomorrow I will be assistant photographer at a wedding!

lake livin'

late night campfire





checking the burgers with his handy little flashlight


Victor's new toy

Larry has always wanted to try cooking steaks on a pitchfork--they were delicious!

The columbines I found growing by the front steps looked pretty in the windowsill

The First Swim

Contemplating...


Shall we?


OK, Dad, you go first





It's COLD!


Come on, Amy, it's not so bad


Ollie doesn't see what the big deal is


















Oliver, the retriever








Now where did I put that stick?