Slowing down

I'm playing catch up!  We've been way too dang busy lately.  So...

The 4th of July is my very favorite holiday.  Better than Christmas, better than my birthday, better than Thanksgiving.  For us, it's always meant being on the lake, good friends and good drinks, and an easy day with great food.  This year did not disappoint!

My best friend came to visit from Illinois and stayed out at our favorite local resort, so this last week Hadley and I were at the beach almost every single day.  It was heaven.  Granted, my best friend has three kids and with my one, it wasn't the most relaxing time, but still - we were in the sun, on the lake.  Can't beat it!

For the 4th, we rented a pontoon for the day and spent the day completely on the lake.  The weather was absolutely perfect: hot and sunny with a cool breeze.  That night we all cleaned up and headed into town to watch the fireworks.  It looked like something out of a movie - you see so many people that you know, everyone's camped out on the elementary school lawn, the local ice cream shop has a stand with a mile-long line, there's music and a baseball game beforehand....so classic and all-American!  We weren't sure how Hadley would handle it considering they don't start til 10pm here (that's about the time that it gets really dark), and it was so funny because literally the minute they started she fell asleep!

Here's some pictures from the day...

On the pontoon!  FYI, we did have a baby life jacket for Hadley :)

The night of the fireworks, sporting our red/white/blue!  PS, love my window boxes!  

Me with my little firecracker while waiting for the fireworks! She wasn't having nothin' to do with that bow, by the way.  

This last weekend, we drove down to Minneapolis to celebrate a girlfriend's recent wedding.  Funny story, I was an au pair in Stockholm, Sweden a few years ago and towards the end of my time there this girlfriend of mine asked about getting her own job as an au pair there.  I attempted to hook her up with a family there that I knew, but that fell through and she ended up getting a job with a different Swedish family.  She came right after I left, and ended up falling in love with the family and the Swedish culture.  Fast forward four years or so - I'm sure you can imagine where this is going - she met a wonderful, amazing man and they were married last month in Sweden!  This girl is a die-hard romantic and was so incredibly patient while waiting for her fairytale man, and believe me, I think she found him!

Anyway, since they were married in Sweden she did a reception in Minneapolis for her American friends and family.  On Sunday they did a boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka and it was so beautiful!  I didn't get any pictures of the boat cruise itself - taking a 10 month old on a 3 hr boat cruise was a little tough, at one point I had her pushing a chair in circles on the top deck, ha - but I did get a couple photos of us!

Okay, how ridiculously adorbs is that striped bow?  No joke, I could live in nautical themed clothing!  I have to add that I definitely curled my hair for this occasion but by the time the boat cruise was over, the 91 degree weather (absolutely scorching for us sensitive northerners) had wilted it to a complete mess.  Hence the side ponytail.  And also why Hadley is neither smiling nor looks very interested.  The second we got off the boat and put her in the stroller, she passed out and slept right through me changing her out of her sweaty clothes and putting her in the carseat!  That's tired right there.

So now I have about eleventy billion bags to unpack and put away from our one-and-a-half days gone.  Having a child will do that, I guess.  Happy Monday!