Dallas & the Luannes! (Lucy’s full name is Luanne.)
Sarah photobombed the birthday candle photo! (Sarah, Luanne, Adam, Ron, Marty, Jan, Molly)
Dallas’s Cake Creation
Lucy tasting whipped cream for the first time.
Of course, she loves it! (She is also doing her signature wave here.)
Adam by the pool.
Adam & Sarah
On the Fourth of July we drove down from New Hampshire with Matt, Molly,Lucy, and Buddy to Norwell, MA. This is where Matt’s parents, Luanne & Marty, live. Dallas has spent many an Independence Day at Marty & Luanne’s house. Looking back, I spent the 2004 holiday and 2007 holiday there. It seems like more. As I told Luanne, in our hearts we spend every Fourth of July there. It’s what we tell people. We go to Norwell/Boston for Fourth of July. In reality, we get there as much as we can. It’s the effort that counts, right?
We spent the day swimming in the pool, playing a little bit of frisbee game, and relaxing. Marty made his kielbasa that he is known for. The secret ingredients are mustard and honey. Then he just keeps it hot in a pot. So good. He also grilled up some delicious cheeseburgers, which were served with potato salad. Very traditional, it sure hit the spot! I hadn’t had a cheeseburger or potato salad forever.
Aside from the holiday, it was Adam’s birthday on July 3 and Molly’s on July 4, so Luanne made her family’s traditional blueberry crumbcake. It was so delicious. She also served strawberry shortcake. Dallas took the strawberries from that and put them on top of his blueberry crumbcake and then topped that with whipped cream. Also, Matt gave Lucy some of the cake with whipped cream. She loved it. They really try to restrict her sugar intake, so I think she was just amazed!
On this holiday the party was smaller, mostly family, a few friends. But that does not mean it was not fun. It was great to be able to see Marty and Luanne again and to hang out in the sun and in the pool and with all of the family for one more day before heading back to Chicago.
Dallas and I were out on the East Coast for the long holiday weekend. We planned to catch a flight to Boston after work on Thursday, meet up with Matt, Molly and Lucy, and drive up to Ross’s lake house in New Hampshire that night. Sure, it would be late, but it would be worth it to get there around midnight and be there, rather than waste time on Friday driving. Of course, since we had this timeline in place, that means that our flight had to be delayed. We sat on the runway for hours wondering how this was throwing all of our plans off. Still, in the end, we drove up to New Hampshire that night, not arriving until almost 2:30 a.m.! Luckily Lucy just slept the whole time and made the ride easy.
Ross rents in Boston, but bought a house on Lake Wentworth, near Wolfeboro, New Hampshire last year. I’d never been to New Hampshire and wasn’t sure what to expect. When we woke up in the morning, the views were so gorgeous. And it smelled great. I couldn’t get over it. The water, and woods, and evergreens, and grass. YUM.
Also, we couldn’t see it at night, but when the sun came up? Ross’s house is beautiful. I’m used to people’s lake houses being cottages or older second homes, but this being Ross’s only house… and this being Ross…. the place was gorgeous. The four bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 pullouts, lake, laundry, sun room, yard, hot tub.. perfect for hosting a bunch of friends. Over the course of the weekend, Ross comfortably hosted Chelsea, Matt, Molly, Lucy, George, Tommy, Marinella, Colleen, John, Adam, Sarah, Dallas and I. So, 14 people! Plus 3 dogs: Koukla, Nookie and Buddy.
Ross’s new toy this year was a water trampoline. On Friday morning, after Matt made us a big breakfast, we all helped assemble the water trampoline.
Ross and Dallas carried it over to the lake, being careful not to drag it on anything.
Then a bunch of the guys helped get it onto the dock and into the water and secured with a rope to the dock and a rope to a weight. Chelsea and I supervised.
Ross had the first go on it.
And then Dallas had a turn. I think it was not as bouncy as people expected, but we still had fun on it over the course of the weekend. I liked swimming out to it and just laying on it like it was a raft.
One day we decided to go for a hike on Mount Major, a short drive away.
I’m not sure if this is a very strenuous hike or whether it was just because I wasn’t feeling well that day and also drink 5 beers right before going on the hike, but I took a rest just below the summit and did not motivate to make it to the top.
Lucy, Molly, Adam, Dallas, Ross, Chelsea, Tommy, Marinella, Matt
Still, the views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the surrounding areas were pretty great.
I set the timer to get in a group photo and even the dogs made it into that photo!
Matt, Chelsea, John
Over the course of the weekend we spent a lot of time in the lake, playing games in the yard, relaxing, sitting in the hot tub, canoeing, kayaking and even had one crazy night of charades that got pretty intense.
Matt, Colleen, Ross, Chelsea
We, of course, spent a lot of time playing the frisbee, cup, pole game. Ross also got us into a lively game of beer die. I only watched, but Ross and Chelsea won 4 games in a row against Matt and Dallas and Tommy and George. The thing is, winning means you keep playing, and spending all day winning may not always be a good thing. Let me just say that the 5th game was not finished and that some people disappeared until the next morning!
While all the beer die craziness was going on, I was hanging out on the sidelines with Lucy, 10 months, and Koukla, Tommy and Marinella’s dog.
Lucy has grown so much from the last time I saw her. She is such a great baby. Matt and Molly keep her on a pretty strict schedule and it works. She hardly cries and is always so happy. Her thing now is to do a twisty wrist wave at everyone. She loves it!
I also formed a soft spot in my heart for Koukla, who always listens and is such a sweetheart dog. So cute, too!
During the beer die game, this unnamed Adonis did a straight-armed beer chug. Said person may have then disappeared for half the night. Such things cannot be confirmed or denied and should not be discussed in the public forum.
Koukla, George, Matt, Sarah, Marinella, Tommy
The sunsets on Lake Wentworth were breathtaking. One night we all just gathered on the two docks to take it in.
Matt & Adam
Koukla & Adam
Koukla spent the weekend walking down the rocks or the dock steps til she was ankle-deep and then drinking the water. She loved it. And the water was so clean and clear. Not muddy or gross at all, like some lakes can be.
Dallas trying his hand at fishing. All he did was lose lures. The next morning, though, Adam and Sarah took the canoe out and caught some fish.
Koukla, Nookie, Marinella, Matt, Molly, Adam, Tommy, George, Ross
Sarah & Dallas Fishing
What a fun and relaxing extended weekend we had at Lake Wentworth! Big, huge thanks to Ross for being such a gracious host! Can’t wait to come back for another visit!
Several people invited us over for Fourth of July parties. I thought we’d still be at the lake so I declined on all of them. Turns out we ended up coming back and we went to Andy and Katie’s rooftop party. Andy and Katie live just south of us near Chicago and California, about a 5 or 10 minute ride from our house. I didn’t realize we’d have such a great view from their roof, but for a good solid hour from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. you could turn in every direction and see fireworks. It was so cool. I think we could see all the way out to the western suburbs and see fireworks shows. We could also see downtown for the Navy Pier fireworks and north for the Montrose Beach fireworks. The best show was across the street from where we were standing. Someone was lighting them off and it rivaled any professional fireworks display I’ve seen. So fun. Everyone was telling Andy and Katie that this has to be an annual party now. We left at about 12:30 a.m. and there were still fireworks going off. Great backdrop for a roof party!
A few of our friends own a lake house together on Cross Lake in WI. It’s about an hour outside of Chicago and technically their house is in WI, but the reason that the lake is called Cross Lake is because the state line crosses through it. One side of the lake is in WI and the other is in IL.
Dallas went with a bunch of the guys on the Thursday before Fourth of July and then the girls and more people joined them on Friday. We probably had 10 – 12 people coming in and out.. and about 6 dogs, who got along surprisingly well. Mostly we sat on the dock, rode the Sea-Doo, talked, drank, played bags, and ate. Nice and relaxing!
At the house in Michigan, we had a bunch of fireworks to light off on the fourth of july. The older kids, Chris (13) and Mitch (10), were really into the big explosives and spraying tubes and crazy displays. Tommy and Kate, who are only 3 years old were very reserved. Their dads helped them with a sparkler, but they didn’t seem to be into it much at all.
The middle kids? All they wanted were more FIRE STICKS.. aka, sparklers. More, more, more! Light it on fire! I don’t think they even cared about the big fireworks. Just the sparklers and the snake fireworks, which they loved because they thought it looked like poo. POO ON FIRE! Oh, and those little snap things you throw on the ground. I’m afraid we may have turned Ben into a pyro. After the sparklers were all gone he just wanted to light things on fire. Have fun with that back home in California, Kyle & Winnie!
