Stormy Lake--Part II

On the evening of the 3rd, Matt's parents and grandparents arrived at Stormy as well as Uncle Kyle and Aunt Christy and Matt. The kids were so excited to get up on the 4th and have some fun down at the lake. I took this picture early that morning...Blake is lounging on the raft and Sadie and Wyatt are both in the floaties just behind him. And thank goodness we had the lake because it was so hot that week. The highs were up in the upper 90s, which is unheard of for northern WI. Of course no one has AC up there because you rarely need it, but this was one of those weeks when we would have actually turned it on. It wasn't too bad, other than when we were attempting to eat dinner or go to bed--then it was seriously sticky! But everyone was in the water cooling off throughout the day.

Blake's favorite activity--running and jumping!

Gotta get a good running start, right?

Stormy Lake is a great place, not only because of it's beauty but also because of it's history. I took this picture to illustrate that....on the left of the picture are Mr. Schultz and Mr. Hishmeh and then their wives are to the right, talking with Matt's mom and Grammy. These families have all been coming up to Stormy Lake since their kids (my mother-in-law) were young kids. They have been great friends and weathered much of life together, yet their faith and their friendships have kept them together and Stormy Lake is the origination of all of this. So when we are up there and they all walk back and forth from one another's cabins to say hi and see 'how big the kids have all gotten' (and how many grandkids and great grandkids are now running around), it's a great reminder of the special place Stormy is.

Matt's Grammy and Granddad and the Schultz's

Sadie chatting with Grammy--such special moments

Here was a picture I took of Matt's mom and grandparents talking with one of the Hishmeh's sons, Joe and his wife. I should have gotten a better picture but I didn't want to interrupt them. Joe and my mother-in-law were all kids summering at Stormy when their parents met up there. In fact, Matt was in Joe's older sister's wedding as the ring bearer when he was 5 years old. And Joe, who is a pastor now, baptized Matt and his siblings over the years up at Stormy. 

For dinner on the 4th, we ate at the Sieber's cabin--another family that Matt's parents are friends with. However, my in-laws met Jim and Sandy Sieber when they were all students at Taylor University in Indiana and then found out that Sandy grew up coming to Stormy Lake as well but they had never met one another. So every summer when Matt's family would go up, the Sieber's would also go over the same weeks and all their kids would play together. In fact, Matt's parents never had a ski boat when he was a kid and they all learned to ski behind Jim Sieber's boat. So many memories--I continue to hear new stories from Stormy Lake even after 12 years of being up there.

(my kids in their 4th of July shirts!!)

eyeing dessert....

Cammie and Grandad listening to my father-in-law tell a story----a classic picture!

Sandy Sieber and my mother-in-law (these poor ladies were just dying of heat in that kitchen with ovens running and the temps in the upper 90s outside)

(I don't know why my camera was out of focus for these pics but they were too good not to post!)

Kyle and Christy with Grandad

Sadie and her look-alike Grammy

 (Matt's grandparents are Grammy and Grandad to their grandkids, but the great grandkids call them GiGi and Dye-Dye. Matt's parents are Grammy and Papa, so the names can get a bit confusing!)

Such a sweet picture....Grandad and Grammy-

the ones who started all this up at Stormy Lake almost 60 years ago!

Our shoe thief..

After dinner, we headed back outside since it was entirely too hot to stay in. This sequence of pictures still cracks me up.....just past Matt and the kids is a rock wall with steps off to the left down to the beach. Blake walked down a few of the steps on the left and then...

..notice something on the right side??

Yep, he climbed across the rocks and then scaled up the wall.

"Just another day's work"

I love Matt's face as he turned back to all of us after giving Blake a high-five, completely unaware of what a feat he had just accomplished.

Then the boys started playing baseball....again, this kid loves running. He will hold a bat and swing it at the ball, but he couldn't care less about actually hitting the ball. He mostly just wants to get to the running part!

Hot, sweaty and so cute!

Learning how to build a fire from the master himself, Uncle Kyle

S'mores

Once it got dark enough, it was time for the highly-anticipated fireworks. Matt and I always buy the fireworks on the way up to Stormy but this year I drove up early and he came up on the motorcycle, so I had to pick them up on my own. There was a serious amount of pressure on me to get some good ones, so I was just as nervous as to how good they would be as everyone was excited to see them!!

Sadie preferred a seat on top of the boathouse--still not loving the noise!

This was the setup---Matt and Kyle, the pyros

And Dad, a former pyro in his younger years but now a more responsible adult who sat back and held the flashlight, praying that no one would blow their hand off or shoot their eye out. I think he finally took a breath once they were all done. And I don't blame him....those boys can get a bit crazy when it comes to the fireworks. But they sure put on a good show for the rest of us to enjoy!

The lighting....

..the sprint away from the fireworks

..hoping they all go off in the right direction!

..the payoff for those unwilling to risk our lives

..of course, eyeing the competition across the lake...

The rockets red glare, the bombs burning in air....

But possibly the most beautiful sight in the sky that night was the moon reflected off the lake. Just another reminder that the beauty humans can create, although beautiful, pales in comparison to God's creation. What a great reminder!