A long, hot, but fun weekend

Took the kiddos up north to the in-laws' summer home and the family cottage (two different homes in the same resort community) for the long holiday weekend. We intended to leave Thursday around noon. That didn't work out so well, as the battery was dead in my car. I put the battery charger on it, but it was charging very slowly. After a few hours, my neighbor jumped me (no, not in the fun way) and I was able to get on the road. It's about an hour and a half up to the resort where the summer house and the cottage are located. We stopped for dinner and I even left the car running while we went in and ate (I locked it and took the key fob opener with me). I didn't want it to be dead when we went out. I know I wasted a lot of gas, but I'd rather waste gas than have to get a jump from total strangers in a McDonald's parking lot.

Traffic was a total nightmare. Everybody and their brother went north this weekend I think. Nothing like going 80 while bumper-to-bumper!We finally got to the cottage at around 8:00. The kids went swimming as soon as they could put their suits on. We toasted marshmallows over a fire, drank wine (ok, the kids didn't have wine, but I did offer them some), and chilled. My BIL, his wife, and his 3-yr-old daughter were staying at the cottage, so the kids and I went up to the main house to sleep. Didn't get them in bed until after 11. I was exhausted, but the kids wanted to watch TV! (We didn't let them.)

We all enjoyed boating, swimming, a parade around the island that the cottage is located on, and cooking out. Girl and her cousin (both 3.5) had a great time playing together and boy adores swimming in the lake at the cottage. Saturday afternoon we took the boat to go get ice cream, which is always fun. It's about a 25 minute ride across a couple inter-connected lakes to get there, which is way more fun than just a 15 minute car ride.
Saturday night there was a professional rodeo held at the place where Boy goes for therapeutic riding. All proceeds went to the therapeutic riding program. Boy and two other therapeutic riding clients got to ride around the arena before the rodeo began. The other two riders were 15 and 25, so when they announced Boy Rabbit, age 7, the crowd went "Awwww!. He looked so tiny up on that horse. Boy did so good! He smiled and waved to the people (about 150-200) and wasn't upset by the crowd at all. I think being separated from the mass of people by the barriers helped him handle it. It was hard to take pictures, because the sun was shining right at us in the stands. But you know I gave it my best shot:
We all participated in a parade around the island on which the cottage is located. The kids had their bikes all decked out in red, white, and blue and they got candy and drinks at the end. A little girl who sings with the Michigan Opera Theatre sang the anthem and she was fabulous! We were quite impressed. It was a fun, patriotic event. No parade pictures today, but stay tuned for tomorrow's Mute Monday, in which the theme is Patriotism/Patriots.