Schu News: Endless Summer Part I

This past Saturday, we returned to Louisiana after being gone for five weeks. On July 1, we left for my parents' house at Smith Mt Lake. Jon was able to take off for a whole week, so for the first time since working at Ferguson, he was able to spend a week at the lake. For the July 4th weekend, my parents hosted Jon's parents as well as his brother's family (which was a total surprise for us). Amanda, Matt, and Callie joined us as well as Amanda's inlaws, Steve and Dreama, and sister-in-law Michelle. We had a great time with everyone, and it was especially sweet to see Will and Jake playing together and Brighton, Sophia, and Callie all together. The girls are all very close in age. There was plenty of spoiling going around! Grandma and Granddad stuck around for a few days following the holiday, and Amanda and Callie were around for a couple days after that. We then had a couple more days of vacation before taking Daddy to the airport to fly home to NOLA. He joined us for the last week of vacation spent with his family in Myrtle Beach, but here are the highlights from just our lake vacation. There were only 1000 pictures to choose from, so I had to post as many as possible!

Will checking out a baby bird...he helped Nana and Matt take care of the bird until it finally flew on its own.

Brighton immediately set to pruning Nana's flowers, a task she kept up during the entire vacation.

Ahhh...it's been a long time, SML.

While we were taking it easy on the boat, Nana and Papa were monitoring our little sailors.

Will got a promotion to Captain. He and Brighton took turns driving the boat this year, but Papa actually let Will steer by himself some.

Brighton and Sophia bonding on the fourth of July. They haven't seen each other in a long time.

The Schumacher boat ride.

Will and Jake have the best time together! They got to see Will's Papa's fireworks display, fish, and...

whatever it is they are doing here.

Papa calls Brighton a Louisiana Mugwump

Callie and Brighton in their pigtails.

C and B in their matching July 4th dresses taking a wagon ride in Callie's suped-up Radio Flyer.

Mugwump enjoying the mud.

Bonding over a love of gravel.

Will rescuing Granddad in the lake.

Brighton and Grandma enjoying a beautiful day at SML.

Brighton Rae

Callie Mae

Not everyone was so happy to have their picture taken.

A Taylor family pic before Aunnie and Callie headed home. They came back before the kids and I left, but we had a few days with just Nana and Papa.

We took lots of walks...

and some boat rides too.

Showing off/Embarassing myself!

I love to ski!

Daddy is more of a novice skier, but he did finally get up!

But Daddy is an expert tube-rider. We finally convinced Will to try it, but the tube broke! He was done with all things tube-related after that...maybe next year.