July 4th

As I was copying pictures to post I realized I did not get a picture of Madi in her 4th of July outfit. Bad Mom! I may just have to get her dressed again and snap a few pictures. Her shoes were probably the cutest part of the outfit so they have to get noticed.

We spent the weekend on the water...shocker. It was a bit different this time around but still enjoyable. The water was pretty busy so it wasn't great skiing but I got on the kneeboard for the first time in ages. I'll find that video and update the post later. I did pretty good after a 5 or 6 year break (which translates to I got up on the board.) There was a sad note, we lost our anchor, USS Marry Me, that my brother welded for us. For those that don't know, Dan was thinking of proposing on our old boat by having a buddy of his print up vinyl to stick to the back of the boat and have me get in the water first so I'd see it and then he'd have the ring out. There were a couple things that got in the way of him doing that but Jake made the anchor and named it Marry Me in memory. Well, we threw it out, tied off and swam around like usual and when Dan was pulling it up to head home all the sudden the line got a lot lighter and the anchor was just gone. We dove around trying to find it but no luck. So goodbye USS Marry Me, thanks for being such a great anchor - until the end when you bailed on us.

The boys were super excited to get some swimming in. Bruiser is such a fanatic about the water. He literally swam until he puked. Pete's a bit more of a prima donna but hangs with Bruiser as long as he can. Of course, Madi got some swim time in too. She's now experienced "big water." When I get the pics of the three of us in the water I'll post those but these are the ones on my camera.We gave Madi some background motor sounds and pushed her back and forth between the two of us. She kicked and gigled, had a great time. We let her float on her own for a little bit until I looked over and saw a fish nibbling on her bum - enough of that! Back to constant motion.

We waited to have lunch until after our swim, didn't want to cramp up or anything. Here's Madi with these baby crackers I just picked up. They're rice wafers that start dissolving once she gets them in her mouth and they're about 4" long so she can get a hold of them real easy. Another good hand-mouth food.

of course Bruiser's over her shoulder waiting to pick up the crumbs

Madi even helped Dad drive the boat. Beep, beep, outta my way!

"Mom, did you see that?" Sure did, sweetpea. Madi would sit on Dan's lap and then lean forward to grab the steering wheel like she knew what she was doing. She also tried to chew on it but what else is new, anything that goes in her hand has to go in her mouth.

All in all it was a great weekend. Too bad it's back to work tomorrow.